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Title: The Last Days According to Jesus by R. C. Sproul ISBN: 0-8010-6340-X Publisher: Baker Book House Pub. Date: December, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.97 (37 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Excellent introduction to the partial preterist view.
Comment: In classic "Sproulian" style, this book probes the subject matter of Christ's Olivet Discourse. Are the events that our Lord describes to be understood as taking place in the distant future (even beyond 1999!) or are they to be understood as events that would take place in connection with Jerusalem's destruction in AD 70? While the former option seems more sensational, more exciting, Sproul methodically shows the reader that an honest read of Christ's words will inevitably lead to the latter conclusion. His discussion of the time frame references ("this generation") is excellent. Did Jesus mean what he said when he promised that the catastrophic events he described would be experienced by many of his orignal hearers? Sproul sees this as an essential question to be answered if we wish to defend the integrity and veracity of our Lord's words. As a pastor, I hope that other Christian teachers and leaders will read this book and be shaken from so much of the dogmatism that surrounds eschatology today. Even if one is not fully convinced by Sproul's argument, he should at least be convinced that maybe there are more options than the "Lahaye-I'm premil,pretrib and you must be too" approach that is so pervasive today! How refreshing to learn that godly men down through the ages have held differing views about the "last days." RC has done a great service for the church!
Rating: 4
Summary: Although not a definitive answer, it is a definite response
Comment: As a Pastor of the Eternal Grace Baptist Church, it is quite refreshing to read a book in our time, when sensationalism seems to sell, like "The Last Days According To Jesus" that offers a biblical perspective rather than the rehashed blind fanciful predictions of "Prophets for Profit." This is not a definitive answer to the swirling controversy regarding Christ's return, but it is a definite response from a "Mainline theologian" sure to stimulate the earnest believer to diligently search the Scriptures.
What Sproul does is exposes the major flaws of various commentators in their defense of the preterist or futurist position, while buttressing the validity of preterism. By raising the questions that naturally surface when the preterist view is held, Sproul enables honest seekers to examine the evidence in an atmosphere conducive to sane, consistent, Biblical meditation.
It has been stated that a stimulating book must have a catchy title, an intriguing cover, and provocative content. "The Last Days According To Jesus" manages to achieve all three beginning with the provocative title. Upon the cover centrally located in the top of the book is the famous clock nearing the twelfth hour. Concerning the content, Mr. Sproul is perfectly correct when he asserts that part of the problem regarding prophecy is "the confession concerning biblical interpretation stems from contemporary usage of the term literal. ... " (p. 65). Lazy literalist miss the time frame references and thereby promote views from texts out of context which become a pretext, thus opening the flood gates for bizarre beliefs unattached to contextual Scriptural truth.
Sproul subtly raises and answers the objections sure to surface by futurists. Although it is primarily a book length review of the preterist position as presented by J. Struart Russell in his work, "The Parousia" and its shortcomings, nonetheless it serves the astute Christian student well in clearly stating the biblical position. Sproul's treatment is very charitable, to say he least, with those holding positions clearly questionable. It is federal reserve notes (commonly thought to be money) well spent.
Rating: 4
Summary: Good Introduction to Preterism, but Unconvincing
Comment: I enjoyed this book as a good, solid introduction to the preterist view. R.C. Sproul gives a fair and comprehensive look at the issues regarding end-times prophecy from a preterist perspective, explaining both the emotional reasons behind the rising popularity of the view (the desire to defend scriptural truth against attacks that first century prophecies were wrong) and make a thorough examination of the preterist view itself.
What I found curious about the book, however, is that even R.C. Sproul does not seem completely convinced of the preterist view, and yet he seems reluctant to address these limitations directly. It is these limitations, in fact, that prevent me from accepting this view myself. Holding to a preterist view -- in my opinion -- is like being pregnant. One is either pregnant or one is not pregnant. One cannot be "sort of" pregnant or "mostly" pregnant. Likewise, either one sees the Olivet Discourse as being completely fulfilled in the first century or one does not. One cannot see it being "mostly" fulfilled or "partially" fulfilled. And this is the very problem with preterism.
Preterism claims to take the scriptures literally -- and to be the only view to do so completely. And yet, in order to maintain preterism's brand of literalism, it must play loose with prophetic fulfillment. Prophetic fulfillment becomes like horseshoes. "Close" is good enough. For those who insist on prophecies being fulfilled precisely, preterism can only get in the ballpark. It cannot provide the kind of precise, literal fulfillment that scripture demands. If one demands, not just a literal fulfillment but a PRECISE fulfillment, the best the first century events can do is to provide a foreshadowing of events to come.
In Acts 1:9, for example, we are told that, when Jesus returns, it will be as He ascended -- in the clouds, in bodily form. Where, in preterism, do we find this? Nowhere but a vision of Josephus. Very unsatisfying. Likewise, the Great Tribulation -- not only did Jesus say there would be none like it, but there never would be again. The slaughter of one million Jews in the first century was horrific, but it pales in comparison to the six million under Hitler and the nine million under Stalin. How could a first-century slaughter fulfill this prophecy? And instead of an abomination inside the temple, as Jesus foretold, preterism substitutes eagles on the Roman standards outside the courtyard. As my mother would say, "It's close, but no banana."
As precise a theologian as Sproul is, his willingness to accept these "close but no banana" fulfillments is curious to me; and his own apparent discomfort with the apparent lack of precision in certain prophecies begs for direct address, and yet one never comes. I did sense that these things seemed to bother Sproul, as well they should. As such, as one of the foremost theologians of our times, I would have liked to have seen him address this problem head-on.
H. L. Nigro, author of Before God's Wrath: The Bible's Answer to the Timing of the Rapture
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Title: Last Days Madness: Obsession of the Modern Church by Gary Demar ISBN: 0915815354 Publisher: American Vision Pub. Date: November, 1999 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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Title: Before Jerusalem Fell: Dating the Book of Revelation by Kenneth L. Gentry ISBN: 0915815435 Publisher: American Vision Pub. Date: October, 1998 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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Title: The Great Tribulation Past or Future?: Two Evangelicals Debate the Question by Thomas Ice, Kenneth L. Gentry ISBN: 0825429013 Publisher: Kregel Publications Pub. Date: October, 1999 List Price(USD): $12.99 |
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Title: A Case for Amillennialism: Understanding the End Times by Kim Riddlebarger ISBN: 080106435X Publisher: Baker Book House Pub. Date: February, 2003 List Price(USD): $16.99 |
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Title: The Beast of Revelation by Kenneth L., Jr. Gentry ISBN: 0915815419 Publisher: American Vision Pub. Date: March, 2002 List Price(USD): $19.50 |
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