Kurt Simmons on What is Preterism?

Preterism is a reinvention of the gospel and a resurection the pattern or image revealed within the first century. This pattern is the their primary focal point rather than focusing on that which the patterns really represent. Preterist would have you believe that the patterns point to the Fall of Jersualem. Rather than seeing Christ crucified as the substance within our lives, the Full Preterist gospel becomes mere past events, and make the bible no longer revelavant to you or I. The bible becomes, when was it written, or who was it written to, rather than interpreting it as if it were written to me personally. The consistant focus on the historic framework has made spiritual and eternal truths, temporal in nature. Most Preterists focus on the time text passages, as there guide to proving they are right. What they always miss, is the highly symbolic langage which is also used in connection to these time texts. And for consistancy sake, the time texts are always literal, but the language surrounding that time text is always allegorical, or symbolic.

What is Preterism?
Preterism is an interpretative school that embraces a contemporary-historical interpretation of Biblical prophecy. The term “Preterism” is derived from the Latin praeteritus, meaning that which has past. The term occurs in Matt. 24:34 in the Latin Vulgate to describe the time of Christ's second coming: "Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass ("non praeteribit haec generatio"), till all these things be fulfilled." Full Preterists view the Second Coming and related events as being fulfilled in the events culminating in the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70; partial Preterists, although conceding Christ came in some form or manner in A.D. 70, believe there is yet a future Coming that will mark the end of the universe and resurrection of the dead. The strength of the full or consistent Preterist approach is that it is the only interpretive method that offers no violence to the time element extant in Old and New Testament eschatological teaching.

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