Pastor Shaun Marksbury

 A recent question reminded me of this quote.  This is Kaiser on the question of cultural terminology in Toward an Exegetical Theology : But it is clear that Scripture refused to fall into some cultural containments which might thereby reduce the content of the message. One good example of this resistance is the Bible’s rejection of the “three-tiered” universe model. To see in certain poetical portions of Scripture the pre-Copernican cosmological model which had a solid dome, flat earth, and an abyss beneath the earth (along with supporting pillars and slits in the dome for rain and stars!) is either an exegetical contrivance or a failure to spot the use of figurative language.  The exegete must then ask when it is appropriate to adopt both the content and the form of the cultural item (p. 115).

 According to one popular Baptist resource, we read, Dispensational premillennialism can be identified through two basic features: (1) a distinction is made between God’s program for Israel and His program for the church; (2) a consistently literal interpretation of the Scriptures is maintained. Dispensational premillennialists believe that the church will be raptured (1 Thess. 4:13–18) prior to the Tribulation period; God will judge unbelieving Gentiles and disobedient Israel during the Tribulation (Rev. 6–19). At the end of the Tribulation Christ will return with the church and establish the millennial kingdom on earth. Following the thousand-year reign, Satan will be freed once more, whereupon he and his followers will be cast into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:7–10). The eternal state will follow.  - Paul P. Enns, The Moody Handbook of Theology  (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1989), 389. This is an interesting definition because of how it boils down these features. ...