Is Premillennialism A Prerequisite for Fundamental Baptists

Dr. Bob Griffin said:

The second conviction was that the premillennial coming of the Lord is the only hope of man.

First, premillennial does not mean Dispensational premillennial (hence the departure of Arno Gaebelein); second, who gave the Niagara Conference a monopoly on determining what constitutes fundamental truth? third, Dispensationalists have not established that man's only hope lies in a premillennial return of Christ, i.e. it is yet to be established that Dispensational premillennialism is any more "hopeful" than any other eschatology.

 

Two questions:

1. What does the text of the Niagra Conference points *actually say*? I can't find it on the net - I can only find references to it, and the comments on the 5th point (about Christ's return) are vague.

2. How representative of "fundamentalists" was this conference? Did it represent a small group, a big group, all fundamentalists everywhere, 50%, etc.? How can we know?

 

Bump - I still can't find the text of the five points from the Niagra Conference. Anyone?

 

I haven't found the text, either, but I have found this:

The 5 point of fundamentalism did not come from Niagara (they published 14 points) but from a resolution of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church 1910 (LINK). The five points are:

1. The inerrancy of the Bible
2. The virgin birth of Christ
3. Christ's substitutionary atonement
4. Christ's bodily resurrection
5. The authenticity of Christ's miracles.

Here is a good LINK for the 14-point Niagara statement.

Here is an excerpt:

I have also found a 9-point statement from a 1919 World Christian Fundamentals Association.


Andy