Category – Eschatology and Last things

  When people speak of heaven, they often use images of their favorite places (i.e., the beach, or Yosemite), or they describe some sort of disembodied existence where their immortal soul will finally be set free from the limitations imposed upon it by the human body.  I’ve heard many people…
CONTINUE

  The biblical account of the redemption of our fallen race takes many twists and turns throughout the course of redemptive history.  But the story comes to a glorious resolution when we come to the final chapter of the story.  There is indeed coming a day when all injustices will…
CONTINUE

Last year the web was buzzing with Harold Camping's prediction about the end of the world. Camping's organization spent millions of dollars on various forms of advertisements to warn people of the inpending consummation. But what many might not have known was that this was not Camping's first failed prediction…
CONTINUE

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4. Heresy on Salvation Harold Camping has not only deserted the church, he seems also to have deserted Christ and his Gospel. In his online book The End of the Church…and After, he began to reject a number of teachings on salvation common…
CONTINUE

Part 1 appears here, Part 2 appears here, Part 3 appears here. Heresy on the Church Camping’s calculations and allegorical readings eventually led him to a truly heretical conclusion: that the age of the church was over and that all Christians were required to separate themselves from all churches. I…
CONTINUE

Part 1 appears here, Part 2 appears here. Guru Camping’s knowledge of Bible verses and confidence led many to follow him as their only leader and teacher. He had become their guru. It is interesting how often people seek someone to follow unquestioningly. This reality has been called the Fuehrerprinzip…
CONTINUE

Part 1 appears here. Literalist and Allegorist Camping’s reading of the Bible led him to a curiously self-contradictory method which is at some times excessively literal and at other times wildly allegorical. As an engineer he has had a particular interest in the numbers in the Bible. It is this…
CONTINUE

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8. Chapter 8: The End is Here The title of this chapter reinforces the impression that Bell has simply collapsed the future into the present. I share Bell’s sense of confusion with many of the…
CONTINUE

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7. Chapter 7: The Good News is Better Than That According to Bell, heaven and hell are not actual places but subjective states in which people live. To be sure, living “heavenly” or “hellishly” will affect the…
CONTINUE

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6. Chapter 6: There Are Rocks Everywhere Speaking of natural religion, Bell collapses saving grace into common grace and general revelation into special revelation. In 1 Corinthians 10, Paul speaks of the Rock that followed Israel in the wilderness…
CONTINUE