I agree with the Bible in all things. Dispies do not.
It's as if you're saying "Okay, there's that verse about Jews being of the devil, but there's also a verse saying the Jew first." It's as if you want to trash the credibility of the Bible by trying to find contradictions.
In Jesus day, in the last days of the Old Covenant of Circumcision, there were faith-filled Believers. These people were often called Jews, given the prominence of the tribe of Judah. These are the "Jew first" people, as they were already Believers. None of these people existed much past 70 AD. The last generation of these people died out in the first century, with many of them first coming to know Christ had come.
There was another group. These people practiced the religion of Judaism, if not lived in Judea, and they were also called Jews for this reason. But, they rejected Jesus. They were not faith-filled Believers. These are the people Jesus told are of their father the devil.
There is a third group. These are today's Jews. They do not practice the jewish religion, except in a vague form, if even that. They don't have faith in God, and many don't even pretend to have faith in God. They call themselves Jews because they see themselves as part of the brotherhood with the Jews who killed Jesus.
I have already told you the proper definition and significance of the term "Jew" in the context of Christ telling them they were of their father the devil. The point - His point, was that ALL who are born of the flesh...are born of the devil. Conversely, all who are born of God, are spirit. They were simply acting and speaking out of their flesh...for the Spirit had not yet been given.
So...the so-called "dispies" are dividing up their ranks by divisions of flesh and spirit; and you, you are simply calling them wrong while doing the same. For "
one is not a Jew who is one outwardly, but he is a Jew who is one inwardly, in the Spirit."
But that is not the issue on the table.
The issue of the original post, is the error of the Preterism, which is the error of times. And all the 'ism calling, pet peeves such as your own rant against Dispensationalism, and rivalries, is just more of the same. This is nothing more than the enmity of the flesh against the spirit. This is not "
rightly dividing the word", but mixing light with darkness, attempting to commune light with darkness where there is no communion. The answer of which is:
Only the affairs of the man of sin (of flesh) are referenced in time, while those of God are referenced without time. Thus, when the scriptures say "
today" is the day of salvation, it is not that for one it is one day and for another it today is another day. But rather, it eludes [in time] to that which is without time. And when the scriptures say "
before" (the foundation of the world), it does not refer to when a time-event was conceived, it refers to "
before." And when the scriptures say we "
were" crucified with Christ ("
before" the foundation of the world), it also means
before. And that time when we come to hear of it...that is not the time when a
non-time event happened, but merely the time of its revelation.
God does not exist within the times of the world, but the world and its times exist within a creation, an "
image", revealing His story - i. e. history. And mixing what is without time with that which is within time...is confusion.
