This is the doctrine of the apokatastasis!!!!! Good point Steve
Dispensationalism has a lot to answer for.
>
>
> The Fall fouled the creation (earth &
> >universe) up so utterly that God is going to destroy it all, and start
> >over.
>
> The problem with this view is that it is unscriptural! A closer
examination
> of the scriptures reveal that Jesus won't return to destro the world but
> rather renew or transform it. There will be a _renewed_ heavens and
earth;
> Jesus talks of the _renewal_ (literally rebirth) of all thingsm; and Paul
> writes of the creation being liberated - there seems to be no room for
> destruction of the earth here. If it were the meek would be very
> disappointed (Mt 5:5)!
> Mt 24:35 seems at first to suggest destruction, but the Greek word
> translated in the NIV as 'pass away' alos occurs in 2 Cor 5:17, where Paul
> describes the person in Christ as a new creation, saying the 'old has
gone'
> (literally passed away). This implies not total destruction but
> transformation.
>
> Heb 1:12 is another, but as in the Matthew passage the emphasis is on a
> contrast, here it is between the creation and the creator. The one thing
> the writer seems to want to emp[hasise is the unchangeableness of God
> compared with his creation - to use it as a proof text fro a theory of
> destruction is inappropriate. The word translated as 'changed'
> (allagesontai) is the same word used in 1 Cor 15:51 and 52. here the
> context is the resurrection of believers: 'we will al be changed'. Yet
> again the meaning can be understood as transformation.
>
> 2 Pet 3:10 is an important vesre used to justify destruction. However, the
> majority of contemporary commentators (see e.g. Baukham, WBC, 1985)
> translate the key part as: 'theerath and all its works will be found. The
> sens seems to be that the purging fires will enable the earth and all its
> work to be 'found', that is revealed or discovered for wnat they are. (On
> this verse and the worldview implications of how we translate it see: Al
> Wolters 'Worldview and textual criticism in 2Peter 3:10' WTJ 49 (1987)
> 504-13)
>
> The idea that the world will be transformed is also seen in Is 2:4;
11:6,8;
> and Is 35:6 and also in Enoch 45:5.
>
> Hence, anytime put into caring and stewarding the creation will not be
> wasted. The meek can then indeed inherit and rule upon it (Rev 5:10).
>
>
>
> >While there is temporal interest in doing the least damage to the
> >bio-sphere, God is more intersted in eternal things - like human souls.
On
> >a
> >sinking ship it is wiser to help passengers into life boats, than to
polish
> >brass.
>
> This is typical dualistic thinking: more platonic than biblical.
>
>
> Steve
>
>
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