I've studied this issue in some depth. It's actually a very important topic (I agree with you and Jeffersonian, by the way), because there is a theological conflict in the modern church over the issue of the Kingdom of God. The heretics of the Emergent church movement (including such theologians as Rob Bell, Brian McLaren, Steve Chalke, and others) claim that the the Kingdom of God is already here in its fullness. Now, I want to be careful not to proclaim posters here guilty by association with these theologians, or by their adherance to this view of the Kingdom of God. So I want to be clear that I am not personally attacking Dies3l or passing summary judgment on him. I don't even know him well enough to do such a thing. But I do want to illustrate the problems with the Emergent view of the Kingdom of God, and why it can lead to heresy and apostasy.
I think most orthodox Christians here will agree with me that the Bible portrays the Kingdom of God as something yet to come, but also here in part. We must be careful to hold these two in tension. You obviously know of certain brands of "RaptureBaptists" who believe that the Kingdom is not here at all. The Emergers go the other way, and claim that the Kingdom is here in its fullness. This leads to problems. This part of the Emergent heresy is nothing new, because some of the Ephesians in the first century believed that the Kingdom had already come:
But avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened. They are upsetting the faith of some. (2 Timothy 2:16-18)
How could these two heretics say that the resurrection had already happened? Wasn't it clear that the dead had not been raised to life? Obviously, the problem with Hymenaeus and Philetus is that they misunderstood the nature of the general resurrection of the dead. Bible commentator Adam Clarke elaborates on why this theology is so deadly,
They had the truth, but erred or wandered from it, saying the resurrection was already past, and thus denying the resurrection of the body, and, by consequence, future rewards and punishments; and this necessarily sapped the foundation of all religion: and thus the gangrene had, in reference to their unhappy votaries, a rapid and unchecked operation.
So if you deny the resurrection, your likely motive is to deny the existence of a future heaven where all believers are predestined, and a future hell where all non-Christians will endure eternal conscious torment. Adam Clarke predicts that this theology saps the foundation of the faith. I find it interesting that Clarke's prediction finds its fulfillment in the Emergent church. Emergent theologians have called into question the doctrine that God sends all non-Christians to hell. And indeed they do sap the foundation of all religion, because they also deny penal substitutionary atonement. They deny the doctrine that God laid all our sins on Christ and nailed him to the cross, and imputed all of Christ's goodness to us. Without this doctrine, I don't know how you can even have a Gospel. So the issue of the Kingdom of God is very important, because incorrect thinking about it will invariably lead to heresy and denial of the faith.
So, what about the Gospel passages in which Jesus refers to the coming Kingdom? Let's look at one of them:
Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom. (Matthew 16:28)
There is a certain sense in which the institution of the church at Pentecost inaugurates the Kingdom of God. As it says,
Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, "The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed, nor will they say, 'Look, here it is!' or 'There!' for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you." (Luke 17:20-21)
Some translations say that the Kingdom of God is "within you." In a way, the Kingdom of God is present in the church because of the ministry of the Holy Spirit working within us. But lest we forget that the Kingdom is also yet to come, Jesus says in the same breath,
For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day. (Luke 17:24)
So there
is a sign that attends the coming of the Kingdom, even though it has already come without a sign. The second coming of Christ will be unlike the first, because it will be unmistakable. No one will have any doubts as to whether or not Christ is who he says he is, and there will be judgment for those who didn't believe in him (= eternal hell).
Ultimately we don't want to hole ourselves up in a mountain with our families and wait for the rapture. But we also don't want to live as though the Kingdom is here in its fullness. The Emergent heretics started down their path with good intentions. They saw that the church wasn't doing enough about the environment, social justice, sex trafficking in other countries, etc. But then they got the false idea that loving one's neighbor is inconsistent with telling one's neighbor that he will go to hell if he doesn't give up his false religion and confess Jesus as Lord. So they resurrected (no pun intended) the theology of Hymenaeus and Philetus, and said that the Kingdom of God is already here. This serves their agenda in two ways. First, as Rob Bell puts it, it motivates us to bring heaven to earth, meaning that we should uphold social justice in God's kingdom. Second, it obscures the idea of a final judgment that is yet to come, so that we can believe that non-Christians might not go to hell (because the general resurrection has already happened, in a sense).
I believe that the Emergent heresy is ultimately self-defeating. If the Kingdom of God is already here, then we have to wonder why God hasn't righted all wrongs. This ultimately takes away our hope of ever fixing the problems of the world. Jesus himself said that although we must help the poor, we will never be able to end poverty (Matthew 26:11). But if we trust Jesus rather than invent our own theology, then we know that the Kingdom of God is here in part. So it is important that we uphold social justice. But we must also trust Jesus when he says that all non-Christians are going to hell, and this is unsettling to Emergents. We must never give up the doctrine of eternal conscious torment for all non-Christians. Jesus taught this doctrine, and we must take him at his word. Let us not stray into the ancient heresy of saying that the resurrection has already happened.
), but I do suspect the comment comes from a lack understanding of the complexity and diversity of the emerging church movement (of which the Emergent Church is only one small part).
