Explain one of this position, what you think is their strength and what is their weakness?
Mid Tribulation Premillenial.
Premillenial is a system of beliefs concerning the second coming of Christ happening before a millennium (1000 years) in which he will supposedly reign on earth.
The issues of the relationship of Christ’s return to the complex of events are known as the great tribulation. In theory, all premillennialists hold that there will be a great disturbance of seven years’ duration prior to Christ’s coming. There are two common view point that is whether there will be a separate coming to remove the Church from the world prior to the great tribulation, which is called as the “pre-tribulation” or whether the Church will go through the tribulation and be united with the Lord afterward, which is called the post-tribulation. The mediation between this two tribulation is known as the Mid-tribulation. “Erickson, Christian Theology, p.1217
Definition: "The Mid-Tribulational Rapture view holds that the Rapture of the church will occur at the midpoint of the seven years of Tribulation. In this view, only the last half of Daniel's seventieth week is Tribulation." Ryrie, Basic Theology, p. 497.
The Mid-Tribulation position is created due to difficulties in attaching the pre and post tribulation. There is three views about Mid-tribulation.
1. Midtribulationists believe that Christ will come for His people in the midpoint of the tribulation, exactly 3 1/2 years after it begins and 3 1/2 years before it ends when the Lord returns with His saints to set up the millenial kingdom.
Support for this position argues that--
i. The last trumpet of 1 COR.15:52 is the same as the 7th trumpet of REV.11:15, which sounds at the middle of the tribulation.
ii. The great tribulation is only the last half of Daniel's 70th 7-year period, and the Church is promised deliverance only from that in REV.11:2 and 12:6.
iii. The resurrection of the two great evangelists during the tribulation in REV.11:11 pictures the rapture of the church, with their resurrection at the middle of the tribulation after 1260 days (11:3).
2. The second position is on the partial-rapture view, there will be a series of raptures. Whenever a portion of believers are ready, they will be removed from earth.
3. The third mediating position is imminent post-tribulationism. It is said that while the return of Christ will not take place until after the tribulation, it can be expected at any moment, for the tribulation may already be occurring.
Overall, I personally find the Mid-Tribulation to be weak.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
What is Universal Church? How should the Church reflect her unity to the world? Organic
First of all let’s look at the meaning of Church. There is two meaning that was derived from the Greek word “ekklessia”. The first meaning of Church is “An Assembly of Called Out Ones”. The second meaning speaks about the ownership which is “Belonging to the Lord”.
The Universal Church is the body of All Saved People Everywhere, this include all those who have been redeemed by Jesus Blood, have received forgiveness of their sins and been Born Spiritually into His Family. These are the one that was purchased by His Blood. The Universal Church has no “Earthly Headquarters”. The Head of the Church is in Heaven. This Church can’t be divided as it is not under any earthly organisation.
This is the Church that is composed of all Christian which Jesus referred to in Matthew 16:18. It is made up of all the saved, both living and death as said in Hebrew 12:22-24. The Universal Church that is called the “Body of Christ” as mentioned in Eph. 1:22-23. It is only one body therefore its only one Church Eph. 4:4. To “join” this Church one is “added” by the Lord Himself when saved as in Acts2:41,47. The membership of this Church is kept by The Lord, Heb 12:23, 2 Tim. 2:19. Only He knows those who are truly His. The Enrolment is in heaven. There is no agency in the earth that keeps a record. Death does not affect the membership of the Universal Church. As the Universal Church is made up of the saved both living and death, even when they are death they are still with Christ.
In the New Testament the prayer of Jesus teaches us that the church ought to be, actually is, or will be one. The unity between the Father and Son is a perfect model for the unity of believers with one another. We can see the evidence of this in John 17:20-23. Paul also urged in Eph. 4 for the believers to lead a life of unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
There are four different idea of Unity, which is Spiritual Unity, Mutual Recognition and fellowship, Conciliar Unity and Organic Unity. The Organic Unity means membership and ordination are joined. Denominations are joined and unite, there is merging of local congregations. There are few meaning to Organic Unity, it is the merging of different denomination, it also refer to combining of fellowship that are basically of the same confessional standard. The third one is referring to the either to remain within a denomination instead of separating from a denomination to form another group of basically similar tradition and liturgy (eg. Separating from one Baptist group to form another Baptist fellowship Churches) finally, the organic unity also relates to a local congregation. It is a question of whether an individual or group remains within a congregation or separates from it. An individual can simply leave the fellowship; but if a group withdraws, it is a matter of actualschism.
