For Sincere Inquisitors ONLY: MAD Explained

[Lighthouse]

:think:Hmmmmm....what happened here?? I'm pretty sure that I haven't stumped everyone from answering my last post.....come on now, let's hear the "No you are wrong"s :nono:

I am leaving on a vacation may 10

This is a thread to simply explain what MAD is. This is not a thread for debate, so why would anyone need to tell you you're wrong? Are you trying to debate?

 

[Pam Baldwin]

This is a thread to simply explain what MAD is. This is not a thread for debate, so why would anyone need to tell you you're wrong? Are you trying to debate?

Well, I guess that I am. Or that I'm right.

I really wasn't thinking I was trying to debate. It was truly a question....I was under the impression that I agreed more with STP than it seems now. Yet, we are both Mid-Acts.....I was voicing what I thought vs. what I heard here on Mid-Acts about acts 28. I respect STP's thoughts on it and have learned from him in the past. So, I wanted to hear what he (anyone) does with the position - of Mid-Acts- that I hold. I thought there was only ONE Mid-Acts position!

But, if I am out of line here, I do apologize......and ask: Where is a thread that I can continue with what I posted???

 

[chickenman]

Please continue it here, Pam. I think this is a perfect spot to have a reasonable and friendly discussion about possible differences in the MidActs camp.

Randy

 

[Pam Baldwin]

Please continue it here, Pam. I think this is a perfect spot to have a reasonable and friendly discussion about possible differences in the MidActs camp.

Randy

Thanks Randy. I may re-post in more of a question form then......I'll try and do so over the weekend.

In the meantime....anyone who can explain or comment on what I wrote several posts back, please do!!!

 

[Pam Baldwin]

well, looks I have run out of time to re-post in question format....I am going away until the end of May.....but I'll be back!!!!

 

[Angel4Truth]

Where it all starts:

• God called out a chosen nation to be His special people above all the nations of the earth.
• The nation continually rebelled against God, to the point that they even rejected His Son Jesus Christ Who physically came to earth to get them to repent and turn to God.
• For one year after Jesus' earthly ministry, God gave them repeated chances to accept the good news of His Son and the coming kingdom and to bear fruit.
• Because the masses still rejected Him, God put a halt to the prophesied timeline of delivering the kingdom to them. He relegated the chosen nation to the status of the disobedient Gentile nations, thus putting ALL people in the same boat (as opposed to Israel being the preeminent nation).
• Upon doing so, God called out Paul to be the "apostle to the Gentiles", delivering the "gospel of the uncircumcision" - a message that was different in many ways from that which was previously delivered by those apostles that Jesus chose during His earthly ministry.
• Jesus Christ from heaven dispensed to Paul a gospel message that was specifically pertinent to the Body of Christ, whereas He had previously from earth dispensed a gospel message to the Twelve that was specifically pertinent to the chosen nation of Israel who awaited their coming tribulation and promised kingdom.
• These two messages were different. The book of Acts shows the transition away from one to the other and displays the resulting confusion…a confusion which, by the way, still exists today and for pretty much the same reason as back then.

How's that for starters?

Ty for the information.

Question, do you use a chronological bible for study?

 

[chickenman]

Ty for the information.

Question, do you use a chronological bible for study?

Hi, Angel. :wave:

I use a normal bible. And as I study, I try to understand the chronology of things when they are not laid out in chronological order. I imagine most people do this.

Why do you ask?

Thanks,
Randy

 

[godrulz]

Hi, Angel. :wave:

I use a normal bible. And as I study, I try to understand the chronology of things when they are not laid out in chronological order. I imagine most people do this.

Why do you ask?

Thanks,
Randy

http://www.amazon.com/The-Narrated-Bible-Chronological-Order/dp/0736902392

It is almost impossible to establish chronology/harmony of OT historical books, Gospels, etc. The chapter/verse system was added later and is arbitrary. NT books were generally largest to smallest, etc. It would take massive research to really grasp chronology. Any narrative/chronological Bible is still subject to the interpreter.

 

[chickenman]

http://www.amazon.com/The-Narrated-Bible-Chronological-Order/dp/0736902392

It is almost impossible to establish chronology/harmony of OT historical books, Gospels, etc. The chapter/verse system was added later and is arbitrary. NT books were generally largest to smallest, etc. It would take massive research to really grasp chronology. Any narrative/chronological Bible is still subject to the interpreter.

Okay.

 

[One In Christ]

http://www.amazon.com/The-Narrated-Bible-Chronological-Order/dp/0736902392

It is almost impossible to establish chronology/harmony of OT historical books, Gospels, etc. The chapter/verse system was added later and is arbitrary. NT books were generally largest to smallest, etc. It would take massive research to really grasp chronology. Any narrative/chronological Bible is still subject to the interpreter.

weren't you asked to stay out of this thread? Why can't you listen?

 

[Bright Raven]

weren't you asked to stay out of this thread? Why can't you listen?

Short memory.

 

[godrulz]

weren't you asked to stay out of this thread? Why can't you listen?

