Letters to the Left Behind
by Suzanne Hadley Gosselin on 06/11/2008 at 9:56 AM
Christian culture has produced lots of weird stuff you can buy, from Jesus action figures to bible-themed breath mints. But one man is capitalizing on the Web with an innovative service for the prepared dispensationlist. According to ABC news:
A new Web site is offering a first-of-its-kind service: sending e-mails to nonbelieving friends and family who are "left behind" after you are whisked away by God in the rapture.
And all for the yearly subscription fee of $40.
Billed as the last chance to "snatch them from the flames," youvebeenleftbehind.com is the month-old brainchild of Mark Heard, a 49-year-old supermarket shelf-stocker who lives in Cape Cod, Mass.
"You've Been Left Behind gives you one last opportunity to reach your lost family and friends For Christ," the site reads. "Imagine being in the presence of the Lord and hearing all of heaven rejoice over the salvation of your loved ones. It is our prayer that this site makes it happen."
Skeptical about how the service would work in the event of the rapture?
Heard, who wouldn't reveal how many people have signed up for the service, has set up his e-mail server with what he calls a "fail-safe" clause: if three of his five employees fail to log on to their work accounts after six days, the service will be triggered and the e-mails be sent out.
That assumes, of course, that the Internet would still be working, says skeptic Randy Maddox, a theology professor at Duke divinity school: "In one sense, they're arguing it will be a time of great disaster, but in another sense he's saying, 'I promise my Web site will be working.' There are logical incongruities with the model, and there's basic theological incongruities."
I don't want to knock the service too hard (although it does seem motivated by commercial gain—the Gospel isn't shared anywhere on the site). If the rapture occurs and people learn of Christ through it, praise God. However, why not tell your friends and family about Jesus now and save the 40 bucks?
HT: WorldMag Blog
1. Jo said the following at 10:12 AM on Jun 11:
one question - why don't you want to knock the service too hard??? :S
2. obewan said the following at 10:28 AM on Jun 11:
This service does not give much credit to the intelligence of those who would be left behind. It will become obvious that only Christians are missing, and those who inquire will seek and find the truth. A letter won't do a lot of good. There will be bound to be some liberal pastor who is left behind who changes his theology and begins preaching the truth. Some people will return to church and repent; others simply will still refuse to believe. I don't see the letter as making much difference - it is mostly a money making scheme just like the book series. It makes me think of the Prairie Home Companion jokes about the Fear Mongers Shop.
3. Suzanne said the following at 10:30 AM on Jun 11:
:) Trying to exercise humility here. What if the rapture happens and hundreds are saved by this service? Then I would feel bad about discrediting it.
4. Ronnica said the following at 10:35 AM on Jun 11:
One thing mentioned in the articles is that they'll allow you to save information and send that to a person or two in case of rapture. This would allow you to pass on info about bank accounts and passwords. While I didn't see this promoted on the website, it does seem wrong to conflate the salvation and accessing the money that was left behind by your now-raptured relative or friend.
5. niki said the following at 10:35 AM on Jun 11:
All I have to say, is, sometimes the stupid things Christians do makes it really embarrassing to be a Christian. This is one of them.
6. mindlab said the following at 10:36 AM on Jun 11:
Wow. You know that when Heard and his cronies go on vacation, have a power outage, or find a bug in their code (the hard way), all his subscribers will look like complete moonbats.
Also, why is the system triggered by the absence of 3/5 employees? What a great vote of confidence in their salvation. "Well, Bob and Larry, if the rest of us disappear suddenly, you know what to do."
7. CJ said the following at 10:36 AM on Jun 11:
I've heard of doing a "Left Behind" letter, and leaving it in a place that your loved ones will find. The concept is certainly not new. But I agree -- you need to share Jesus *now!* Why wait? Waiting just means you leave them behind to suffer the horrors of the Tribulation. Yeah, that's love.
8. Nate said the following at 10:40 AM on Jun 11:
Aren't dot.coms for profit?? It reminds me of indulgences ...
