***Thanks for the ping - what a great thread! I loved this analogy from post 49:
A football metaphor may help us clarify the three eschatological perspectives:
Post-mil Christians have confidence in the Coach and His game plan. We assume we are playing for keeps, and playing to win. Our confidence in the coach translates into energy in the field.
A-mil Christians assume that the most we can hope for is a tie. Their game never gets too far past the 50 yard line.
Pre-mil Christians huddle in their own end zone, waiting for a helicopter ride to the other end of the field — at which point they plan to congratulate one another on what a terrific game they played.
Don’t know about you, but I want to be in on what my God is up to. I want a piece of the action!***
Amills don’t believe in a “tie.” We just deny the metric Post-mills use to measure victory. My good sister, doc, you never responded to my point about the Acts 19 verse you used to promote the idea that the word of God prevailed. If you remember, I noted that this prevailing was not in the way Post-mills talk about the prevailing of the word of God.
A football metaphor may help us clarify the three eschatological perspectives:
Oh, man! Can't use metaphor!
The verses from Acts 19 show a God-ordained pattern. Where the word of God is preached, God's grace finds its target.
And many that believed came, and confessed, and shewed their deeds. Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed." -- Acts 19:17-20"And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.
As Calvinists, we acknowledge that only those names covered by the blood of Christ, ordained and purposed and determined and predestined by God from before the foundation of the world according to His good pleasure alone and not based on anything inherent within those individuals or any "fee will" choice to believe, will be saved. Election is by grace alone, and not by works which includes even our "good work of faith."
So agreeing on this, we ask ourselves what is God's plan in this world? Is it to save only a few; or is it to keep on bringing in the sheep who will eventually outnumber the wolves?
What did the word of God do? It "grew mightily." And it "prevailed."
I don't think God intends for Christianity to fail. I think God intends for Christianity to succeed and prevail. Here's a short and succinct understanding why premils and amils seem to be giving up the game before the whistle blows...
The next question pertains to the earthly success of this kingdom. Will the kingdom Christ established be successful in history? Will the promised Seed of Abraham really be a blessing to the nations? Will Christians experience success in carrying out Christ's commission to bring the nations under the discipline of God's law? The answers to these questions constitute the only significant difference between the amillennial and the postmillennial positions. In reality, amillennialism is only a type of pessimistic postmillennialism. The amillennialist does not believe that the world as a whole will be discipled. They believe a few from every tribe and nation will be saved, but do not believe that the power of the gospel will result in a "golden age" in history...""...Christ's millennial kingdom (the time between the first and second advent of Christ) will last an indeterminate, but perfect, amount of time.
If you have the time, read North's take here online free...