Monday, August 11, 2014

The Impossibility of something happening is the least valid argument against a Prophetic interpretation.

Now what I mean here is impossible, or implausible, in secular terms.  That it could happen based on our observable contemporary situation. If you think it's impossible for a Biblical reason that's different.

Chris White is someone I discovered only a few months ago. I find many of his arguments good, they've helped me make new insights. Ironically, how well he argues for his Pre-Wrath position makes me more secure in my Mid-Trib position.

I like his approach even when expressing views I disagree with. But one annoyance I have with hearing him argue against certain popular views on Bible Prophecy is how much time he devotes to saying something couldn't happen, or is highly improbable to happen.

Sometimes he does this arguing against views I also don't agree with. Like viewing The Pope as The Antichrist or The False Prophet. The former I consider completely invalid, the latter highly unlikely.   I'm against using that argument even in those cases, I want to be consistent.

He also uses it when arguing against the view that the Southern Conjecture/Al-Kas Fountain view of The Temple's location is correct, and that the Third Temple will be rebuilt with both the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of The Rock still standing.

He claims that even if neither the Mosque or the Dome would have to be damaged, that Muslims still could never accept having a Temple where animal sacrifices are going on exist even within the vicinity of those sites. So the only way for The Temple to be rebuild is for Muslims to completely lose the ability to have any say in the matter.  [Update: turns out he was wrong on ANimal Sacrifice in Islam]

Well the problem is for most of the Church Age (around 500 A.D. to WWI) even the basics of the End Time scenario seemed impossible to ever happen. It seemed impossible Israel would ever be given their land back, much less rebuild The Temple. That's why the mainstream approach all through those periods was to allegorize everything, even the most basic stuff.  It was only after the Protestant reformaiton that any dissenters insisting Israel will be established began to emerge.  But they were the minority even among Protestants.

And even without considering for the Supernatural, in Geo-politics things that seemed impossible have happened many times. The United States of America has a Black President right now, only 10 years ago that still seemed an impossibility.

I'd say it's an inherent sign of a lack of Faith if the only Prophetic predictions you think are valid are the ones that are plausible. Indeed every Prophecy for which both the foretelling and fulfillment is recorded in Scripture seemed laughably unlikely to the Kings the Prophets gave them to.

So I don't care how impossible some think it is that any Muslims would accept the arrangement of The Temple being rebuilt between the Mosque and the Dome. I believe that's the picture The Bible paints. No it's not clearly laid out in one single passage, but neither is The Trinity, or Israel fleeing to Edom. It fits various Biblical clues all put together like a perfect puzzle, and all the other explanations of each of those verses fails in my view.

So therefore I have faith that it WILL happen, no matter how Impossible it is. If things happen differently that won't phase me because it doesn't effect the Gospel. I'm Dogmatic on only the most indisputable things, like that The Temple must be rebuild, and the Abomination of Desolation will happen. But of all the conjectural views of Bible Prophecy I have, this is the one I view as the most solid.

No matter what Antichrist theory turns out to be true, this scenario I think this is compatible.  In terms of Chris White's False Christ claiming to be messiah Ben-Joseph theory.  There is no reason to rule out such a figure trying to to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict peacefully before he's forced to wage war on them.

As far as why it's implausible to Christ White. Well I don't necessarily think all Muslims will accept it, I think there will still be lots of Middle East tension during this time. All The Willful King's Wars recorded in Daniel 11:40-45 I think will likely happen while the Third Temple is standing and it's sacrifices being carried out during the first half of the 70th Week.

But it's the Jordanian Hashamite dynasty who actually controls the Mount, and their pretty moderate right now. Their very cooperative with the U.N.. and the Club of Rome. And the West constantly forces things on the Muslim world they should know better then to think they'd be OK with.

Frankly the greater obstacle to me is getting the leading Jews in Israel to accept that the official view of where The Temple stood is wrong. To me the official view is Biblically impossible for many (non eschatological) reasons. But none the less all the Rabbis in Israel are emotionally married to it.

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