9. Lucie said the following at 10:48 AM on Jun 11:
Suzanne, I couldn't have put your final question any better...especially in today's economy! (Grin)
10. lewsta said the following at 11:15 AM on Jun 11:
Leaving aside the issue of whether "the rapture" will occur on the terms of the Left Behind series, I'd still come down hard on such a "service". I think you nailed it as being rather financially lucrative, and that must be the driving motive for it. Suppose the "left Behind" scenario is accurate. Suppose it's happened as they imagine. Suppose I've lived my life honourably before God. And suppose some remain here once we're gone. If the conversation of my life before my departure was not sufficient to convince those remaining, an email surely will not either. And if my life IS convincing to them, the email will be superfluous. This is just one more scam to separate the fool from his money, first, and to provide yet one more way for the lazy or insecure to find one more way to "buy" their way into fulfilling their obligation to live as witnesses to the Cross of Jesus Christ. The answer? LIVE rightly, and let God use my words/ACTIONS to testify of Himself. And keep your forty dollars. A better investment would be to spend about four dollars on a pet rock...another marketing ploy of even greater genius. And far less harm.
11. Ann S said the following at 11:17 AM on Jun 11:
Stuff Christians Like, #277. Crazy rapture products. (Cue hate mail)
http://stufffchristianslike.blogspot.com/2008/06/277-crazy-rapture-products-cue-hate.html
12. Hannah said the following at 11:19 AM on Jun 11:
Ummmm, what?
13. Jorden said the following at 11:24 AM on Jun 11:
I guess only two of the employees can go on vacation at a time, lol. The main problem I see with it(aside from being motivated by gain) is the fact that some people change their e-mails and some people don't use their's much at all. Well, and then the fact that no man knows when the rapture will be. There's no guarantee it will even be during our lifetime so that's a lot of $40 to cough up each year for nothing. Although it's an interesting idea.
14. Gene said the following at 11:25 AM on Jun 11:
I'm glad you mentioned dispensationalism, Suzanne, because this stuff is just wacko. This left-behind theology is based on a forced reading of Scripture that is barely 150 years old and which came about in the same spiritual ferment that gave us Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons and Christian Scientists.
The church universal neither believed nor taught anything remotely like this for more than 1,800 years, and it amazes me that so many Christians today so uncritically accept it.
15. Jess said the following at 11:58 AM on Jun 11:
obewan... Right, because only the liberal Christians will be left behind. Those crazy liberals.
16. Katie said the following at 12:18 PM on Jun 11:
Wow, no wonder people think Christians are ignorant.
17. Mike Toreno said the following at 12:20 PM on Jun 11:
Why not sign up for Jesuspets and then just leave the letters in your house for forwarding?
18. obewan said the following at 12:24 PM on Jun 11:
#15 Jess: Regarding "liberal Christians"
I could have stated that better. I did not mean the pastor was left behind because of his politics. I was making reference to his theolgy. ie. Denial of the diety of Christ and the need for personal salvation - the Christ was just a man kind of stuff.
19. Jennifer said the following at 12:29 PM on Jun 11:
mindlab (#6), your post cracked me up. Great use of the word "moonbats."
Seriously though, I appreciate what they're trying to do with this website. But yeah, there are entirely too many unknown variables to ensure that it would work. Plus, asking for money just makes it all very creepy. And yes, it really is an encouragement to share Christ now. We can't rely on these guys to get the word out.
20. Holly (the single, non-parent one) said the following at 12:45 PM on Jun 11:
Greeeeeeeeeeeeeat.
Just what we need. One more stupid gimmick to draw attention to the popularity of the Left Behind novels, the most egregiously terrible example of sub-standard writing ever to claim the mantle of Christianity.
Excuse me, I need some headache powder.
21. Gene said the following at 12:45 PM on Jun 11:
Sorry to beat a dead horse here, but here's a book I highly recommend, Gary DeMar's "End Times Fiction".
22. brx said the following at 12:46 PM on Jun 11:
That's funny!
And I like you're humility, Suzanne. You're right, we might be with the Lord commenting "wow, I didn't think it was going to go down quite like that; thanks for using even those kooky methods to same some!"
Grace & peace & stupified in God's sovereignty...
23. Suzanne said the following at 1:02 PM on Jun 11:
Mindlab. Ha!!! I didn't think about that. :)
24. Jess said the following at 1:40 PM on Jun 11:
#18 Obewan. Gotcha. My bad.
25. Adam T. said the following at 2:33 PM on Jun 11:
All I have to say, is, sometimes the stupid things Christians do makes it really embarrassing to be a Christian. This is one of them.
