A quick note

Some time ago when I began to seriously study the concept of the rapture, I shifted from being a sceptical posttribber to believing that pretribulationism has the best answers. My modus operandi was to see what pre-trib’s two main opponents were saying about the system and then checking out how pretribulationists responded to those criticisms. One can easily go to several prominent non pre-trib websites and discover that they inevitably have a list of objections, polemics and alleged rebuttals for that system. I would then check what pre-trib scholars would say about opposing systems and how those systems in turn answered criticisms – if at all!

Personally, I’d never considered somehow escaping the “tribulation” - if it occurred in my time - by hiding my head in the sand in fear and believing in a false hope. But it does sober and excite me, as I study deeper, that the Lord could really come for us at any time. If this is truly the case then I had better be constantly prepared or risk being found wanting by my Lord. If I am really prepared to meet my Lord then I am also ready for persecution and possible martyrdom.

Am I 100% sure of a pretribulational rapture? - Certainly not. What I have found is that the two “other” main systems are flawed and that most of their objections to pretribulationism are answerable, despite the polemics I’ve found along the way. What I intend to do soon is to put together a series of supposed pre-trib rebuttals and problems that I’ve come across on those sites, and provide what I think are the answers.

I still intend to do an article on the Olivet Discourse and whether there is a rapture found within it. I began the article over a month ago and it grew into a short story about half way through, so I need to prune and rethink about how I’m going to present it. I’ll probably do that first.

Also, if you take a look at my links you’ll see that I’ve added dispensational resources. Dispensationalism is another system that has received a lot of bad press; however, I find it answers most of my questions more satisfactorily than other systems do. I see polemics fired at it by otherwise good Christians, yet there are a lot of misconceptions and downright misinformation assigned to it. Does it really teach more than One Way of Salvation? Did Scofield really teach a salvation by works during the OT in the unfortunate wording of the original version of his Bible note – or did his other notes clarify that salvation was always by Grace alone? Have Covenant Theologians made similar faux pas’ about how one acquired salvation in the OT? Is dispensationalism’s “newness” a legitimate criticism (like pre-trib)? How old is CT anyway and how many modifications have been made to it since its inception? What about “Progressive Dispensationalism”? Is it the logical progression from Classical Dispensationalism?

I’m still studying Charles Ryrie’s Dispensationalism. His book covers all these questions. I also highly recommend Dr Reluctant’s website where he is currently answering the 95 Theses against Dispensationalism, among other things. I’ll probably have something more to say on this topic some time down the track.


Footnote:

I'm adding this very well written article by Dr Ron Bigalke...

Dispensationalist critic George E. Ladd wrote the following words regarding dispensationalists: "It is doubtful if there has been any other circle of men who have done more by their influence in preaching, teaching and writing to promote a love for Bible study, a hunger for the deeper Christian life, a passion for evangelism and zeal for missions in the history of American Christianity.” Dispensationalism Today

Also,

A REVIEW OF JOHN GERSTNER'S
WRONGLY DIVIDING THE WORD OF TRUTH