The Universal Church is the body of All Saved People Everywhere, this include all those who have been redeemed by Jesus Blood, have received forgiveness of their sins and been Born Spiritually into His Family. These are the one that was purchased by His Blood. The Universal Church has no “Earthly Headquarters”. The Head of the Church is in Heaven. This Church can’t be divided as it is not under any earthly organisation.
This is the Church that is composed of all Christian which Jesus referred to in Matthew 16:18. It is made up of all the saved, both living and death as said in Hebrew 12:22-24. The Universal Church that is called the “Body of Christ” as mentioned in Eph. 1:22-23. It is only one body therefore its only one Church Eph. 4:4. To “join” this Church one is “added” by the Lord Himself when saved as in Acts2:41,47. The membership of this Church is kept by The Lord, Heb 12:23, 2 Tim. 2:19. Only He knows those who are truly His. The Enrolment is in heaven. There is no agency in the earth that keeps a record. Death does not affect the membership of the Universal Church. As the Universal Church is made up of the saved both living and death, even when they are death they are still with Christ.
In the New Testament the prayer of Jesus teaches us that the church ought to be, actually is, or will be one. The unity between the Father and Son is a perfect model for the unity of believers with one another. We can see the evidence of this in John 17:20-23. Paul also urged in Eph. 4 for the believers to lead a life of unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
There are four different idea of Unity, which is Spiritual Unity, Mutual Recognition and fellowship, Conciliar Unity and Organic Unity. The Organic Unity means membership and ordination are joined. Denominations are joined and unite, there is merging of local congregations. There are few meaning to Organic Unity, it is the merging of different denomination, it also refer to combining of fellowship that are basically of the same confessional standard. The third one is referring to the either to remain within a denomination instead of separating from a denomination to form another group of basically similar tradition and liturgy (eg. Separating from one Baptist group to form another Baptist fellowship Churches) finally, the organic unity also relates to a local congregation. It is a question of whether an individual or group remains within a congregation or separates from it. An individual can simply leave the fellowship; but if a group withdraws, it is a matter of actualschism.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Lord's Supper
What is the minimal acceptable age for a person to be accepted to partake the Lord’s Supper?
There are two vital ordinances that the Church is to observed that is the baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Partaking of the bread symbolizes the breaking of Christ’s body and the cup symbolized the pouring out of Christ’s blood for us. This is why when we participate in the Lord’s Supper we are actually proclaiming what is said in I Cor. 11:26 “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes”. Other than that it also means that we are participating in or sharing in the benefit earned for us by the death of Jesus.
There is no mention of minimal age in the Bible in partaking of the Lord’s Supper. As to my understanding after referring and gathering from the theology book, it is clearly stated that the Lord’s Supper is only taken by those who believe in Jesus Christ. That is those who have accepted Jesus as their personal saviour. This is as a sign of being Christian and continuing in the Christian life. This depends on the maturity of the young believer. It is important for this new believer to understand the real meaning of the Lord’s Supper and to partake it with great reverend. The maturity in a child is different from one to another.
There are two vital ordinances that the Church is to observed that is the baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Partaking of the bread symbolizes the breaking of Christ’s body and the cup symbolized the pouring out of Christ’s blood for us. This is why when we participate in the Lord’s Supper we are actually proclaiming what is said in I Cor. 11:26 “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes”. Other than that it also means that we are participating in or sharing in the benefit earned for us by the death of Jesus.
There is no mention of minimal age in the Bible in partaking of the Lord’s Supper. As to my understanding after referring and gathering from the theology book, it is clearly stated that the Lord’s Supper is only taken by those who believe in Jesus Christ. That is those who have accepted Jesus as their personal saviour. This is as a sign of being Christian and continuing in the Christian life. This depends on the maturity of the young believer. It is important for this new believer to understand the real meaning of the Lord’s Supper and to partake it with great reverend. The maturity in a child is different from one to another.
Monday, September 1, 2008
The Biblical Understand of Church
The Biblical Understanding of Church
The word Church in other language that is translated from Greek is known as “kuriakos” which gives the meaning “belonging to the Lord”. The Greek translation “ekklesia” refers to a gathering or assembly of persons in the circular sense. This is the same meaning that is found in the Acts 19:32, 39 and41. Other than that in classical Greek it also carries the meaning of a religious fellowship or cultic guilt which refers to their business meetings and not to the union itself.