Yeah. But so is believing in the 'rapture' in the first place.
26. whstrain said the following at 2:59 PM on Jun 11:
I predict someone will hack their website in 3...2....1.
27. BDB said the following at 3:29 PM on Jun 11:
Hmmm...I guess they shouldn't put a mirror site in South Korea, there might not be anyone left to tend to the server...I'll bet there are lots of companies in California that will still be fully staffed; that would be a good way to ensure someone will be there to keep the power on.
Perhaps there should be practical instructions, such as asking them to feed the cat...
I'm tempted to say something witty about Y2K...there was a similar panic when the year rolled to 1000...something about God using a base-10 counting system and liking round numbers...perhaps we'll have another 991 years to argue the theology...
28. Cassandra said the following at 4:39 PM on Jun 11:
This brings several thoughts to mind.
1. When I first read this, i thought it must be for a goodbye letter or something. I didn't even think about salvation, in part because I'm not certain those left behind can be (I haven't studied this, so I could be wrong. Correct me if so.)However, why not just write your farewells on paper and store them somewhere? Probably just as reliable.
2. If the letters are for urging salvation, it reminds me of the parable where the rich man passed away and was sent to hell, and he begged to be allowed to tell his family, so they might be saved. God responded that if his family didn't believe moses and the prophets, they wouldn't accept it from him either. Their hearts were hardened.
3.How can we presume to know someone's heart? Someone may at this point in time be rejecting the Lord, but the Lord has ways, and that person could change sooner than you think. I think it shows little faith to count someone as lost already. I'd rather have hope that they will choose the Lord in time.
4. Reminds me of the apocolypse theories. According to the Mayans, the Sybil, Nostradomas and a whole host of other crazy sources, the world is going to end on Dec. 21 2012. (Kinda makes me think thats the LAST day God would choose, haha) Maybe the creator of the website had that date in mind, and thus wasn't worried about the letter recipients dying off first. I don't know though. Sometimes its hard to know what people are thinking.
29. Matt said the following at 4:44 PM on Jun 11:
Soooo what if the person who sets up the account is left behind as well? Does he get a refund? Does he even get an e-mail?
Sorry this is ludacris
30. Summer said the following at 4:54 PM on Jun 11:
I have a question for Gene:
As another Bible student who doesn't believe that the Bible's teaching about the "end times" is well-represented by "Left Behind" and other such writings, I'm curious to know how you came to that conclusion, other than by observing that the teaching is a fairly recent one.
Anyone else is welcome to comment on this subject, too.
31. Laura Grace said the following at 6:16 PM on Jun 11:
BDB (#27) -- "using a base-10 counting system and liking round numbers"... SO funny.
And Gene (#14) is right on the money about this. We need to be discerning about recent developments in theology, particularly sensational ones! Christians shouldn't just embrace innovations, but should do like the Bereans did and examine the Scriptures to see if the things we're being taught are really true.
32. Lee said the following at 7:55 PM on Jun 11:
I think it's quite an insult to the intelligence of Christians. I mean, I see another flaw. If you do this and you rapture, you'll never know if it was sent or not. And I'm guessing, most likely it wouldn't even be sent (not even considering other factors discussed like a change in email address, the loss of power theoretically, etc.). I appreciate #6's sense of humor though regarding the absence of 3/5 employees. Perhaps the way to approach this kind of capitalistic ridiculousness is to laugh at it...
...and of course pursue other more "reasonable" methods. Such as I agree with many of the readers like #7 that Jesus should be shared "*now!*" rather than later. Secondly, a letter should suffice and thirdly, set up your own email to do the same function if you want.
Heck, if you do one letter to an individual a year that you're concerned about and use the $40/year to take him/her out to a nice dinner and have a chat, that might even be more effective. How many of you even do that at least once a year?
33. peter said the following at 10:33 PM on Jun 11:
The rapture? You think that is biblical?
34. Jason said the following at 3:55 AM on Jun 12:
What immediately turned me off to the site was when I looked under the hood of it and found the design using stinking tables. Wake up, web designers! It's 2008 already! CSS really has proven itself to work!
35. Amir Larijani said the following at 5:36 AM on Jun 12:
BDB: That Y2K matter was quite amusing. I remember going to SAM's Club a couple days after Christmas 1999. A lady in the checkout line had--literally--stacks of bottled water, enough for almost 3 months. I asked her if she had any specific family outing she was preparing for.
