jgr said in post #116:
[Re: There has never been any verification from history or scripture of the fulfillment of Matthew 24]
Only if you deny the enormous repository of existing evidence.
Note that there is no evidence which shows the fulfillment of Matthew 24, just as there is no evidence which shows the fulfillment of Revelation chapters 6 to 22.
For example, the weird locust-like beings in Revelation 9:7-10, and the subsequent army of 200 million weird horse-like beings in Revelation 9:16-19, could both be literal, and could both be seen by the world as "aliens", or "demons", when in fact they could both be animal species which evolved or were miraculously created (at two different times) on the earth millions of years ago. The weird locust-like beings are currently living, or are in some state of extended hibernation, in the Bottomless Pit of the earth (Revelation 9:2-3,11), which may have a physical manifestation as a deep underground cavern. The top of this cavern could be deep under the city of Abadan (in Iran), just as the Bottomless Pit is under the angel Abaddon (Revelation 9:11). The weird locust-like beings will swarm up from the Bottomless Pit to torment mankind with excruciating stings for five months (Revelation 9:2-10). They will not kill anyone, but they will make those they sting want to die, the pain will be so bad (Revelation 9:5-6). They will hurt people who do not have a seal of God on their forehead (Revelation 9:4, cf. Revelation 7:3-4).
The world could see these locust-like beings as "aliens" who had lain dormant in deep underground caverns (like in the X-Files). The locust-like beings will be shaped like horses prepared for battle (Revelation 9:7). They will have heads on which they will have as it were crowns like gold (Revelation 9:7b). They will have faces as the faces of men (Revelation 9:7c), hair as the hair of women (Revelation 9:8), teeth as the teeth of lions (Revelation 9:8b), and breastplates as it were breastplates of iron (Revelation 9:9). They will have wings, the sound of which will be as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle (Revelation 9:9b). And they will have tails like unto scorpions (Revelation 9:10), and stingers in their tails (Revelation 9:10b).
Regarding the subsequent, weird horse-like beings (Revelation 9:16-19), because they will have to come from somewhere, and it could be difficult to keep 200 million of them hidden on the earth, they could be currently living, or be in some state of extended hibernation, in hidden underground bases somewhere away from the earth, such as on the far side of the moon, and/or on the next planet out from the sun (they could even be a source of the mysterious methane emissions which have been detected in places emanating from beneath the fourth planet's surface).
The 200 million literal, weird horse-like beings of the Tribulation's sixth trumpet (Revelation 9:16-19) have not come upon the earth yet (as is sometimes claimed), because one-third of mankind has not been killed by them yet (Revelation 9:18).
jgr said in post #116:
[Re: Preterism employs vast amounts of speculation, presumption, conjecture, imagination, fantasy, and fallacy, in order to try (vainly) to fit all of the details of Revelation chapters 6 to 22 into the past]
I thought we were discussing Matthew 24.
Note that Revelation chapters 6 to 18 refer to the same, never-fulfilled Tribulation as Matthew 24, immediately after which Jesus Christ's Second Coming must occur (Matthew 24:29-31, Revelation 19:7 to 20:6).
jgr said in post #116:
[Re: Matthew 24]
Did Christ, the Holy Spirit, the New Testament writers, the historical defenders of the faith, and the secular historians; all employ vast amounts of speculation, presumption, conjecture, imagination, fantasy, and fallacy; there?
Note that neither Christ, nor the Holy Spirit, nor the New Testament writers ever said anything to support the mistaken preterist idea that the Tribulation and Second Coming of Matthew 24 and Revelation chapters 6 to 19 are in our past.
jgr said in post #116:
[Re: Revelation 8:8]
Dictionary definition of "cast":
throw (something) forcefully in a specified direction.
synonyms:
throw, toss, fling, pitch, hurl, lob;
- all of which necessitate the object being first lifted clear of the ground or its support before being thrown
- notice that “collapse” is not a synonym
Note that in Revelation 8:8 the original Greek word (ballo: G0906) translated as "cast" can also be translated as "thrown down" (Revelation 18:21b). And it could be Satan who will "throw down" a volcano into the ocean, such as by causing it to collapse during a huge eruption.
jgr said in post #116:
[Re: "The sea" in the Bible does not always have to be global (e.g. Matthew 8:24)]
Luke 8 parallel passage:
22 Now it came to pass on a certain day, that he went into a ship with his disciples: and he said unto them, Let us go over unto the other side of the lake. And they launched forth.
