Ed,
I n oticed you didn't use Heb.9:26, which says that Christ came the first time "at the end of the age". That verse alone tells us that SOME age was coming to an end at that time. It couldn't have been the Church age because:
1. The Church age was just getting underway at that time!
2. The Church age never ends.
The term "the end of the age" means just that - the very end itself was near in the first century period. It does NOT mean "the church age".
It is soooooo funny that you make both the terms "this generation" and "the end of the age" to mean the Church age. Wow. What next, Ed? Oh yeah, "the last days" means the Church age too, hey??
Please stop and think, will ya. Dispensationalists would agree that the New Testament teaches imminency, right? The problem with your futuristic view is that you can't tell an atheist that the coming of the Lord was imminent in the first century and it's still imminent today. You would get laughed at up and down by the atheist, and quickly dismissed as irrelevant to any sort of meaningful discussion. Please think about that! You can't have imminency in the first century AND ALSO in the year 2004...that is, if teaching scripture with integrity means anything at all.
Warren
I n oticed you didn't use Heb.9:26, which says that Christ came the first time "at the end of the age". That verse alone tells us that SOME age was coming to an end at that time. It couldn't have been the Church age because:
1. The Church age was just getting underway at that time!
2. The Church age never ends.
The term "the end of the age" means just that - the very end itself was near in the first century period. It does NOT mean "the church age".
It is soooooo funny that you make both the terms "this generation" and "the end of the age" to mean the Church age. Wow. What next, Ed? Oh yeah, "the last days" means the Church age too, hey??
Please stop and think, will ya. Dispensationalists would agree that the New Testament teaches imminency, right? The problem with your futuristic view is that you can't tell an atheist that the coming of the Lord was imminent in the first century and it's still imminent today. You would get laughed at up and down by the atheist, and quickly dismissed as irrelevant to any sort of meaningful discussion. Please think about that! You can't have imminency in the first century AND ALSO in the year 2004...that is, if teaching scripture with integrity means anything at all.
Warren