Replies

. . . Occurring at the time of each believer's death, yes? I think your teaching is that we are living in the new heaven and the new earth now, is that right?

Correct.

I've read about this view. It is potent medicine.

Yes, it is. I've only held this view for a couple of years; it has caused me to reevaluate my theology in many areas.

I think I agree with those who suggest it is outside the realm of orthodoxy.

If orthodoxy is defined by creeds (i.e. the "Apostles'" Creed), then yes, it's outside of orthodoxy. If orthodoxy is defined as adherence to Scripture, I would obviously disagree. But I do not consider church creeds binding - only descriptive of the beliefs of those who wrote them.

It also requires a lot of nonliteral handling of the Word. To each his own.

All eschatology requires quite a bit of "nonliteral" reading. I actually believe Preterism requires less of it, in many ways. But I think the real strength of Preterism - which I have begun trying to apply more consistently to all of Scripture - is its approach to hermeneutics. It's an approach of reading Scripture as it would have been read by its immediate audience, rather than reading it as if it was written to us. Scripture was written for us, but it was not written to us. We are a secondary audience.

One thing I always try to note: Preterism is dependent on an early date for the writing of Revelation - probably around 64. The "traditional" dating of Revelation in the 90s is not compatible with Preterism. But I'm pretty thoroughly convinced of the earlier date.