She said she was getting ready for Y2K. I tried hard not to laugh.
I'll confess, I was disappointed that nothing went down. I wanted an excuse to take an extra couple days off.
36. Schwäbisch Kiwi said the following at 5:59 AM on Jun 12:
Good grief. Aside from the fact I don't believe in the rapture or any of that unbiblical "Left Behind" nonsense, this has to be the stupidest, cheesiest thing I've heard of in a long time.
37. Loris said the following at 6:55 AM on Jun 12:
Ha, in 9th grade, my math teacher focused on end-times numerology. Every day we'd shuffle in and hear how 666 x 3 = 1998, so that was when the world was going to end. Didn't learn any algebra that year and had to make it up in summer tutoring thanks to that idiot.
38. Sarah said the following at 7:24 AM on Jun 12:
obewan, you mentioned that it will be obvious that only Christians are missing... but will it? I know that a lot of you are down on the Left Behind books, but one thing I thought they got right was the denial of most of the "left behind" that Rapture had happened. I think that people who are really truly determined to believe that there is no God will come up with some sort of alternative explanation. I mean, in "Left Behind," people thought that some alien race had stolen those people "who were weaker," i.e. Christians and children. That gave people the perfect excuse to *not* be weak by admitting to a greater power.
Sounds crazy, perhaps, but anybody see "Expelled?" Dawkins admitted that it was *possible* our world was seeded by an intelligence... only it wouldn't have been God, it would have been a more advanced alien race from another planet. (Ignoring, of course, the question of who seeded their planet with *them* to begin with.) I mean, if somebody who claims to be as rational as he does is willing to believe life on Earth started with aliens...
But, yes, I agree with most of the posters that this sounds pretty commercial to me, the 3/5 thing doesn't sound "fail-safe" at all, and people should tell their loved ones to begin with. I like the idea of letters left behind with wills or in safety deposit boxes, but not just in the case of rapture but any case of sudden death. Oh, sure, I've told my husband a thousand times that I love him, and he knows that I do. But he'd still value, I'm sure, a physical letter to read if something happened to me. And my daughter is so young she'd probably forget me before long, so having a letter from her mother might be really special. I don't think leaving some sort of last message behind is a bad thing... but I don't see any reason to trust to the Internet things that we wouldn't say in person.
39. IMO said the following at 9:16 AM on Jun 12:
Genuine question for those who don't believe in the "rapture" (" " -->the word itself is not used in the Bible):
How would you interpret this verse in the Bible:
1 Thess. 4:16-17
For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
40. Matt from DC said the following at 9:19 AM on Jun 12:
Heard is making a big mistake leaving this in the hands of the internet. I know it survived the epidemic of Y2K, but I don't know if it will make it through the tribulation. I would leave this in the hands of lawyers.
41. Jennifer said the following at 9:56 AM on Jun 12:
Wait a sec. There are Christians who don't believe in the Rapture? I'm intrigued. All the nay-sayers, please expound.
42. Jeremy said the following at 10:26 AM on Jun 12:
"Genuine question for those who don't believe in the "rapture" (" " -->the word itself is not used in the Bible):
How would you interpret this verse in the Bible:
1 Thess. 4:16-17"
There is no one who does not believe in the rapture, the question is when it will occur, either before the tribulation (as in the Left Behind series), or after the tribulation, as part of the second coming of Christ.
The pre-tribulation rapture (Left Behind) view holds that the events in Thessalonians 4 ("the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God ... we who are alive and remain will be caught up ...") are DIFFERENT from the events of of the second coming described in Matthew 24 ("the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky ... He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect..."). Not only that, but that view requires that the "trumpet" and "shout" of Thessalonians 4 are very very quiet, so that only believers can hear them.
The pre-tribulation rapture view is certainly more sensational, but it requires a lot more twisting of Scripture to make it fit.
43. obewan said the following at 11:31 AM on Jun 12:
#42. Jeremy had the following to say on Jun 12 at 10:26 AM
:
“>>There is no one who does not believe in the rapture,…<”
I don’t know, but I can name quite a few Lutherans who do not believe in the rapture. I think the theology of that denomination does not accept the teaching. They claim most churches that teach it are preaching false doctrine. Just go to the Lutneransonline.com website to see what some have said. Of course, I don’t agree with them.
