dispensationalism: why I have begun to disagree

I have been taught dispensationalism for most of my life growing up in Southern Baptist Churches but more recently have been finding biblical texts that seem to contradict what I have been taught. This is an excerpt from a publication that I found on another message board. I have taken a few of the points out of the 95 they stated to establish some of the reasons why I am no longer considering myself as a dispensationalist.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 95 thesis against dispensationalism 58. Despite the dispensationalists’ widespread belief that we have been living in the “last days” only since the founding of Israel as a nation in 1948, the New Testament clearly and repeatedly teach that the “last days” began in the first century and cover the whole period of the Christian Church (Acts 2:16-17; 1 Cor 10:11; Heb 1:1-2; 9:26) 59. Despite the dispensationalists’ claim that the expectation of the imminent Rapture and other eschatological matters are important tools for godly living, dispensationalism’s founders were often at odds with each other and divisive regarding other believers, so that, for instance, of the Plymouth Brethren it could be said that “never has one body of Christians split so often, in such a short period of time, over such minute points” (John Gerstner) and that “this was but the first of several ruptures arising from [Darby’s] teachings” (Dictionary of Evangelical Biography). 60. Contrary to the dispensationalists’ creation of a unique double coming of Christ—the Rapture being separated from the Second Advent—which are so different that it makes “any harmony of these two events an impossibility” (Walvoord), the Bible mentions only one future coming of Christ, the parousia, or epiphany, or revelation (Matt. 24:3; 1 Cor. 15:23; 1 Thess. 3:13; 4:15; 5:23; 2 Thess. 2:1, 8; Jas. 5:7; 2 Pet. 3:4; 1 Jn. 2:28), and states that He “shall appear a second time” (Heb 9:28a), not that He shall appear “again and again” or for a third time. 61. Despite the dispensationalists’ teaching that “Jesus will come in the air secretly to rapture His Church” (Tim LaHaye), their key proof-text for this “secret” coming, 1 Thess 4:16, makes the event as publicly verifiable as can be, declaring that he will come “with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God.” 62. Contrary to dispensationalism’s doctrine of two resurrections, the first one being of believers at the Rapture and the second one of unbelievers at the end of the millennium 1007 years after the Rapture, the Bible presents the resurrection of believers as occurring on “the last day” (John 6:39-40, 44, 54; 11:24), not centuries before the last day. 63. Contrary to dispensationalism’s doctrine of two resurrections, the first one being of believers at the Rapture and the second one of unbelievers at the end of the millennium 1007 years after the Rapture, the Bible speaks of the resurrection of unbelievers as occurring before that of believers (though as a part of the same complex of events), when the angels “first gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up” at the end of the age (Matt 13:30b).

Halloween sale on Reformation Study Bible (ESV)

 Ligonier has given us a reason to celebrate on October 31st.  According to Sproul, no other study bible has the resources contained in this edition of the Reformation Study Bible.  Previously available as the New Geneva Study Bible and the Reformation Study Bible NKJV, it is now available in ESV and available for one day only at this great price.

limited atonement?

As many of you know, I have a yearning to understand reformed (Calvinistic) theology and have been wrestling with many of the doctrines contained therein for quite some time. Over this period, my understanding of election, free will, sinfulness, grace, justification, sovereignty, and the utter sinfulness of man (among other things) has been changed through expository preaching and searching the scriptures. Of all of the doctrines of grace, the doctrine of limited atonement (the L in TULIP), otherwise known as actual atonement (which I like better even if it messes up the ever so useful acrostic) has been the one I have struggled to understand most. Recently, John MacArthur has published a study on the doctrines of grace and his exposition of this particular doctrine opened my eyes to what the scripture has to say.

Quote:

Originally Posted by John MacArthur If I ask the average Christian for whom did Christ die? The traditional answer would be, “Everybody…everybody, Christ died for the whole world, He died for all sinners.” And most people then in the church believe, and I’m sure many people outside the true church, many people associated with Christianity, believe that on the cross Jesus paid the debt of sin for everyone because He loves everyone and He wants everyone to be saved.” That’s pretty much the common evangelical view. Jesus died for everybody, He paid the price for the sins of everybody. And all we have to do is tell sinners that He loves them so much that He paid the price and He wants them to be saved and all they have to do is respond. Now if that is true, then on the cross Jesus accomplished a potential salvation…not an actual one. That is, sinners have all had their sins atoned for potentially and it’s not actual until they activate it by their faith. So, what we need to do is to tell sinners that they need to pick up the salvation that’s already been purchased for them. Since Christ died for everybody, everybody therefore can be saved, it’s just a matter of them coming to receive that salvation. And so, our responsibility is to convince people to come and take the salvation that’s been provided for them, to convince them to come and accept the gift. This is so deep in the fabric of evangelical theology that the most popular book on the church currently, The Purpose Driven Church, in it the author says, quote, “I can lead anyone to Christ if I find the key to that person’s heart.” The assumption is that if you can just figure out the technique of getting to some emotional point, you can win anybody on the planet to Christ because, after all, He’s died for all of them. That’s the popular idea. And I know many of you are thinking, “Well…well it seems to me that that’s what I’ve always believed in, that’s what I’ve been taught.”

This is a perfect description of my answer not too long ago and only recently have I had the desire to search into these things.  Johnny Mac has put together (as he does so well) a firm foundation of scripture on which this doctrine rests and oppositional opinions are shattered.  Thanks to God for John and his gifts of preaching and exposition.  Without the likes of such gifted servants, I would be lacking in understanding of many things.