Posted by FH on June 15, 2012 at 01:28:46
In Reply to: Re: Daniel 7 posted by ME on June 14, 2012 at 10:05:12:
Thanks for writing.
You wrote: “I'm happy someone wants to talk about scripture, but Lord help me, I do have trouble wrapping my head around the apocraphal writings.”
It is about Daniel 7, not the Apocryphal books. If you want those you need to go to the old Jesuit (Douay) or the Vulgate (Catholic bible).
You wrote:“When it comes to contrasting what TFI teaches versus understanding what the Bible really says, I trust a lot of what the folks at makestraightpaths.com have to say. They haven't addressed the whole of TFI speculation on end-time prophesy, but they do a nice introduction piece to the subject in their article on Daniel 2. “
Ok. I have visited that site before but I am not really aware of what they are about. Will check it out more sometime.
You wrote: “When deciding whether to take 1.5 hr to listen to a teaching, I tried to figure out the religious affiliation of the website and the teacher, Walter J. Veith. The website isn't very transparent, and that makes me a bit suspicious. It turns out Dr. Veith is affiliated with the Seventh Day Adventists.
I admire the Adventists for their lifestyle and consider their core beliefs within the unity of Christian faith, but I am skeptical of their end-time teaching. This is a group, after all, that was founded out of the Great Disappointment of 1844. The SDA sees itself as the remnant called to proclaim the Three Angels' Message of Rev. 14:6-12. Maybe they are the remnant mentioned in Rev. 12:17. The Holy Spirit hasn't confirmed the truth of that claim to me. “
I am aware that Veith is SDA, however at this point I prefer to look at what he is saying, on it’s own merits. If it does not make sense to you, just forget it. I am also aware that he is a controversial person… there is plenty of stuff about him around, to put it mildly.
You wrote: “My biggest concern with placing too much emphasis on discerning the signs of the times for Jesus' Second Coming is that "the more convinced one is of the immanent return of Christ, the less likely one is to make long-term commitments." I personally feel called to focus on living in the Kingdom of God here and now through a long-term commitment to feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, healing the sick, comforting those that mourn, visiting the prisoner, and caring for widows and orphans. This is what I believe the Lord has asked me to do to prepare for his return. My spiritual focus doesn't leave a lot of time or energy to speculate on how all the screwed up stuff that happens in this world fits into the Book of Daniel. “
I read you perfectly here. I could say much of that about myself as well. But that is the very reason I suggested to watch the whole 1½ hour, because imo there is some logic to his thing after all, something sorely lacking in TFI doctrines here, which is why I, among many, threw all of it to the winds as pure speculation. If it cannot be understood and does not make sense, what good is it?