[Gamecock]

Awaiting the usual suspects to hurl false accusations of Replacement Theology in 3, 2, 1....

[Gamecock]

I really can't pin down my end times positions, but I thought this provided some good insights. Hope you find it usful as well.

[stuartcr]

What is Replacement Theology?

[ladyL]

Gamecock, you and I have compared our scriptural interpretations to the question Who Is Israel? on other occasions. We are both students of the Word. I admire your gift of writing. This article is very well done. I have discussed the “single seed” vs the “seed that is as many as the stars and the sand” many times.

Oh P.S. the gospel preached to Abraham was that all the nations would be blessed/nivrauchu MIXED! so Abrahams seed would be mixed in all the nations...THAT IS THE GOSPEL! Now to those in traditional Christianity you will have no idea what Gamecock and I are talking about. I just had a missionary in my Bible Study yesterday break down in tears after she heard the “gospel that was preached to Abraham” Galatians 3:8 and the GOSPEL that Jesus preached. Hint...Jesus didn't preach about his death, burial, and Resurrection. The TRUE Gospel hasn't been preached for 2000 years. The “church” hasn't a clue. Gamecock, you and I and about 500,000 other Believers are delving into the Truths of what the Bible says, not what man says and we understand the Gospel of the Kingdom and how it plays out in the last day. Keep digging :) and so shall I.

[fatboy]

Awaiting the usual suspects insisting buried somewhere in the Scriptures that Jehovah certainly made a covenant of grace and or works with man and a covenant of redemption between the Father and the Son. I mean it’s right there somewhere, plain as day, in err, ahem, the Old Te.., I mean New, I mean the booook of, hum,...

[Lee N. Field]

Blessings to you, GC.

This thread started with such promise.

And he said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”

But I said, “I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely my right is with the LORD, and my recompense with my God.”

And now the LORD says, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him; ...

[Cronos]

As an outsider looking in -- question: why do guys on both sides of the divide persist in using the terms "dispensationalist" or "replacementarian"? From what I've read, if one takes the strict definition of the terms, hardly anyone fits them exactly.

Instead of a serious debate, this can be reduced to poster's hurling "d.." or "rep..." a

[Biblical Calvinist]

If you go to Dr. Riddlebarger’s Blog, the Riddleblog - http://kimriddlebarger.squarespace.com/ then scroll halfway down the page, on the right side of the page, you’ll find Dr. Riddlebarger’s lecture series titled “AMILLENIALISM 101” in Mp3 format, which can be streamed or downloaded..FREE.

Dr. Riddlebarger was raised in an Evangelical, Dispensational church..he says that he was a committed Dispensationalist for most of his 20’s, until he began to discover deep inconsistencies in the Dispensational schema, compared to what the Bible actually taught.

Most Evangelicals tend to disparage Amillenialism and Post Millenialism without actually reading the primary Amil or Post Mill literature that has been written by Amillenial and Post Mill scholars, like Dr. Riddlebarger, or Dr. Anthony Hoekema, Dr. Greg Bahnsen, or Gary DeMar, and others.

I’ve spoken with more than a few Christians in the past who are strongly against the Amil or Post Mill viewpoint, but find that they have no real knowledge of the Scriptural arguments used by those who hold to these viewponts. They only know what they have been told by other well known Dispensationalists.

Since he was raised as a Dispensationalist, Dr. Riddlebarger is quite familar with the various arguments that are used by Dispensationalists, he presents these arguments in a balanced way, then deals with them in an irenic manner.

This is an INTERFAMILY argument. No one on the Reformed side says that Dispensationalists are not Christians, yet we do insist that classical Darby and Scofield Dispensationalism, and the Modified Dispensationalism of Walvoord and Ryrie is in error.

Dr. Riddlebarger’s book “A CASE FOR AMILLENIALISM” is a good place to start to understand the Scriptural arguments presented by both sides of the issue at hand. His AUDIO Mp3 lecture series is an excellent companion to the book.

Dr. Riddlebarger has a lecture included within this AUDIO series that REFUTES the idea that the Reformed hold to REPLACEMENT theology.

The TERM “Replacement” is a canard. The Reformed have NEVER used this term. The term was coined by, and used by Dispensationalists to describe something that they don’t really understand. Reformed theologians do NOT hold to so called “Replacement” theology at all.

Rather, the classical Reformed position is that since Believeing Christians are grafted onto the branch of Believeing Israel, Believeing Israel IS the Church and the Church IS Believing Israel, and has been since Creation.

God has one people, not two. Believeing Israel and the Believing Church are one and the same, and have always been so. There is no dichotomy between the Believeing Church and Believing Israel. We are all one in God’s Kingdom.

So, understanding that the Church IS Israel, Israel IS the Church, and always has been so, there cannot possibly be any REPLACEMENT of Israel here. Rather, the Believing Church is EXPANDING Israel when God draws people into His Kingdom through evangelism.

So, it’s best that we properly affirm that we hold to EXPANSION theology, rather than the canard of Replacement theology.

Dr. Riddlebarger’s book and audio series is highly recommended for those who wish to further investigate these things.~