44. Jeremy said the following at 1:00 PM on Jun 12:
"I don’t know, but I can name quite a few Lutherans who do not believe in the rapture. I think the theology of that denomination does not accept the teaching."
I did actually mean to add "almost" to that sentence. However, as I understand it, the Lutherans do not deny the rapture, but rather the millenial kingdom.
45. Summer said the following at 1:24 PM on Jun 12:
Ask for an explanation = get a loooong post in reply. :)
As a Bible student who does not believe the Bible teaches the timeline taught by the Left Behind Series, I’ll try to answer; but I’m not necessarily answering for everyone who also disagrees with Left Behind. I hope that makes sense; these are solely my own thoughts, gleaned from the Bible, but may not represent everyone’s view.
The Bible talks about the second coming of Christ, the resurrection, and judgment, and the establishment of the Kingdom to be one series of events that includes the Bible verses many Christians take to mean a separate rapture before the second coming of Christ. To summarize what we learn from 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17:
The Lord will descend from heaven with a shout, archangel voice, and trumpet;
The “dead in Christ” will be resurrected;
“We who are alive” (Paul is speaking to the church) will join them and meet in clouds;
We will be with the Lord forever in this way.
To learn more of what the Bible says about any given event, you don’t look at just one verse – you connect verses that are linked by words or ideas and bring together the whole Bible’s teaching on the subject. Let’s see what else the Bible says about this event spoken of in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17:
Revelation 1:7 says this of the time when Jesus comes with clouds: “Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be!”
Matthew 24:30-31 says that this will happen when Jesus descends with a trumpet call to gather people: "At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.”
Matthew 25:31-34 says this of when Jesus comes with his angels: "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. "Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.””
1 Corinthians 15:51-54 says this about the trumpet call and the raising of the dead: “Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory."”
There are so many more passages like this. From these verses, we learn that the time when Jesus comes from heaven with angels and trumpets and raises the dead and gathers living church to be with him forever includes much more than Paul described in 1 Thessalonians 4, which Paul wrote to comfort those in the church who were sorrowful about the dead (see verse 14). It will also involve every eye seeing him, the nations mourning, the nations being gathered to judgment and the “sheep” inheriting the Kingdom, mortals being made immortal, and death being swallowed up in victory. This does not sound like the “Left Behind” picture of the rapture.
Anyone with questions, or interested in more verses along these lines, is welcome to respond and let me know.
46. Jo said the following at 2:10 PM on Jun 12:
Suzanne said ":) Trying to exercise humility here. What if the rapture happens and hundreds are saved by this service? Then I would feel bad about discrediting it."
I get you Suzanne. :) God uses all kinds of weird and wacky things to accomplish His work. But, even if God does choose to save thousands through this idea, it doesn't follow that the motives behind it were originally Godly. We can still question and criticise the money-making aims of the project without denying that God is able to use it if He chooses to.
I don't think that the possibility of God using a flawed medium makes it wrong for us to call a spade a spade.
47. IMO said the following at 2:41 PM on Jun 12:
Thank you for those that responded.
Side note: I have never watched a Left Behind movie or don't really know much about the series.
"To learn more of what the Bible says about any given event, you don’t look at just one verse – you connect verses that are linked by words or ideas and bring together the whole Bible’s teaching on the subject. "
I wholeheartedly agree! (in case my post was misconstrued as relying on one passage...)
48. BDB said the following at 3:22 PM on Jun 12:
Amir #35 wrote:
>>I'll confess, I was disappointed that nothing went down. I wanted an excuse to take an extra couple days off.<<
Yeah, I went to one of the information seminars my church had. When I discovered the entire panic was based on an "executive" in the electrical power industry, I began to wonder...how old was this executive's hands-on technical experience...what if it was a MARKETING executive...oh dear; I don't think I'll quit my job...
49. BDB said the following at 3:33 PM on Jun 12:
I am not that into end-times stuff, simply because I've seen much of what was taught 20 years ago overtaken by history - teachings about the EU, certain computer systems and the Soviet Union come to mind.
