From: jfb@macsch.com (John Baskette)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian
Subject: Liberal vs. Fundamental
Date: 24 Dec 92 09:47:25 GMT
Organization: MacNeal-Schwendler Corp.

I was asked by email to defined what I meant by dispensationalism when I
used the term in an earlier post.  Here was the answer I sent:

Dispensationalism is a system of prophetic theology.

In short dispensationalists are those who believe in the pre-tribulational
rapture of the church.  

Dispensationalists emphasis the teaching of prophecy and the imminent, at 
any moment, return of Christ.

Many ministries who hold dispensational beliefs also emphasize the "soon"
return of Christ.  The generation that has seen the restoration of the 
nation Israel to the land is the last generation before the return of 
Christ.  These added beliefs, however, are not a part of dispensational
teaching.  It can be argued that these added beliefs contradict 
dispensational theology, and many dispensational scholars reject these 
teachings as unsound.  There are some ministries that have taken the 
dispensational prophetic system as a starting point and gone to extremes.
One of the most recent examples was the Korean movement that taught 
that the rapture would occur on Oct. 28, 1992.

The essence of dispensationalism (1) is:

1.  The recognition of a distinction between Israel and the Church.

2.  A consistently literal principle of interpretation -- particularly
    of Bible prophecy.

3.  A basic working and conception of the purpose of God as His own
    glory rather than as the single purpose of salvation.

Some of the beliefs derived from these principles:

1.)  The O.T. prophecies of the restoration of national Israel to the
     land in the last days will be literally fulfilled.

2.)  The millennial kingdom mentioned in Revelation will be literally
     fulfilled at Christ's return after which Christ will reign on the 
     earth for 1000 years.  (Pre-millennialism)

3.)  The 70 weeks of Daniel spoken of in Daniel 9 refers to a period of 
     490 years and apply only to Israel.  The first 69 weeks have been 
     fulfilled historically, ending at the first coming of Christ.  When 
     the Jews rejected the Messiah, the 70 weeks were suspended and a 
     new age or dispensation called the Church age began.  The Last or 
     70th week of Daniel, the last seven years, has yet to be fulfilled.
     This last week will immediately precede the second coming of Christ.

4.)  The book of Revelation after the letters to the seven churches is a
     prophecy concerning events that will occur during the last seven  
     years before the second coming or 70th week.  This 70th week
     is called the tribulation period.  The last half of this week (the 
     last 3.5 years) is the Great Tribulation spoken of in Dan. 9 and 
     in the olivet discourse (Matt. 24).  This tribulation period is a 
     time when God will pour out his wrath on a sinful world.        

5.)  The coming (Parousia) of Christ will occur in two phases.  The
     first phase will occur at the start of the seventh week.  This 
     will be Christ's imminent return for his saints to "rapture" his 
     church as described in I Thess 4.  All of the Christians (in some 
     cases only overcoming Christians) will be resurrected and taken 
     to the heavenly mansions Christ has prepared for us. (John 14)
     The church will not be here during the tribulation period because 
     God has ended the Church age and resumed dealing with Israel.  The 
     church is also raptured to keep the Christians from the wrath of God
     which according to Romans 5:9 Christians will not experience.  The
     second phase is Christ's second coming at the end of the tribulation
     with his saints to begin the Kingdom age dispensation.  

6.)  The tribulation period will see a restoration of the fourth
     worldly kingdom spoken of in Daniel.  The fourth kingdom was 
     represented by the legs of Iron in the image of Nebechadnezzer's
     dream in Dan. 2.  The latter phase of the kingdom is represented
     by the feet or iron and clay.  This kingdom is also represented 
     by the terrible beast of Dan. 7.  This fourth kingdom was the 
     Roman empire.  The Roman empire will be restored in time for the 
     tribulation and will consist of a confederation of 10 kings or
     kingdoms headed by the little horn of Daniel also known as the
     son of perdition (II Thess. 2 - the falling away is the rapture,
     that which restrains is the Holy Spirit whose taking away implies
     the absence of the church from the earth).  The son of perdition
     is called the Anti-Christ and spoken of in Rev. 13 where he 
     makes all who dwell on the earth to receive the mark of the
     beast.

7.)  Sacred history consists of different dispensations or 'economies'.
     A dispensation is a period of time during which man is tested
     in respect of obedience to some specific revelation of the will
     of God.  Dispensational schemes will vary slightly from one 
     author to the next.  One of the most popular schemes is that found
     in the Scofield Reference Bible (one of the sources that helped 
     popularize dispensationalism).  It is:

        Creation to fall                    Innocency
        Fall to flood                       Conscience
        Flood to Abraham                    Human Government
        Abraham to Moses                    Promise
        Moses to Christ                     Law
        Church Age                          Grace
        Millennium                          Kingdom

     A new period or dispensation begins when God introduces a change
     in the principles or ordinances valid up to that time.  For example
     a number of ordinances are introduced at the time of Noah.  At the 
     coming of Christ many of the Mosiac Laws or ordinances are annulled.
     The purpose of God in each dispensation is his own glory.  

This system of dispensational teaching including the concept of the 
pre-tribulational rapture was first developed among the Plymouth
Brethren in the early 19th century in England and Ireland.  John N.
Darby in particular is credited with forming much of this theology.
Dispensational theology was popularized more widely in evangelical
and fundamentalist circles in North America through a series of Bible 
Conferences beginning in the late 1870's.  By the early 20th century
about the time of the writing of _The Fundamentals_ (from which the 
term fundamentalist is derived) dispensationalism became the most
popular prophetic theology in fundamentalist schools and Bible
Institutes in America.   

This is only a quick summary of some of the dispensational ideas
to give you an idea of what I mean when I use the term.  I am not 
a dispensationalist myself.  I do have friends who believe this 
theology and who I respect.  

John

(1)  These three points come from _Dispensationalism Today_ by Charles C. 
     Ryrie, The Moody Bible Institue of Chicagp, 1965.  Ryrie has a Ph.D. 
     from the University of Edinburgh and a Th.M. and Th.D from Dallas 
     Theological Seminary.  He is a professor of systematic theology at 
     Dallas.

     Dallas Theological Seminary is known for being the premier
     dispensational school in the U.S., perhaps the world.  Moody
     Bible Institute is also a markedly dispensational school.
     Many well known ministers and teachers (at least in the U.S.)
     are graduates of these schools.