The “sea” in Matthew is of course the “sea of Galilee”, which Luke confirms is a lake.
What is the name of the lake which lies in the North Atlantic ocean off the shore of one of the Canary islands?
Note that you previously said: "Revelation 8:8 refers to 'the sea' meaning globally".
But in Revelation 8:8 the original Greek word (thalassa: G2281) is also used in Matthew 8:24, for example, to refer to a non-global body of water.
So nothing requires that "the sea" (thalassa) in Revelation 8:8 is global. It could be the North Atlantic, which the U.S. and U.K. affectionately call "the pond".
Regarding Luke 8:22, it uses a different Greek word (limne: G3041), which is translated as "lake". It can also mean "a pond" (Strong's Greek Dictionary).
But "thalassa" in Revelation 8:8 doesn't have to refer to a lake, because it is also used, for example, in Acts 27:38 to refer to the Mediterranean Sea.
jgr said in post #116:
[Re: Revelation 8:8 can mean that it came to appear like blood]
The word “like” does not appear in Revelation 8:8.
Note that it doesn't have to in order to mean that.
For example, the "blood" of grapes is not literal in Genesis 49:11. But red wine can appear like blood.
jgr said in post #116:
[Re: Revelation 8:9]
Whatever it was or will be, was not nor will be anything remotely resembling your fantasy scenario.
How do you know, if you don't even know whether or not it has already been fulfilled?
jgr said in post #116:
The word “trinity” does not appear in Scripture, is exclusively anthropogenic in definition and usage, and as such is potentially subject to variations in understanding and application.
Note that
the idea of the Trinity does appear in Scripture, and it is quite clearly spelled out.
For the Bible makes abundantly clear that Jesus Christ is God (John 1:1,14, John 10:30, John 20:28, Titus 2:13, Philippians 2:6, Matthew 1:23). And He is uncreated God, just as God the Father is uncreated God. For everything created was created by Jesus (John 1:3, Colossians 1:16-17). Because Jesus is uncreated, there was never a time when He was not. He has always existed. He is YHWH the Holy One, from everlasting (Habakkuk 1:12a, Acts 3:14, Micah 5:2c). He is YHWH the only Savior (Isaiah 43:11, Titus 2:13), YHWH the good shepherd (Psalms 23:1, John 10:11, Mark 10:18), YHWH who will set His feet on the Mount of Olives at His return (Zechariah 14:3-4, Acts 1:11-12), YHWH the first and last (Isaiah 44:6, Revelation 2:8), YHWH the great I AM (Exodus 3:14, John 8:58), the great God (Titus 2:13), the mighty God (Isaiah 9:6), one God with God the Father (John 10:30, John 20:28), equal in divinity with God the Father (Philippians 2:6).
Just as the Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19) is the three distinct, coexisting Persons (Mark 1:9-11) of God the Father (Galatians 1:3), God the Son (Hebrews 1:8), and God the Holy Spirit (cf. Mark 13:11 and Matthew 10:19-20; Acts 5:3-4), so the Trinity is YHWH the Father, YHWH the Son, and YHWH the Holy Spirit. For YHWH is the only God (Isaiah 45:5-6). He has always been and forever will be the only God (Isaiah 43:10b).
jgr said in post #116:
By contrast, “antichrist” does appear in Scripture, is comprehensively defined and described exclusively in John's epistles, and does not suffer from misunderstanding or misapplication when guided by John's declarations.
Note that nothing in the Bible says or requires that
the idea of the Antichrist "is comprehensively defined and described exclusively in John's epistles", nor that the future man commonly called the Antichrist will in any way not fulfill John's declarations.
jgr said in post #116:
Comparing “trinity” to “antichrist” is the classic example of comparing apples to oranges.
