jgr said in post #42:
Everything described by Joel was fulfilled at a minimum initially in Acts 2.
No, it wasn't. For there were no blood and pillars of smoke (Joel 2:30) at the time of Acts 2.
Also, in Joel 2:30, the "pillars of smoke" bring to mind the stalks of mushroom clouds generated by nuclear detonations, which could occur at the start of the future Tribulation of Revelation chapters 6 to 18 and Matthew 24.
For one way that the future, Tribulation-starting war of Revelation 6:4-8 and Daniel 11:15-17 could happen is the U.S. could undertake a massive buildup of the Iraqi Army, initially to bring about the total (and lasting) defeat of the Islamic State militant group (also known as ISIS, ISIL or Daesh) in Iraq and eastern and southern Syria, and eventually so that the Iraqi Army can serve as a proxy army, for the U.S. and Israel, for an all-out ground invasion of
Iran, in order to end Iran's nuclear weapons program, its ballistic missile program, its terrorist-group support operations, and its extremist regime. As part of the buildup of the Iraqi Army, the U.S. could reinstall much of the former Iraqi Baathist military hierarchy (which existed under Baathist Saddam Hussein), in order to run the present Iraqi Army more efficiently and ruthlessly.
And if the current, Shiite-dominated government of Iraq balks at any return of a Baathist-dominated military (which cruelly suppressed the Iraqi Shiites under Saddam Hussein), or balks at any invasion of fellow-Shiite Iran, this could lead Western intelligence agencies to bring about a Baathist coup d'etat in Iraq. For they could see a well-run, Baathist Iraqi Army and government as the only way to
permanently defeat Islamic State (and all of its successors), and the only way to eventually invade and defeat Iran, which invasion the Iraqi Baathists could agree to perform. For they see meddling, non-Arab Iran as a great enemy of Arab autonomy.
Indeed, the current military brains of the Islamic State are former Iraqi Baathist generals who cannot stand that the Iraqi government is so heavily controlled by Iran. They see (Sunni Arab) Islamic State as the only current, viable bulwark against the (Shiite, non-Arab) Iranians, and their Shiite Arab cronies, taking total control of all of Iraq and Syria. But if there are secret, Western overtures toward these Baathist generals (who are now holed up in eastern Syria), they could very well agree to defect from serving Islamic State to serving a non-sectarian, "Free Iraqi Army" drawn mainly (not exclusively) from Sunni Arab and Kurdish militias in western and northern Iraq, which Army, with secret Western assistance, could then march on Baghdad and completely overthrow the current, Iranian-controlled, Iraqi government, which is very weak and corrupt.
Once the Iraqi Baathists (and Kurds) take back control of the Iraqi government and military, they could then also defeat all of the Iranian-controlled Shiite Arab militias in Iraq and eastern and southern Syria. Then, to help get the Iraqi masses and the world behind the idea of a subsequent, all-out Iraqi invasion of Iran itself, "false flag" operations could be managed by Western intelligence agencies by which it will be made to seem that (non-Arab, Persian) Iran is attacking the Iraqi Sunni Arabs and Kurds (and their little children) terroristically with "dirty bombs" made from Iranian-enriched uranium, so that the Iraqi masses will become enraged, and begin to call for all-out retaliation against (what they could call) "the vile Persians". And the world could see an Iraqi invasion of Iran as being completely justified by self-defense.
But then, right when Iraq is all ready to invade Iran, the ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel (who by that time could be led by a great miracle-working false "Messiah": cf. Matthew 24:24) could destroy the Muslim Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa Mosque (the third-holiest sites in Islam) on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem in order to clear the site for the building of a third Jewish temple (Revelation 11:1-2, Matthew 24:15, Daniel 11:31,36; 2 Thessalonians 2:4). This could so enrage Muslims worldwide, including the (Muslim) Iraqi Army, that the Iraqi Baathist Generals could see it as a perfect excuse to abandon the plan to invade huge Iran, and instead (pretending that they are doing so in the name of Islam), turn and send their vast army against the small territory of Israel, completely defeating and occupying it (Daniel 11:15-17; in verse 17, the original Hebrew word translated as "daughter" is "bath").
But this would not be the ultimate reason for the Baathist attack, which could continue on south to also defeat and occupy Egypt (Daniel 11:15). For Egypt is ruled by the U.S.-supported Egyptian Army, which the Baathists could see as being a puppet of the U.S., just as they could see Israel as being like a 51st state of the U.S. Baathism's ultimate aim is to unite all Arab lands from Oman to Morocco into one massive, powerful United Arab States, free from all foreign (including U.S.) hegemony.
