Literal Interpretation of Bible Prophecy: Help or Hindrance?

[Quasar92]

If literal interpretation is the approved interpretive orthodoxy, then unquestionably the very first prophecy in Scripture should have a literal interpretation.

So we await with interest anyone's literal interpretation of Genesis 3:15.

Show me a single prophecy in the Bible that isn't literal


Quasar92.

 

[jgr]

Show me a single prophecy in the Bible that isn't literal


Quasar92.

Do you need to go "see" your optometrist? Here, I'll help:

Genesis 3:15

 

[Biblewriter]

There is a consistent rule that runs throughout the entire Bible for the prophecies for which we have an inspired interpretation. ALL of them that were given as dreams or visions, and for which we were explicitly told the meaning, had a meaning that was symbolic, rather than literal. And ALL of them that were explicit statements of future events, couched in plain, straightforward language, and which we have been told were fulfilled, were fulfilled literally.

 

[jgr]

Show me a single prophecy in the Bible that isn't literal


Quasar92.

In case you've forgotten...

 

[GingerBeer]

Literal Interpretation of Bible Prophecy: Help or Hindrance?

It is not a help nor a hindrance it is a myth. No current popular interpretative scheme is literal. Name one that takes the context in time, location, culture, and literary form seriously and yet claims to be literal while also teaching that the end is near - at hand as some say - and that there's a need to make preparations to face the exigencies of 'the end of days'.

 

[GingerBeer]

.

I see. Is this the latest fashion in end times? Just wait until the "new season's fashion" comes out! People will dump this one like they dumped "platform shoes".

 

[Quasar92]

Do you need to go "see" your optometrist? Here, I'll help:

Genesis 3:15

Well, good for you. You found a prophecy that was not actually literal, yet dificult as said, not to clearly understand its meaning. There are more than 300 literal prophecies bout Jesus in the OY, Jesus fulfilled in the NT. You can find more than 60 of them at the following link:

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/deeperwalk/61-prophecies-fulfilled-by-jesus-t14522456.html


Quasar92

 

[Quasar92]

It is not a help nor a hindrance it is a myth. No current popular interpretative scheme is literal. Name one that takes the context in time, location, culture, and literary form seriously and yet claims to be literal while also teaching that the end is near - at hand as some say - and that there's a need to make preparations to face the exigencies of 'the end of days'.

Please tell me the source of Christian teachings support your above contribution.


Quasar92

 

[GingerBeer]

Please tell me the source of Christian teachings support your above contribution.


Quasar92

what? it needs to be a group view to be true?

 

[Biblewriter]

what? it needs to be a group view to be true?

It does not need a group view to be true. But your claim was that people like Qusar92 and myself do not exist.

 

[BABerean2]

It does not need a group view to be true. But your claim was that people like Qusar92 and myself do not exist.

Those who promote the Two Peoples of God doctrine claim to hold to a "literal" interpretation of scripture, but do the exact opposite in Daniel chapter 9.

They ignore the promise of the New Covenant in Jeremiah 31:31-34, which is found fulfilled by Christ during the first century in Hebrews 8:6-13, and specifically applied to the Church in Hebrews 12:22-24, and 2 Corinthians 3:6-8.

They ignore the fulfillment of Daniel 9:24, which is found in Hebrews 10:16-18, and Acts 10:38.

They ignore a time period of about 7 years when the Gospel was taken "first" to Daniel's people, before Paul began his ministry to the Gentiles, in Matthew 10:5-7, and Galatians 1:14-18.

They then add an antichrist not found in the chapter, and also add a "gap" of time to the 490 year prophecy not mentioned by the angel Gabriel.

They deny any relationship between the covenant with the "many" in Daniel 9:27 and the covenant with "many" in Matthew 26:28.



And they then claim this a "literal" interpretation of the passage.


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[Quasar92]

what? it needs to be a group view to be true?

Thank you. That answers my question. There are none.


Quasar92

 

[GingerBeer]

It does not need a group view to be true. But your claim was that people like Qusar92 and myself do not exist.

You exist, it is your claim to be reading prophecy "literally" that is mythical.

 

[GingerBeer]

Thank you. That answers my question. There are none.


Quasar92

And that proves something?

 

[dqhall]

Literal Interpretation of Bible Prophecy: Help or Hindrance?



About the time of the End, a body of men will be raised up who will turn their attention to the prophecies, and insist upon their literal interpretation in the midst of much clamor and opposition.
-Sir Isaac Newton

Dr. John Walvoord was asked about a year ago "what do you predict will be the most significant theological issues over the next ten years?" His answer includes the following: "the hermeneutical problem of not interpreting the Bible literally, especially the prophetic areas. The church today is engulfed in the idea that one cannot interpret prophecy literally."1 While millions of evangelicals still believe and practice literal interpretation of the Bible, including prophecy, there is nevertheless, a noticeable trend by some who are "engulfed in the idea that one cannot interpret prophecy literally."

CLAMOR AND OPPOSITION

The last few years have witnessed the rise of a new growth industry within evangelicalism relating to Bible prophecy. There has been an ever- increasing wave of materials warning evangelicals against the literal interpretation of Bible prophecy and perceived implications that could follow from such practice. Increasingly, from outside the church (and some from within), those who believe in the literal interpretation of Bible prophecy are being pictured as a danger and threat to the progress of modern society. In the past, those who took Bible prophecy seriously were often ignored, since it was believed that their views did not impact in any significant way society at large. However, a reassessment by some secularists appears to attach great significance and blame to such beliefs.

