Re: [asa] preterism and YEC

I find your characterization of preterists as overly literal interesting but
inaccurate. I dont want anyone to think that your example of someone taking
the number 40 so literally as typical for preterists.

For example lets look at the thousand years spoken of in Rev. 20.

Preterism, like amillenialism and postmillenialism, interprets the thousand
years as some symbolic time period of indeterminate length. Probably the
most common interpretation is that the millenium is the period from 30AD 70
AD. It is seen as the transitional period from the Old Covenant to the New
Covenant, when both are still in place.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Charles Carrigan" <CCarriga@olivet.edu>
To: <asa@calvin.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, September 12, 2006 10:38 PM
Subject: Re: [asa] preterism and YEC

> While I would be very surprised if most YECs are preterists, I would
> not =
> at all be surprised to find out that most preterists are YECs.
> Preterism =
> is quite rare among American evangelicals, while than YECism is fairly =
> mainstream. I would bet most YECs are like many American evangelicals =
> with regards to 2nd coming issues, believing in something similar to
> the =
> "Left Behind" series. =20
> =20
> In my opinion, both preterism and YECism result from a similar cause - =
> that is, reading the scriptural texts in an overly literal fashion
> with =
> little regard for important literary issues. I appreciate your
> suggestions=
> Jack that preterism is more in line with OEC than YEC, but I highly
> doubt =
> most preterists would agree. Further, both views are
> dispensationalist in =
> nature, slicing time and history into distinct pieces, another
> similarity =
> they share. =20
> =20
> I had a bunch of discussions with a full preterist at one point back
> a few =
> years ago - he could not fathom the idea that literature does not
> have to =
> be factual/historical in order to contain truth, unless of course it
> was =
> plainly obvious (such as parables). For example, I pointed out to him =
> that certain numbers appear an incredible number of times in the
> scriptures=
> (e.g., 3, 7, 12, 40), beyond what would seem to be mere
> coincidence, and =
> I then stated that these numbers probably had some meaning to the
> ancient =
> hebrews beyond their numerical value alone. He simply could not wrap
> his =
> brain around that idea - no, when it said 40, it meant exactly that
> and =
> nothing else was possible in his mind. =20
> This is an example of the over-literal reading of scripture that I'm =
> refering to above. =20
> =20
> Best,
> Charles
> =20
> _______________________________
> Charles W. Carrigan, Ph.D.
> Assistant Professor of Geology
> Olivet Nazarene Univ., Dept. of Physical Sciences
> One University Ave.
> Bourbonnais, IL 60914
> PH: (815) 939-5346
> FX: (815) 939-5071
> ccarriga@olivet.edu
> http://geology.olivet.edu/
> =20
> "To a naturalist nothing is indifferent;
> the humble moss that creeps upon the stone
> is equally interesting as the lofty pine which so beautifully adorns
> the =
> valley or the mountain:=20
> but to a naturalist who is reading in the face of the rocks the
> annals of =
> a former world,=20
> the mossy covering which obstructs his view,=20
> and renders indistinguishable the different species of stone,=20
> is no less than a serious subject of regret."
> - James Hutton
> _______________________________
>
>
>
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Received on Wed Sep 13 06:50:28 2006