In Hebrew there are two term to explain the word church, “qahal” and “edah”. The word “qahal” is said derived from the word voice which refers to a summon of the assembly and the act of the assembling. It does not refer to the member of the assembly as a designation of the occurrence of assembling. In the Bible it is used in Deut. 9:10; 10:4; 23:1-3, which comes with the religious significances. In 1 Kings 12:3 it denotes more general assembly of the people, while in Jer. 44:15 it’s for the gathering of woman and in Ezra 10:1 and Neh. 8:2 it denotes children.
The word “edah” is more relevance to us as it appears in Pentateuch with mainly being mentioned in Book of Numbers. It refers to the people gathering before the tent of meeting as it first occurs in Exodus 12:3 which suggestion to “congregation”. The Bible also describe the church with a few images and the important ones are the church is known as the people of God, the body of Christ and the temple of the Holy Spirit.
The Kingdom of God
The Kingdom is the rule of God, while the church is the human community under the rule. The church is the manifestation of the kingdom or reign of God that is on earth. The Kingdom is also the manifestation of God’s sovereign rule in our hearts. The kingdom can found wherever God rules in human heart. The most important thing is that the Kingdom of God is found wherever His will is done.
The term Kingdom of God occurs mainly in the Gospel of Mark , Luke and in Matthew it is mentioned as the “Kingdom of Heaven. It is said that Jesus began His ministry by announcing “The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand” Mark 1:14-15. The word fulfilled gives us the understanding that the past promise is to come to pass. The Gospels also declare that Jesus will be the bringer of the Kingdom through his life. This includes his miracles, his teachings, his death and his resurrections.
Therefore Jesus and his apostles knew and understood that the Kingdom of God is the fulfilment of the hopes and promises recorded in the sacred Scriptures of the OT. Even though there is no mentioned about the Kingdom of God in the OT but the creation narrative in the book of Genesis gives us the idea of the rule of God over every creation.
The word Church in other language that is translated from Greek is known as “kuriakos” which gives the meaning “belonging to the Lord”. The Greek translation “ekklesia” refers to a gathering or assembly of persons in the circular sense. This is the same meaning that is found in the Acts 19:32, 39 and41. Other than that in classical Greek it also carries the meaning of a religious fellowship or cultic guilt which refers to their business meetings and not to the union itself.
In Hebrew there are two term to explain the word church, “qahal” and “edah”. The word “qahal” is said derived from the word voice which refers to a summon of the assembly and the act of the assembling. It does not refer to the member of the assembly as a designation of the occurrence of assembling. In the Bible it is used in Deut. 9:10; 10:4; 23:1-3, which comes with the religious significances. In 1 Kings 12:3 it denotes more general assembly of the people, while in Jer. 44:15 it’s for the gathering of woman and in Ezra 10:1 and Neh. 8:2 it denotes children.
The word “edah” is more relevance to us as it appears in Pentateuch with mainly being mentioned in Book of Numbers. It refers to the people gathering before the tent of meeting as it first occurs in Exodus 12:3 which suggestion to “congregation”. The Bible also describe the church with a few images and the important ones are the church is known as the people of God, the body of Christ and the temple of the Holy Spirit.
The Kingdom of God
The Kingdom is the rule of God, while the church is the human community under the rule. The church is the manifestation of the kingdom or reign of God that is on earth. The Kingdom is also the manifestation of God’s sovereign rule in our hearts. The kingdom can found wherever God rules in human heart. The most important thing is that the Kingdom of God is found wherever His will is done.
The term Kingdom of God occurs mainly in the Gospel of Mark , Luke and in Matthew it is mentioned as the “Kingdom of Heaven. It is said that Jesus began His ministry by announcing “The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand” Mark 1:14-15. The word fulfilled gives us the understanding that the past promise is to come to pass. The Gospels also declare that Jesus will be the bringer of the Kingdom through his life. This includes his miracles, his teachings, his death and his resurrections.
Therefore Jesus and his apostles knew and understood that the Kingdom of God is the fulfilment of the hopes and promises recorded in the sacred Scriptures of the OT. Even though there is no mentioned about the Kingdom of God in the OT but the creation narrative in the book of Genesis gives us the idea of the rule of God over every creation.
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