The recent assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin has set off a new flurry of criticism in the media of conservative religious beliefs that the Bible gives Israel a divine right to the land. Since many evangelicals share this view, I expect some will attempt to link this ungodly act with a literal belief in Bible prophecy. The last decade has increasingly seen an attempt by some to link a literal interpretation of the Bible to extremism. Some critics have tried to blame such activities as the threats of nuclear war, Islamic terrorism, American cult extremists, and the bombing in Oklahoma City, as all identical in nature and inflamed by a literal interpretation of the Bible. Such false linkage is then presented as proof that beliefs of this kind are a dangerous threat to society and that steps must be taken to control such views and preempt supposed actions that might follow from them.

SECULAR PROPHECY PHOBIA

Since they reject the Bible as a whole, especially the supernatural implication required for fulfillment, secularists have always thought that belief in Bible prophecy was weird, In recent years a number of books and articles have appeared attempting to explain to secularists biblical prophecy beliefs in an attempt to assess the impact of such beliefs on the thinking of society in general. Some of the books include: Apocalypse: On the Psychology of Fundamentalism in America by Charles Strozier; Naming the Antichrist: The History of an American Obsession by Robert Fuller; and the most widely-heralded When Time Shall Be No More: Prophecy Belief in Modern American Culture by Paul Boyer.2

Why, apart from pure academic exercises, would secularists (who believe that life should be lived apart from religious influence) be interested in the prophetic beliefs of biblical literalists? Apparently some secularists believe that one is not properly enlightened if he or she is ignorant of the prophetic beliefs of a large segment of the common people. In this way, Robert Fuller speaks of "my insistence that religion can and should be made the subject of intellectual inquiry."3 Likewise, Paul Boyer contends that "Much evidence (some direct, some inferential) suggests that, despite gradual erosion in the twentieth century, prophetic belief remains deeply rooted in the United States as the century ends."4

The December 19, 1994 issue of U.S. News & World Report ran a cover-story on Bible prophecy. Interestingly,it was run not in the religious section, but in the science and society section, and entitled "Waiting for The Messiah: The new clash over the Bible's millennial prophecies."5 This article reduces belief in biblical prophecy as the fulfillment of a psychological drive to find meaning in life, even though it is said to have great "destructive potential" (p. 71). What is interesting about the article is its focus on a departure by some evangelicals from the literal interpretation of prophecy and a new openness to less literal alternative approaches. The tone of the article seems to be that finally, even some of those crazy literalists are waking up and realizing that Bible prophecy cannot be taken literally in these enlightened and modern times.

By Thomas Ice, PhDl


Quasar92

Some people were waiting for the Jews to return to Israel as it was prophesied they would return.

Isaiah 43
5 Don’t be afraid; for I am with you.
I will bring your offspring from the east,
and gather you from the west.
6 I will tell the north, ‘Give them up!’
and tell the south, ‘Don’t hold them back!
Bring my sons from far,
and my daughters from the ends of the earth—

People need knowledge to understand the value of what is in the Bible. Some of the Jews returned to Israel after the Persians conquered Babylon. The Jews were scattered in later times, but kept trying to return. In 1948 they began to return to Israel in large numbers.

People will have preferences as to what Biblical verses they prefer and what verses they do not care for. Most men do not obery the Biblical commandment to grow beards without trimming them, but shaved frequently instead (Leviticus 19). Most women do not take the Biblical commandment to be ceremonially unclean for seven days and to sacrifice two pigeons in the eighth day after the period began literally (Leviticus 15).

 

[Quasar92]

And that proves something?

Yes, it does. Your answer is in post #33.


Quasar92

 

[claninja]

Show me a single prophecy in the Bible that isn't literal


Quasar92.

“Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.
Malachi 3:1

“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”
Malachi 4:5-6

10 This is he of whom it is written, “‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’ 14 and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come.
Matthew 11:10,14

12 But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of Man will certainly suffer at their hands.” Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.
Matthew 17:12-13

 

[BABerean2]

Most women do not take the Biblical commandment to be ceremonially unclean for seven days and to sacrifice two pigeons in the eighth day after the period began literally (Leviticus 15).

Since the New Covenant has made the Old Covenant "obsolete" in Hebrews 8:6-13, and Hebrews 12:18-24 contrasts the two covenants, and Paul compelled the Galatian believers to "cast out" the Sinai covenant of "bondage" in Galatians chapter 4, and the early Church made it clear we are not under the Law of Moses in Acts 15:24, we should not expect women to do those things.

Based on Galatians 3:16-29, the Sinai covenant was temporary.
It was "added" 430 years "after" the promise made to Abraham "until" the seed (Christ) could come to whom the promise was made.


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[Biblewriter]

You exist, it is your claim to be reading prophecy "literally" that is mythical.

As you have never read even one of my books, you have zero idea what you are speaking about.

 

[jgr]

Well, good for you. You found a prophecy that was not actually literal, yet dificult as said, not to clearly understand its meaning. There are more than 300 literal prophecies bout Jesus in the OY, Jesus fulfilled in the NT. You can find more than 60 of them at the following link:

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/deeperwalk/61-prophecies-fulfilled-by-jesus-t14522456.html


Quasar92

Since you already confirmed here that Genesis 3:15 is more spiritual than literal, you should take that one out of your list.

That said, there certainly are numerous prophecies within your list that are literal.

And others that are spiritual.