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40 of 46 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good Introduction to Preterism, but Unconvincing, January 26, 2004
I enjoyed this book as a good, solid introduction to the preterist view. R.C. Sproul gives a fair and comprehensive look at the issues regarding end-times prophecy from a preterist perspective, explaining both the emotional reasons behind the rising popularity of the view (the desire to defend scriptural truth against attacks that first century prophecies were wrong) and make a thorough examination of the preterist view itself. What I found curious about the book, however, is that even R.C. Sproul does not seem completely convinced of the preterist view, and yet he seems reluctant to address these limitations directly. It is these limitations, in fact, that prevent me from accepting this view myself. Holding to a preterist view -- in my opinion -- is like being pregnant. One is either pregnant or one is not pregnant. One cannot be "sort of" pregnant or "mostly" pregnant. Likewise, either one sees the Olivet Discourse as being completely fulfilled in the first century or one does not. One cannot see it being "mostly" fulfilled or "partially" fulfilled. And this is the very problem with preterism. Preterism claims to take the scriptures literally -- and to be the only view to do so completely. And yet, in order to maintain preterism's brand of literalism, it must play loose with prophetic fulfillment. Prophetic fulfillment becomes like horseshoes. "Close" is good enough. For those who insist on prophecies being fulfilled precisely, preterism can only get in the ballpark. It cannot provide the kind of precise, literal fulfillment that scripture demands. If one demands, not just a literal fulfillment but a PRECISE fulfillment, the best the first century events can do is to provide a foreshadowing of events to come. In Acts 1:9, for example, we are told that, when Jesus returns, it will be as He ascended -- in the clouds, in bodily form. Where, in preterism, do we find this? Nowhere but a vision of Josephus. Very unsatisfying. Likewise, the Great Tribulation -- not only did Jesus say there would be none like it, but there never would be again. The slaughter of one million Jews in the first century was horrific, but it pales in comparison to the six million under Hitler and the nine million under Stalin. How could a first-century slaughter fulfill this prophecy? And instead of an abomination inside the temple, as Jesus foretold, preterism substitutes eagles on the Roman standards outside the courtyard. As my mother would say, "It's close, but no banana." As precise a theologian as Sproul is, his willingness to accept these "close but no banana" fulfillments is curious to me; and his own apparent discomfort with the apparent lack of precision in certain prophecies begs for direct address, and yet one never comes. I did sense that these things seemed to bother Sproul, as well they should. As such, as one of the foremost theologians of our times, I would have liked to have seen him address this problem head-on. H. L. Nigro, author of Before God's Wrath: The Bible's Answer to the Timing of the Rapture
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