Strom/Mowery Debate on Premillenialism

 
 
 Proposition: 
 The view of PREMILLENNIALISM, as viewed by the SEVENTH DAY 
 ADVENTIST, is unscriptural.
 
 Affirm:  Dub Mowery
 Deny:  Bob Strom
 
 Bob, I have read over and over chapters 19 through 22 of the book 
 of Revelation and do not see anything close to a "distant 
 cousin" pertaining to the Seventh Day Adventist Church's doctrine 
 concerning the end of time and the events thereafter.  Since the 
 book of Revelation is primarily a book of symbolic language, how 
 in the world do you come up with such a concept?  Did you just 
 swallow "hook, line, and sinker" the Seventh Day Adventist's 
 teaching pertaining to the end of time and their claims 
 concerning those last four chapters of Revelation?  How do you 
 know when something is literal or figurative?  I recognize the 
 entire book of Revelation as being the inspired Word of God.  
 However, I do not believe your claims of what it teaches.  It 
 seems obvious to me that you are playing loosely with the 
 scriptures in determining whether a particular passage is to be 
 understood as being literal or figurative.  The way your 
 arguments come across to me is that you argue for figurative 
 language when it suits your concept of premillenialism and 
 literal when it is needed to sustain your view.  I remind you 
 that the book of Revelation is primarily a book written 
 in symbolic language.  Yet, you choose to interpret large 
 portions of it as being literal.  It is presented to us in a 
 literary form know as apocalypse.  This means that the book of 
 Revelation is presented in a series of visions symbolically.  How 
 would the average person, who reads the Bible, come to the 
 conclusions held by the Adventist on the things pertaining to the 
 end of time and the events thereafter?  I do not see how anyone 
 would draw such conclusions by just reading the entire New 
 Testament.
 
 My entire adult life has been devoted to learning, applying, and 
 teaching Biblical truths.  There is not anything in this world in 
 which I would place above the truths found in the inspired Word 
 of God.  Whether you or someone else presented a Biblical truth 
 unto me, in which I had not known before, then I would not 
 hesitate to readily admit it and thank the person for doing so.  
 Bob, do you really hunger and thirst for a clearer knowledge of 
 God's Word?  It is my prayer that both you and me would not 
 hesitate to accept a Biblical truth that has been presented unto 
 us, regardless of who presented that truth unto us.  However, you 
 have not provided a single verse of scripture that proves the 
 teaching of the Seventh Day Adventist Church concerning its 
 teaching on premillenialism.  Not one!  Scriptures do not 
 contradict one another; therefore, any understanding of the book 
 of Revelation that would contradict plain teachings elsewhere in 
 the Bible must be rejected.  After all, God is not the author of 
 confusion (I Cor. 14:33).  You claim that there will be two 
 literal resurrections of the dead separated by a 1,000 year 
 period.  The Bible recognizes only one literal resurrection of 
 all the physically dead at the second coming of Christ (John 
 5:28-29; Acts 24:15).  The Day of Judgment will transpire at the 
 second coming of Christ.  There will not be a third advent of the 
 Son of God (II Thess. 1:7-10; Matt. 25:31-46).  
 
 Your claim that Christ will ultimately reign here upon a 
 renovated earth forever with the righteous has absolutely no 
 foundation.  Our Lord has completed His work here upon earth.  As 
 our Lord prayed unto the Heavenly Father, He said, "I have 
 glorified thee on the earth:  I have finished the work which thou 
 gavest me to do" (John 17:4).  After the Son of God was 
 resurrected from the dead He ascended back to heaven to prepare 
 an eternal home for the redeemed (John 14:1-3; II Cor. 5:1).  At 
 the end of time He will return to resurrect all of the physically 
 dead (John 5:28-29; Acts 24:15).  He is also returning for the 
 Great Day of Judgment, which will be the general judgment of the 
 entire human race.  We learn at Matthew 25:31 precisely when our 
 Lord Jesus Christ will judge both the righteous and the 
 unrighteous.  Take heed to the Words of Jesus as to when this 
 will take place.  "When the Son of man shall come in his glory, 
 then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:" (Matt. 25:31).  
 In reading the remaining portion of that chapter, the inspired 
 Word of God describes the Great Day of Judgment.  When will the 
 day of Judgment take place?  Again, verse 31 plainly tells us 
 that it will be when the Son of man shall come in His glory 
 with His holy angels.  The Apostle Paul describes this same event 
 in the following words:  "And to you who are troubled rest with 
 us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his 
 mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know 
 not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:  
 Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the 
 presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; When he 
 shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in 
 all them that believe (because our testimony among you was 
 believed in that day" (II Thess. 1:7-10).  This Great Day of 
 Judgment will take place on the last day (John 12:48).  When will 
 that be?  The above passages reveal that it will take place when 
 our Lord returns with His Holy angels at the end of time.
 
 At Matthew 24:36, the Son of God refers to the end of time when 
 the physical universe will pass away in the following words:  
 "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of 
 heaven, but my Father only."  It is obvious that He is referring 
 to a specific time with the words "day and hour".  The word day 
 is used in the scripture in various ways.  It is used as one 
 period of the earth's revolution, or 24 hour period (see Genesis 
 7:24).  The term day also has reference to the daylight hours in 
 contrast to night (Genesis 8:22).  In a more broad usage, it 
 pertains to a period of time, or an indefinite time of action 
 and/or state of being.  Examples:  Zechariah 4:10, "For who 
 hath despised the day of small things?"  Ecclesiastes 7:14, "In 
 the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity 
 consider:.."  The context in which the word day is used 
 determines how it is used therein.  In Genesis the first chapter 
 the scripture enumerates six individual days of creation.  
 Evolutionists attempt to make those six days of creation long 
 geological ages, rather than ordinary 24 hour days.  It is 
 evident at Exodus 20:8-11 that the six days of creation were , in 
 fact, 24 hour days.  Unless a person was an evolutionist he would 
 not have any reason to claim the six days of creation as being 
 long geological ages.  Bob, this principle is also true 
 concerning premillennialists attempting to prove that the "hour" 
 of the resurrection, as stated at John 5:28-29 to represent a 
 period of time other than the precise hour of the day when the 
 resurrection will take place.  Actually, I was surprised that you 
 waited as long as you did to put forth this effort.  You did not 
 even deal with Acts 24:15, which states, "And have hope toward 
 God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a 
 resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust."  That 
 passage definitely speaks of a singular resurrection of both the 
 just and unjust.  It says, "a resurrection", not "first 
 resurrection and second resurrection", or "resurrections".  You 
 surely would not turn to Matthew 24:36 and claim that "that day 
 and hour" does not refer to a definite day and hour.  And at John 
 5:28-29 our Lord is speaking of a precise time when "all that are 
 in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth;"  That 
 little word "all" in that context does not leave anyone out.  In 
 fact, He further clarifies by revealing who the all includes in 
 that passage.  Jesus declared, "they that have done good, unto 
 the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the 
 resurrection of damnation."  That does not leave any of the dead 
 for a second literal physical resurrection.
 
 Why do you suppose the Lord would take the righteous back to 
 heaven for 1,000 years if the earth is to be their eternal home?  
 And why would He resurrect the unrighteous if He is going to 
 annihilate them anyway according to the Adventist there will not 
 be an eternal hell (Gehenna)?
 
 Again, Bob,  how do you determine when scripture is to be 
 interpreted as literal and when is it to be interpreted as 
 figurative.  I especially ask you to tell me how you make that 
 determination concerning the contents of the book of Revelation.
 
 Sincerely, 
 Dub Mowery