The all-out Iraqi attack on Israel could be joined by the entire (Baathist) Syrian Army (with all of its missiles, many still secretly tipped with nerve agents), as well as by all of Iran's long-range missiles, and all of Hezbollah's and Hamas' missiles and guerrillas. Israel could find itself suddenly attacked from three directions at the same time (from the east, north, and south), with thousands of missiles raining down on its cities and military bases, and a thousand Iraqi tanks (meant to defeat and occupy Iran) pouring across its borders. As Israel starts to see its small area of land overrun, and sees that its total defeat and occupation is imminent and assured, in retaliation it could drop nuclear bombs on Baghdad, Damascus (Isaiah 17:1), Tehran, and other major cities of Iraq, Syria, and Iran.
There could be so many nuclear explosions sending so much radioactive dust and ash so high into the atmosphere that they could be blown eastward and fall on hugely-populated South Asia, ruining so many crop fields and immune systems there with radiation that one-fourth of the world's population could end up dying from the war and its aftermath of famines and epidemics.
This could fulfill the horrible war which will begin the future Tribulation of Revelation chapters 6 to 18 and Matthew 24, which war will, with its aftermath of famines and epidemics, end up killing one-fourth of the world (Revelation 6:4-8). The "great sword" of this war (Revelation 6:4) could be Israel's nuclear weapons. This war could be blamed not only on the religious fundamentalism of Islam and Judaism, but also on religious fundamentalism in general, and so could lead to a worldwide crusade against all forms of religious fundamentalism, including Christian fundamentalism, that is, the (correct) idea that the Bible is wholly true (2 Timothy 3:16, Matthew 4:4), and that all other religions are cursed, doubly cursed (Galatians 1:8-9, John 14:6, John 3:36, Acts 4:12).
jgr said in post #42:
Interpretation via imagination.
How does preterism imagine that Matthew 24:29-31 was fulfilled in 70 AD, or that Joel 2:30-31 was fulfilled at the time of Acts 2, which was decades earlier than 70 AD?
Be specific. What does each thing in Matthew 24:29-31 and Joel 2:30-31 represent exactly, according to preterism?
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Because preterism and Christian Futurism differ on when things will happen, they necessarily differ on how things will happen. For preterism considers most Biblical prophecies to be symbolic descriptions of invisible, spiritual events, which could have occurred sometime in the past, while Christian Futurism considers most Biblical prophecies to be literal descriptions of visible, physical events, a great many of which have never occurred in the past.
Because of this difference in their belief in how most Biblical prophecies are fulfilled, preterism sees Christian Futurism as carnal, only interested in the physical, instead of setting its sights on the spiritual, while Christian Futurism sees preterism as overly intellectualized, forgetting that God is interested not only in spiritual redemption, but also in complete physical redemption (Romans 8:23-25, Luke 24:39, Philippians 3:21, Revelation 21:5).
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Also, preterism sometimes disparages futurism as being nothing more than "newspaper theology".
But Christian Futurism considers today's news stories regarding such things as geopolitics and technology, so that the news can help Christians to consider different ways for how exactly the not-yet-fulfilled, yet still understandable, and almost entirely literal, highly detailed prophecies in Revelation chapters 6 to 18 might be fulfilled in our future. For example, Christians at any time in the past could understand that Revelation 6:4-8 refers to a horrible, literal war which will start the future Tribulation, and which, with its aftermath of famines and epidemics, will end up killing one-fourth of the world. Christians at any time in the past could understand this without having to know, for example, what nation will start the war, or what weapons will be employed in the war. What Christian Futurism does is consider these things.
For another example, Christians at any time in the past could understand that Revelation 13:14-15 refers to a literal image (Greek: "eikon", something made in the likeness) of the future Antichrist (the individual-man aspect of Revelation's "beast"), which image will appear to be alive, and speak. And people will have to worship it, or be killed. Christians at any time in the past could understand this without having to know, for example, whether the image will be two-dimensional or three-dimensional (or both), or what it will be made of, or how it will be made to speak, or appear to be alive. What Christian Futurism does is consider these things.
Preterist Christians hate newspaper exegesis, because they think that Bible prophecy has been fulfilled. But while they rail against Futurist Christians for searching today's newspapers for any possible fulfillments, no matter how strained, Preterists themselves search ancient newspapers, as it were, search ancient histories, for any possible fulfillments, no matter how strained.
So all Christians partake in newspaper exegesis to some extent, it just depends on how old the newspapers are in which they search.