Of This and That

"To lose faith and hope is tragic.

I'm not just talking about the loss of Christian hope and faith either... There are those that lose hope and faith in anything at all. No hope period. No faith period.... Totally disillusioned..

Welcome to the nilhism of existential Post-modernity; courtesy of the cultural disillusionment whose genesis came out of four long years in the trenches of France between the years of 1914 - 1918..."

The above is from one of my recent Xanga posts. It's genesis came out of some brief interaction with another younger Xanga member who was raised in a somewhat Evangelical background. Clink on the link above for the full post.

Old Testament Reading: Isaiah (English Standard Version)

The Gospel prophet... Underlining the references to "that day".... Noting the amount of space taken up by God's description of His being as God. If you're going to have a god, why would you want a god who was anything less then this God? The proto-apocalyptic chapters are intriguing.

New Testament Reading: Revelation (Greek/English Interlinear New Testament)

7 Churches, 7 seals, 7 trumpets, 7 bowls or vials... Notice the use of the word "gan" which is translated "earth" in contrast to the absence of the word "kosmos". The physical earth is clearly in focus... The seals, trumpets, and bowls are consecutive, and not recapitulation of one another.

In Revelation 8:1-5 I find great encouragement regarding prayer. The "prayers of all the saints" I take to refer to the saints of all ages and times. At the consummation of all things those prayers will receive their full answer, in this case specifically, the prayers for justice to be done.

A few years ago I found myself being grabbed by the nape of the neck and dragged kicking, screaming, and protesting back to a basic premillinial view of Revelation. Increasingly more and more I am finding my self dis-enchanted with the amillinial approach to this book of the Bible. In the amill approach, there is in my mind a basic hermeneutical weakness that simply does not do justice to what Revelation says about itself. Nor does that approach do justice to the book of Revelation as revelation from God without which the canon of Scripture would be incomplete.

On a final note: The spring flowers are just about ready to bloom... DST starts tonight.. I really don't like losing an hour... Oh well.....

Sola Deo Gloria!

~ The Billy Goat ~