Posted on 10/26/2007 9:00:59 PM PDT by topcat54
Read Ryrie’s first edition of “Dispensationalism Today.”
That’s my only planned interchange with you on this topic for the rest of the year, and I expect you to make me regret it. But if you wanted an answer, you’d now have it.
I’ll dust off my copy. I not sure if I have a first edition. DOes it matter?
***It’s very like talking with a Roman Catholic, isn’t it? Try to talk Bible, and all you get is unshakable dogma.***
That is because the issue is not are there seperate dispensations as the WHOLE church has understood the word, but is the theology, eschatology, and method of Bible slicing of Dispensationalism Biblical. Therefore, you must answer the charge, not simply ignore it and focus on something which you think you can get agreement.
The level of dirt ignorance is amusing, but not interesting.
LOL!
tabsternager acknowledges that Eden is a separate period of time. To be fair with him, he did not agree with more than that. Do you agree with him?
The issue is that there are separate eras/periods/epochs/whatever-you-want-to-call-them clearly evident in the Bible’s review of religious history.
Do you agree with that?
Let me repeat myself....
the issue is not are there seperate dispensations as the WHOLE church has understood the word, but is the theology, eschatology, and method of Bible slicing of Dispensationalism Biblical. You must answer the charge, not simply ignore it and focus on something which you think you can get agreement.
It sounds to me like you are agreeing that separate epochs/eras/etc. do exist.
Good. I agree with that.
Now, do you agree that God was in charge during the “era” of Eden?
It was not a "separate period of time", since Adam lived before and after the fall.
The Westminster Confession distinguishes between the covenant of works that was operative before man’s fall and the covenant of grace after the fall. I agree with that distinction.
I also agree with the distinction, even "dispensation", of the old covenant and the new covenant, both being "dispensations" of the one covenant of grace.
In the future there will be eternity, the new heavens and new earth, where the righteous will dwell in their resurrection state.
Beyond that I do not admit to any useful, biblical distinctions in God’s salvation program.
You've given your answer. You don't consider The Garden of Eden to be a separate period of time.
Personally, I think there was a clear beginning and ending mentioned in the Bible itself.
I really don't see how we can continue discussing the Bible together.
You seem to be using a method of analysis and interpretation other than the evidence presented by the text.
It's been interesting discussing with you.
Here’s an interesting quote I’m sure you’re familiar with:
“As a dispensation, GRACE BEGINS with the death and resurrection of Christ....THE POINT OF TESTING IS NO LONGER LEGAL OBEDIENCE AS THE CONDITION OF SALVATION, but acceptance or rejection of Christ, with good works as a fruit of salvation” — C.I. Scofield Scofield Reference Bible, p.1115
Do you agree with that quote? If you do, where in the Bible is there support for that belief (chapter and verse, please)?
I’ve never read Schofield before, so I don’t know if you’ve left anything out of the quote with the “....” between Christ and THE POINT.
Are there missing words?
***It sounds to me like you are agreeing that separate epochs/eras/etc. do exist.***
You will have to define your terms.
“tabsternager acknowledges that Eden is a separate period of time.”
Maybe my answer wasn’t clear.
Again, I’m no scholar, but I think it was a unique time before the fall because man was without sin.
But since the fall, there has always been only one plan of salvation and one people of God, and it’s always been by faith alone.
I hope that’s clearer now.
Do you agree that Eden is a separate era/period/epoch/age/etc?
Meaning simply “is it a distinctive period of time?”
Again, you need to define your terms.
I’m simply asking if it is a distinctive period of time. I think it was. I think in the case of Eden that it had a clear beginning and ending.
Who do you think was in charge during the period of the Garden of Eden?
Correct, given my interpretation of the question.
Personally, I think there was a clear beginning and ending mentioned in the Bible itself.
There is a clear beginning and ending to many things in the Bible. There was a beginning and ending to the life of Abraham. There was a beginning and ending to the exile of Israel in Egypt. There was a beginning and ending to the wanderings in Sinai. There was a beginning and ending to the time of the Judges. There was a beginning and ending to Babylonian exile. There was a beginning and ending to the time of the minor prophets.
Perhaps I’m missing something by your use of the phrase "separate period of time". Are you speaking of something like an era or age? Like the Middle Ages? Or the Victorian Era?
There is a sense in which the Victorian Era is different from our own, but that does not make it a "separate period of time".
The point you are trying to make is very cloudy, perhaps because you lack biblical support.
I really don't see how we can continue discussing the Bible together.
We were discussing the theories of dispensationalism, which on this subject have little to do with the Bible. E.g., can you show me from the Bible where seven dispensations are delinieated using Bible principles as opposed to the theories of Darby and Scofield?
You seem to be using a method of analysis and interpretation other than the evidence presented by the text.
Hardly.
It's been interesting discussing with you.
What discussion? We never really got there because you were just looking for me to fall into a trap.
But here’s a proposal. Let’s take up the proposition: Dispensationalists use the word "dispensation" in the same way the Bible uses the term.
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