A Jewish Rabbi

"As a child I received instruction both in the Bible and in the Talmud. I am a Jew, but I am enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene....No one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such life." --Albert Einstein

The Danger of Idyllic Preterist Yearnings

Many people have a sentimental affection for pleasant things that
may have happened in the past. Having had a happy childhood for
example lends motive to recall those years in the past when all
was good and free flowing. It appears too that from a
psychological aspect if there has been a significant loss in
the past, then the human mind yearns for continuity or
re-establishment, albeit unrealistically, of those happy
years before the loss.

Not being a psychologist I can not develop the subject with
authority. However, a condition that seems to appear in the
philosophical or theological approach that many take seems
to reflect the psychological condition described above.

For example, a theological view that favors re-establishment
of ancient moral laws and customs somewhat literally, seems
to be deeply motivated by an yearning rather than a sequential
and reasonable development of thoughts. Such views are idyllic
because they are simplistic. These views evoke what seems like
a "perfect" world, i.e., people living in harmony with the land
diligently following God's precepts.

Such views are preterist because the are always based on a
view of the past and they are yearnings because the seek a
reality that ceased to exist.

The question however remains whether the apparently desirable
reality of the past can be re-established. The answer to this
question is presumably anybody's guess. I am not aware of
successful re-establishment of past realities into the present
condition in the spheres of social structures, business, technology
or living conditions. It could be argued that communities
that have rejected advances in technology and live a life
devoid of TV and other modern amenities are an example of
successful adherence to a reality of the past. However, I believe
the question remains open for the definition of success for those
systems.

Mosaic moral law does not necessitate that individuals live under
the same societal customs of four thousand years ago in order to
be effectively incorporated into communities. Fulfillment of mosaic
law is perfectly accomplished in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus
Christ, whose life, death and resurrection are effectual in actuating
the fulfillment to God's conditions for the redemption of those
whom He calls, is also and the actual fulfillment of the requirements
of the law in our behalf.

The law before the incarnation points to the incarnation and
sets the moral structure against which our sins are exposed.
The requirements of the law at the incarnation are fulfilled
for those who call on the name of Jesus Christ as their Savior
and Lord. The law at and after the incarnation is also expanded
in its details and applicability.

Therefore, post-incarnation we are not only called to live
by mosaic law but we are called to understand the expansive
explication of mosaic law (which the New Testament does)
but also to live by it. Follows that yearnings for a preterist
standard of living do not address the expansion of the law
detailed in the NT. Arguably such yearnings if they could be
realized could not reasonably incorporate into daily practice
the wealth of knowledge offered in the NT because they miss
the substance of the NT in regard to the law.

Idyllic preterist yearnings sound good on first analysis but
fail the test of reasonable applicability vis-à-vis the wealth
of NT expansion, definition and application of the law. This
wealth would be left out in a true literal application of mosaic
law in communities in the present age.

Ed Lane

The Jewish Carpenter

"As a child I received instruction both in the Bible and in the Talmud. I am a Jew, but I am enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene....No one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such life." --Albert Einstein