Full and Partial Preterism claim 70 AD is the fulfillment of the day and the hour...
Love beating those straw men, don't you old man? But leaving the scenery chewing aside, here's what orthodox preterism is about:
Events that have occurred, have occurred. No good claiming they didn't happen, or that they didn't count, or that they'll be repeated later on. A fulfilled prophecy is a fulfilled prophecy.
For example, the desecration and destruction of the temple. Occurred as our Lord said it would. OPs believe that. Futurists do not; they say that fulfillment didn't count because it doesn't support their End Times schedules, so they imagine another temple.
Related to that, the cessation of the daily sacrifice. To no one's surprise, it happened when the temple was desecrated and destroyed. It has not taken place since. OPs say that prophecy has been fulfilled. primarily because it has. Futurists say no, it didn't count, and has to happen again because it doesn't support their End Times schedules, so they imagine sacrifice starting again so it can end again, thus making their doctrinal predictions work out.
Related to that, the 490 years prophesied by the prophet Daniel. The precise start time is still a matter of debate, but the end of it is very precisely delimited by the destruction of the temple and the cessation of sacrifice. The time is as close to 490 years as makes no difference. OPs say that the prophecy of Daniel has been fulfilled as foretold. Futurists say no,it didn't happen at all because it doesn't support their End Times schedules, so they imagine that when the prophet said 490 years he really meant more then 2000 years, thus making their doctrinal predictions work out.
Our Lord's warning to His disciples of the sack of Jerusalem, and the admonition that when they saw the city beseiged, to get out. Once again, this happened as He foretold, Jerusalem was devastated, and those who heeded His warnings had a chance to get clear and continue to spread His Word. OPs say that prophecy was fulfilled. Futurists, once again, say it didn't count, and has to happen again because it doesn't support their End Times schedules.
Anyone else see a pattern developing here?
And the beat goes on and on. Futurists contrive their elaborate End Times scenarios, many of them depending on events long past happening again, because otherwise their scenarios are ridiculous. So they "reinterpret" Scripture to read in meanings that jibe with their doctrine, denying some historical events and accepting others based on one single criterion - whether or not it fits with their doctrine.
The Futurists are like the software developer who writes a system that depends for its operation on conditions existing which in fact do not exist in the real universe, so he sets out changing the universe so that it corresponds to the logic in his program, Obviously a nonsensical notion. But that is the approach that Futurists take with Scripture and history. If the facts don't fit their doctrines, then rather than changing their doctrine to reflect reality, their answer is to change reality to fit their doctrines. While they're tilting at those factual windmills they are continually defaming and misrepresenting those who insist on dealing in reality, chucking insults and anathemas with equal enthusiasm.
BTW, the easily predictable Futurist response to this is a wholly false, scurrilous, and usually knowingly mendacious charge that OPs do not believe that our Lord will return as He said. So too put that lie to rest, these extracts from the creeds which
all orthodox preterists confess:
Apostle's Creed
I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth. And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord; Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit; Born of the Virgin Mary; Suffered under Pontius Pilate; Was crucified, dead and buried; He descended into Hell; The third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven; And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
From thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.
Nicene Creed
I believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all ages, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten not made, being of one substance with the Father, through Whom all things were made: Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven, was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man: Who for us, too, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, suffered, and was buried: the third day He rose according to the Scriptures, ascended into heaven, and is seated on the right hand of the Father:
He shall come again with glory to judge the living and the dead, and His kingdom shall have no end.
In addition, the church to which I belong confesses at each service:
"Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again."
If anyone claims we OPs do not believe these things, they are in fact either militantly ignorant or simply lying. Neither makes for a good character reference.