No, for while they are opposed in principle, neither idea is spelled out in its entirety in the Bible using those specific words.
jgr said in post #116:
[Re: Paul]
He is consistent in applying “naos” exclusively to the spiritual temple of the believer, collectively, the Church.
Do you mean in his epistles?
If so, note that 2 Thessalonians 2:4 can be the only instance in Paul's epistles where "naos" refers to an actual, physical temple. For your argument is like the argument of full preterism which claims that the "elements" in 2 Peter 3:10,12 cannot be physical, because all of the other verses in the Bible where the original Greek word "stoicheion" (G4747) is used, refer to non-physical elements. The truth is that the "elements" in 2 Peter 3:10,12 can be the only place in the Bible where "stoicheion" is used to refer to physical elements, just as, for example, Revelation 6:6 can be (and in fact is) the only place in the Bible where the Greek word "choinix" (G5518) is used at all. Similarly, 2 Thessalonians 2:4 can be the only instance in Paul's epistles where "naos" refers to an actual, physical temple.
But why restrict Paul's use of "naos" to only his epistles? For he used "naos" in Acts 17:24 to refer to actual, physical temples.
Also, while the Church as a whole is indeed a figurative temple building (Ephesians 2:21), it is not the only temple of God. For it coexisted with the literal, second temple building which was in Jerusalem in the first century AD (Luke 24:53, Acts 2:46, Acts 22:17), just as the Church coexisted, and still coexists today, with the literal temple building in heaven (Revelation 11:19), and with the temple of Jesus Christ's individual human body (John 2:21), and with the temple of every Christian's individual human body (1 Corinthians 6:19). And if the Church-as-a-whole temple can currently coexist with all of these other temples of God, it will be able to coexist with the future, third, earthly, literal temple building which Revelation 11:1-2, Matthew 24:15, Daniel 11:31,36, and 2 Thessalonians 2:4 show will exist in Jerusalem during the future Tribulation of Revelation chapters 6 to 18 and Matthew 24. This third temple will be accepted by God as a valid temple, just as the second temple was accepted by God as a valid temple, even at the time of Jesus' first coming (Matthew 23:21), and even at the time of the early Church (Luke 24:53, Acts 2:46, Acts 22:17).
For the ultra-Orthodox Jews will build the third temple, and they will offer animal sacrifices in front of it, under the auspices of the Old Covenant Mosaic law, which remains holy before God (Romans 7:12). This is why God still keeps an ark of the Old Covenant Mosaic law in His temple building in heaven (Revelation 11:19), and why it was possible for the apostle Paul one time to involve himself with the second temple's Old Covenant Mosaic law practices without him committing sin (Acts 21:20-26; 1 Corinthians 9:20). This is not to say that the Jesus-denying motives of the ultra-Orthodox Jews will be holy before God, but that the Old Covenant Mosaic-law third-temple in itself and its animal sacrifices in themselves will be holy before God, because the Old Covenant Mosaic law in itself remains holy before God (Romans 7:12), even though its letter is no longer meant to be practiced by people (Romans 7:6), because the New Covenant has been inaugurated by Jesus Christ and His once-for-all-time sacrifice on the Cross for our sins (Hebrews 10:1-23, Matthew 26:28).
jgr said in post #116:
By no stretch of fantasy can a retaining wall which was detached, separate, and distinct from any temple building, be considered a “building of the temple” or “structure of the temple” or “anything of the temple”.
Note that the Wailing Wall was an integral part of the second temple complex. That is why it is held to be so holy by the Jews today. It is their holiest place of worship in the whole world. No doubt God spared it for their sake.
jgr said in post #116:
The temple and its buildings (which did not include the separate retaining wall), which Jesus prophesied would be destroyed, were destroyed.
His prophecy was fulfilled to the letter.
Note that it wasn't. For He prophesied of the still-future time when not one stone will be left upon another even throughout the entire
city of Jerusalem (Luke 19:44).