I posted the link and then realized what thread it was on. I am allowed to follow the thread and it would be a courtesy vs TOL command to not comment (CM's desire is not absolute like a moderated one on one thread). Since it was not about MAD and a helpful comment on chronological Bibles, no offense should be taken, so mind your own business. I will try to be more careful in future and delete it if it is an anti-MAD comment.:zoomin:

 

[godrulz]

Short memory.

My STM is shot. Where are my keys and wallet?:noid:

 

[One In Christ]

so mind your own business.

one should talk...

 

[Angel4Truth]

Hi, Angel. :wave:

I use a normal bible. And as I study, I try to understand the chronology of things when they are not laid out in chronological order. I imagine most people do this.

Why do you ask?

Thanks,
Randy

Because of this from the OP:

ON THE BIBLE

I'll kick it off by stating that MidActs Dispensationalism is an approach to reading and studying the Bible. Those of us who hold to this approach believe that we must read and study the Bible FORWARD, rather than BACKWARD. By this, I mean that we must understand what comes before Exodus before we can understand Exodus.

We must understand "Old Testament" prophecy before we can understand Matthew. We must understand those things before we can understand what's going on in Acts. We believe that it is highly dangerous (to a doctrinal position that one formulates) for a person to read BACKWARD, meaning that he/she interprets an epistle, for instance, and then forces the things written previously to mean the same thing. We also believe it is dangerous to evaluate a book, chapter, or verse in and of itself. A verse HAS TO BE read and studied within the context of a book/epistle. That book/epistle HAS TO BE read and studied within the context of the commission of the human author (in the case of the epistles). And a book HAS TO BE read and studied through a biblical theology that first considers prophecy and God's stated plans.

I completely agree with you that its extremely important to understand the promises of God made through His prophets all through the OT in order to completely understand their fulfillment.

The first statement you made in the above explanation, though made me think that this theology (mad) also places a certain emphasis on chronology by what was stated about it - so that is why i asked if you used a chronological study bible as well.

Keep in mind i had never ever even heard the term mid acts dispensationalism, untill i came to TOL.

 

[chickenman]

Because of this from the OP:

I completely agree with you that its extremely important to understand the promises of God made through His prophets all through the OT in order to completely understand their fulfillment.

The first statement you made in the above explanation, though made me think that this theology (mad) also places a certain emphasis on chronology by what was stated about it - so that is why i asked if you used a chronological study bible as well.

Keep in mind i had never ever even heard the term mid acts dispensationalism, untill i came to TOL.

Thanks for bringing up your observation, Angel.

Chronology is definitely important. Over time, God has changed the way in which he dealt with man. A basic example of this is in Genesis. If someone just picked up a bible for the first time and opened it up to a random spot, landing on Genesis 9, he'd see that God required man to put to death murderers. If this same person closes his bible and then flips open to a random spot and lands a couple pages before this, he'll see Cain being told that he WON'T be killed, even though he was a murderer.

The order of the text follows chronological history until you get to the prophets. Then we have to pay a little bit more attention to see how and where those prophets fit into the timeline of events laid out earlier, through Chronicles and Ezra/Nehemia/Esther. And paying attention to those things is necessary as we strive to understand what happened to the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah, as well as God's fulfilled and to-be-fulfilled plans for both.

And it doesn't end when flipping the page to Matthew. Regardless of when historical accounts like Matthew-Acts were written, they represent events that fall in a timeline, and it is important to understand how they fit in with what happened and was foretold earlier.

Maybe one of the most important things to consider, that is often overlooked, is when the epistles were written. The things written by Paul, for instance, were written at various times during different parts of his ministry. His Acts ministry, as an example, involved things that would no longer being used by God AFTER He moved Paul on from the Jewish ministry of Acts. So, it's really important to study to recognize when (Acts or post-Acts) Galatians or I Corinthians were written, for example. Failure to recognize that will result in misunderstandings of the text.

Chronology is important, for sure. I believe our bibles are laid out the way they are for a reason, even though the order doesn't always reflect the actual order of events. So we study harder and strive for understanding.

Anyway, I know that, at least for the most part, I'm not telling you anything new. I just wanted to respond to your observation and see what other doors open.

Thanks,
Randy

 

[Nick M]

His Acts ministry, as an example, involved things that would no longer being used by God AFTER He moved Paul on from the Jewish ministry of Acts. So, it's really important to study to recognize when (Acts or post-Acts) Galatians or I Corinthians were written, for example. Failure to recognize that will result in misunderstandings of the text.


Thanks,
Randy

I always thought there was a big gap between Acts 9 and 10. Like several years.

 

[chickenman]

I always thought there was a big gap between Acts 9 and 10. Like several years.

Yeah, I guess there's gotta be a three-year period in there that's not spelled out in Acts 9 (Gal. 1:18). Is that what you mean?

 

[Nick M]

The conflict Paul mentions in Galatians, leading to rise kill and eat. It isn't spelled out, that is just what I think.

 

[chickenman]

The conflict Paul mentions in Galatians, leading to rise kill and eat. It isn't spelled out, that is just what I think.

The conflict between Peter and Paul?