(Oh, gosh, almost forgot the audience here. Take a look at this entry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_union )
Anyway, I vote for the letter idea. Then you can put bank account information with your will and a letter to remaining family. You can tell them where your "documents" are, which you should do anyway. They will find them in the event of your rapture. Or the event of your death, now that I think of it. And if the rapture happens and you're still there, you can re-write the letter to be something more humble...I might do my re-write with something along the lines of, "Hey, I guess those missionaries were right that all us North Americans were like the rich guy and the camel going through the eye of a needle...my bad..."
50. Mike Toreno said the following at 4:51 PM on Jun 12:
I think everyone who's interested should look at the advice given in postrapturepets. It doesn't arrange for pet care like jesuspets is trying to do, but it makes some useful suggestions, and also includes a list of different classifications of possible pet caretakers, evaluating them on the basis of likelihood of being taken in the rapture, and reliability as a caretaker if not.
For example, it estimates Pentecostals as having a high rapture probability, and a varying reliability as caretakers if not taken. A Pentecostal snake handler, for instance, is given a low reliability score unless your pet happens to be a snake.
51. Summer said the following at 5:10 PM on Jun 12:
To IMO: I wasn't trying to misconstrue your comment - I was just trying to show what thought process led to my own conclusion from the Bible, that's all. :) I think that nearly anyone reading this forum would agree on that particular principle of Bible study.
52. Gene said the following at 7:07 PM on Jun 12:
Summer
Sorry, I didn't see your question until just now. But your analysis matches mine. All the Scripture passages that are used to justify the "Left Behind" scenario, particularly 1 Thessalonians, are speaking about Christ's promised return. Nowhere do they even hint at a swooping down to rescue Christians and then going back up to heaven to usher in a 7 year tribulation.
Someone else said the Lutherans do not hold to this position. I don't know about individual Lutherans, but this is true of the Lutheran Church as a whole. In fact, most people from a Reformed tradition do not hold to this, including Christian stalwarts such as R.C. Sproul. Even the Bible Answer Man, Hank Hannegraaff, through careful study of Scripture, came around to what's called the Partial Preterist position, which was the position of most of the Christian church for more than 1800 years.
I mentioned before Gary DeMar's book. He actually has several debunking the "Left Behind" theology and shows how people like Tim LaHaye misread Scripture, taking it literally or figuratively depending on how it confirms their preconcieved theology.
53. Paul H said the following at 12:58 PM on Jun 13:
Gene - I wanted to recommend a really fascinating debate (podcast) on the subject of dispensationalism and the end times between Gary DeMar and Bob Enyart (pastor and talk show host in Colorado). Enyart actually agrees with a lot of DeMar's criticisms of modern dispensational teachings that he makes in "End Times Fiction," even though Enyart is a dispensationalist.
DeMar vs. Enyart: Part 1 (~ 30 min.), Part 2 (~ 30 min.), Part 3 (~ 30 min.)
Summer said (#45):
To learn more of what the Bible says about any given event, you don’t look at just one verse – you connect verses that are linked by words or ideas and bring together the whole Bible’s teaching on the subject.
Very true. But even more than that, you need to have an accurate understanding of the Bible's overall storyline, or Plot, to understand the details (doctrines) -- whether it's end times, baptism, eternal security, tongues or any other doctrinal matter that Christians debate and divide over.
The Plot (an overview of the Bible)
54. Paul H said the following at 4:51 PM on Jun 13:
Gene -- Since you mentioned Gary DeMar, I wanted to recommend a fascinating debate on dispensationalism and the end times between DeMar and Bob Enyart, a pastor and talk show host in Colorado. Enyart actually mentions in the debate that he agrees with much of DeMar's criticism of modern dispensational teachings in "End Times Fiction," even though Enyart is a dispensationalist.
The debate is in three segments; each one is about 30 min. long.
http://www.kgov.com/bel/archive/
(Scroll down to the programs from 2-7-07, 2-8-07, and 2-9-07)
Summer said (#45):
"To learn more of what the Bible says about any given event, you don’t look at just one verse – you connect verses that are linked by words or ideas and bring together the whole Bible’s teaching on the subject."
Very true. But it's even more important to have a thorough understanding of the overall storyline -- The Plot -- of the Bible. Whether it's the "end times," baptism, tongues, miracles, eternal security, keeping the Sabbath, or dozens of other doctrinal debates that divide believers, having a grasp on the Bible's "Big Picture" is the key to understanding the details.