One further thought. If one looks at the writings of early church fathers, one will find that even way back then there was not one eschatology that was embraced by all. I consider the question to be a minor doctrinal issue where reasonable people can disagree as opposed to a major doctrinal issue, e.g. the deity of Christ, that is fundamental to the Christian faith.
Well, the key issue in Dispensationalism is the difference between the Jews and the Church.
A Premillennial theology that neglects this diffence would have the church inheriting Jewish blessings, a major error.
One further thought. If one looks at the writings of early church fathers, one will find that even way back then there was not one eschatology that was embraced by all.
For the first three centuries Premillennial theology was the dominant one.
I consider the question to be a minor doctrinal issue where reasonable people can disagree as opposed to a major doctrinal issue, e.g. the deity of Christ, that is fundamental to the Christian faith.
Why it is important is that it is not just a theological position but a methodologial way of interpreting scriptures.
Literally hundreds of scriptures deal with the 2nd Advent of Christ and the Millennium reign.
Do we take them literally or allegoricaly?
If literal they can be shown part of a theological system that can explain God's Plan, which is far more then just salvation.
There has never been a thousand year reign yet of Jesus on the Earth. There has never been an event yet that Bible describes as "Behold we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, at the last trumpet". There has never yet been a 7 year period where the things are so horrible that even the mountains have been flattened and 8 hours off the clock per day have been shaved off(or the sun 33 per cent dimmed) and the moon apparently gone from our skies!
You can argue about chronological placements eschatologically, but there are some things the Bible is quite clear about what is to happen before "the end", including one last huge "uprising" of Humans after the 1000 years is finished and God rules from the great white throne in judgment over the entirety of humans that ever lived from Adam to that present time.
I think that if many Christians who call themselves dispensational premillennialists understood what "dispensational" means, they might revisit their eschatology.
I've been a Christian for eight years, and it was three years into my walk before I discovered that there was another way to interpret endtimes prophecy other than premillenial dispensationalism, or the "Left Behind" position.
Me too, but it is a passion of mine to study it. I would be interested to know what you mean by "historic" premillennialism as opposed to "dispensational". Could you elaborate a bit. I think I know, but I am not sure.
I hold to an ideological understanding of the book Revelation. I believe that Revelation is a book written to describe the conflict between God and evil over the span of creation / history with Christ winning all in the end! Revelation is written in symbolic language not because it contains codes to be deciphered by future theologians but because it is primarily interested in teaching general spiritual principles regarding the spiritual warfare every Christian of every generation experiences.
John was exiled on the island of Patmos for Christ's sake and is valuable to all Christians in that his testimony gives peace and comfort to all Christians because it points out that there IS an end to all sorrow and conflict, that the enemies of God's elect will be defeated and punished, and that Jesus is being and will be ultimately glorified along with His chosen people. Ultimately it encourages all of God's people to persevere in faith in an antagonistic environment. It lets us know that we can stand up to false religion and enemies of the cross because Jesus is returning! All Christians should take courage from His promise! I think it's sad that preterism, dispensational theology / chilliasm are the dominant interpretations of this wonderful book today because it takes this beautiful message of Christ and turns it into a future telling book to be interpreted with help from the modern newspaper.