"Literal" interpretation counterexamples

gregbed · #1 (**permalink**) 08-19-2009, 11:25 AM

I spent a couple of hours yesterday looking for a list of counterexamples to the oft-repeated statement that all of the Bible is to be taken literally unless plainly marked out as poetry or allegory, etc.
I couldn't find any lists. Can anyone point me to some and save me hours of time constructing one?
I am looking for something I could email a dispensationalist friend and ask which he believes will be literally fulfilled. Also, a listing of those prophecies that the NT declares as fulfilled which did not occur in a literal fashion.
Alternatively, people could just reply with the ones that come to mind and I could organize them into a list.
Greg

***Contra_Mundum*** · #2 (**permalink**) 08-19-2009, 12:59 PM

I think your quest is useless.

All the dispensationalist says is, "well obviously THAT prophesy isn't to be taken literally," in other words, counterexamples don't budge them.

Quote:

Isa 40:3 A voice cries: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Isa 40:4 Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.
Isa 40:5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."

God did not literally create a marble-smooth highway for Christ's advent, uprooting the mountains, and dumping them in the valleys.

But this fact has never budged a dispensationalist.

Quote:

Joe 2:28 "And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.
Joe 2:29 Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit.
Joe 2:30 "And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke.
Joe 2:31 The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes.
Joe 2:32 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the LORD has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the LORD calls.

Peter tells us this passage was FULFILLED on Pentecost, A.D.33

No dispensationalist will be budged from his position.

It doesn't matter. WE are "ridiculous spiritualizers," THEY are the simple literalists. WE are the liberals; THEY are the conservatives.

THEY "spiritualize" when it is "OBVIOUS!" And WE are just willy-nilly spiritualizers.

Give up. You can't win this argument with them.

SemperEruditio · #3 (**permalink**) 08-19-2009, 01:30 PM

Rev. Bruce is correct! Had this back & forth a year ago with a friend. He still tells me I have trouble understanding the true meaning of the text. I ask him who are the "other sheep" Jesus was talking about and he gets upset. Seems he has trouble with that text because it "supports non-Christians getting into heaven."

Answerman · #4 (**permalink**) 08-19-2009, 01:46 PM

1. Jesus's declaration that John the baptist was the Elijah that was to come.
2. Jesus's declaration that some of them standing there would not taste death til the son of man comes into His kingdom.
3. Peter declaring "this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel" in Acts 2
4. Peter declaring Christ's resurrection (and subsequent assencion to His heavenly thrown) was what king David spoke of when God promised him that He would seat one of his descendents on the throne.
5. What the people were witnessing when Jews were converting to Christ in the first century was the rebuilding of the tabernacle of David (Acts 15), so that the rest of the mankind might seek after the Lord.

Here is a 10 part sermon series that thouroughly goes through these and other passages with the focus put on how Jesus and the apostles interpreted many of the old testament passages where Dispensationalists refuse to accept Jesus's and His apostles interpretation.

SermonAudio.com - Beacon Baptist Church

This sermon series is the clearest and most compelling case against the Dispensationalists so-called literal hermeneutic that I have found, I hope it will help you in discussions with your dispensational friends.

In Christ,
David

gregbed · #5 (**permalink**) 08-24-2009, 12:15 PM

Thanks for the posts. I understand, and to a large extent agree with Bruce. But I am ever hopeful (what semper would that be?). I am appreciative of the people who challenged me when I held to dispensationalism. My understanding of the Bible has been enhanced by removing these lenses. It was a sort of theological cataract surgery.

Greg

JDKetterman · #6 (**permalink**) 08-24-2009, 01:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gregbed

I spent a couple of hours yesterday looking for a list of counterexamples to the oft-repeated statement that all of the Bible is to be taken literally unless plainly marked out as poetry or allegory, etc.
I couldn't find any lists. Can anyone point me to some and save me hours of time constructing one?
I am looking for something I could email a dispensationalist friend and ask which he believes will be literally fulfilled. Also, a listing of those prophecies that the NT declares as fulfilled which did not occur in a literal fashion.
Alternatively, people could just reply with the ones that come to mind and I could organize them into a list.
Greg

I've actually silenced a couple of my Dispensationalist professor just by pointing out how the New Testament interprets the Old Testament. If they accuse us of "spiritualizing," then the Apostles themselves are guilty of taking this same hermeneutic.