Thursday, January 22, 2009

Plantinga: Ch 4

Sometimes I think we take what God has given us for granted.  We have become kind of desensitized to the amazing, selfless act that Christ committed for us.  He not only died on the cross, but he suffered his whole life.  He was persecuted and rejected by his own people.  They screamed that they would rather Jesus die than Barabus, one of the vilest men of his time.  What is even more incredible is that Christ suffered in hell for all of his children’s sins.  He paid for each and every sin; we could not even pay for one on our own, let alone every sin of all believers.  Often times we forget how big of a sacrifice Christ undertook for us.

In regards to this whole shalom idea, I do not quite agree with Plantinga.  Plantinga said,

“In the new age God’s people will respond with glad obedience, the rich helping the poor and the strong lifting the weak.  As God’s grace spreads across the land, the lame will begin to dance; the blind will gaze at a world they have never seen before; the deaf will hear the song of a lark.”
Maybe I am misinterpreting it, but from what it sounds like, Plantinga is saying that God will establish his new Kingdom on this earth; He will heal all of the sick and afflicted; He will create a lasting peace in this world.  There is no biblical proof for such a shalom.  The Bible tells us very clearly that this world will be destroyed, and made anew.  The new world will be perfect.  There will be no strong helping the weak or rich helping the poor; there will be no rich or poor, nor will there be weak.  The blind and lame, if they are God’s children, will experience a new world if they live to see the end of this world.  Plantinga’s idea of shalom sounds as if he is denying the coming of the Antichrist, and the persecution that the church shall endure.  I am an A-millennialist, so I believe in a figurative 1000 year reign of the church, which I believe we are in now.  Plantinga makes it sound as if the earth will get better and better.  The earth will only get worse and worse, if you do not believe me read revelations.  This past century wielded the worse persecution on the church, and it will only get worse.  There will be no shalom on this earth.

No comments:

Post a Comment