November 30, 2005

[Fenemore] Jesus predicted that his return would take place in the first century. The apostles continued to teach the same thing throughout the New Testament.

Jesus never predicted that His return would take place in the first century. Many of his followers ASSUMED He would return in the first century...after all, how does does [sic] it take to go home and ask your Dad if you can bring a bunch of people home with you? There was an assumption on the part of Christianity, since they have been taught that His return is “imminent.” But nowhere in prophecy can you see anything that can only be construed that way. Nor did Christ ever say, “I will return immediately.” Keep in mind, the Revelation of Jesus Christ (which most people mistakingly [sic] believe is the Revelation of John the Beloved) was written in 90 AD.

[Fenemore] Furthermore, Christ said that the Holy Spirit would guide the apostles into “all the truth” and show them “what is to come” (John 16:13, NASB). So whatever the apostles said was “to come” must have been inspired by the Holy Spirit.

You are linking two diverse thoughts into one. Christ said the Spirit of Truth would come (on the Day of Pentecost). He further said the Holy Spirit would GUIDE the Apostles to the truthl [sic] and that the Holy Spirit would reveal things prophetically that would later come to past. Then He said that everything the Holy Spirit would do would glorify Christ.

Then you say, because the Holy Spirit would instruct them, that everything the Apostles said would happen, would happen. This has a sprinkling of Catholic theology about it: whatever you bind on Warth [sic] will be bound in Heaven, and whatever you loose on Earth will be loosed in Heaven. For your thought to have instructional merit, you would have to believe that each of the Apostles were given perfection. They weren’t. The Apostles, as Paul laborously [sic] pointed out, like everyone else, sinned daily and had to seek forgiveness daily. The Apostles, who “appointed” Barnabus [sic] as Judas’ replacement, and apponted [sic] one or two other Apostles assumed their actions were godly, or God-inspried [sic]. They weren’t. Since the number of Apostles has a prophetic significance, there could only be 12. When Judas sold out Christ, he was removed from that equation. Christ, the only “person” who could appoint an Apostle, picked Saul of Tarsus as Judas’ replacement. Yet, the other Apostles failed to see what they did was wrong.

[Fenemore] If the Second Coming failed to occur when it was supposed to, why would any sensible person have faith that it will take place in the future?

There was no prophesied Second Coming that failed to occur when it was supposed to.

[Fenemore] Jesus must have returned in the first century exactly when he said he would.

Again, there is NO scripture anywhere in the Bible in which Christ said, or implied, He was returning in the first century.

[Fenemore] I recommend the short article Were the Apostles False Prophets? found at http://www.preterism.info.

No. Supply me with the chapter and verse where Christ said He was coming back in the first century.

[Fenemore] I respectfully challenge you to provide a response which I will gladly post at Preterism.info. Otherwise, I will post this friendly challenge and note that it was never answered.

Your thesis fails in your introduction, which reads: Preterism is the belief that all Bible prophecies, including those concerned with the Second Coming of Jesus, the Resurrection of the Dead, the Rapture and the Judgment came to complete fulfillment in a.d. 70 at the destruction of Jerusalem just as Jesus predicted they would: since you are ending everything before the New Testament was even completed.

[Fenemore] Under the Old Covenant, being judged a false prophet was a very serious matter: it meant a death sentence.

Under the New Covenant, being judged a false prophet means burning in Hell. I/m [sic] curious. Where did you get your theological and eschatological training?

[Fenemore] Futurism is the belief that the Second Coming will take place in our future. It is founded on the premise that the first-century fulfillment predicted by Jesus, his apostles, the Holy Spirit and Scripture failed to occur.

Now you’re making stuff up.

To read Michael Fenemore’s response, click here.