Ecclesiastes 7:6 For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool: this also is vanity.
An interpretation of "this generation shall not pass"
Discussion in 'Baptist Theology & Bible Study' started by George Antonios, Dec 26, 2019.
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George Antonios Well-Known Member
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MB -
I don't know where you are getting your information. The Wailing Wall is indeed a retaining wall for for the Temple Mount, not a wall of the Second Temple. The Roman soldiers profaned the Holy of Holies and took the furnishings from the most holy place, as demonstrated by Titus' triumphal arch in Rome.
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Says one who is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who can give a reason, except mine is not the laughter of a fool. :Thumbsup So, let's take a look at your hermeneutic for a moment.
The Bible is only symbolic when it tells you it's symbolic or when it's impossible to take literally.1. Sez who?
2. Is there no other way to recognize symbolism other than being told like an elementary school child? The Bible does speak to us as little children often, but much is written to those who are of full age and have their senses exercised. Did the writers of the New Testament recognize symbolism in literal things that didn't have the symbolism sticker attached?
3. When you say something is impossible to be taken literally, what you're really saying is that it's impossible for you at your present stage of learning and development as a child of God, and at your level of knowledge of the world around you. You basically make yourself and your own impressions the criterion of when something is symbolic or not.
Thus, your hermeneutic is an arbitrary presupposition created to prop up your own illusions. :Biggrin -
If one approaches the the account in Matthew and just takes the language at face value, then He said that many of the individuals there would be living when the prophecy was fulfilled. So we can approach it one of two ways. 1) The spectacular events haven't happened, so the generation isn't a generation in the genealogical sense. 2) The prophecy was fulfilled before that generation (in the genealogical sense died out), therefore the spectacular events are symbolic of something else.
Those insisting (<--note the word 'insisting' as opposed to suggesting) on the first approach, thinking it's the obvious one, are really projecting their own biases and notions onto the Scriptures.
Those open to the second approach are actually asking some questions about the nature of prophecy and prophetic language, and indeed are finding there is this kind of symbolism in prophecy.
Something to note is, in the synoptic gospels, Christ is telling the Twelve how they themselves will be treated during this time and how they should respond. In the Gospel of John, which was written twenty to thirty years after the destruction of Jerusalem omits this teaching altogether.
Some will point to Revelation as being John's account thereof. It isn't. But that's a discussion for another thread.
And when one takes into account that Christ told the Pharisees that the kingdom of God doesn't come with observation, but is internal, then insisting on external, spectacular and observable events to accompany the coming of His kingdom might be casting aspersions on Christ's truthfulness.
The second approach seems to be the correct one, and one complicit with the whole of the teachings in the Gospels and elsewhere. -
MB
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