Our regular teacher is on a mission trip. His stand-in will be a “prophecy teacher.” I abhor dispensational premillennialism as an aberration of the Gospel, since it asserts that some future antichrist will run the world.
SO: what should I do?
I’m new to this church, and would like to get along with everyone.
Any advice? Thanks, saints!
Abhor is a strong word and you obviously have strong feelings about your opinion. Unless you can go and have peace, I suggest you don’t go. To make a rebuttal invites an argument, and if by the teacher’s grace that doesn’t happen, it will disrupt what he has to say.
You call it false teaching. Not every Christian agrees with your viewpoint. Do you think challenging the teacher will change his mind or will it cause division in the group?
God’s word says we are to be at peace whenever it is possible for us. In this instance, it is possible. He says we are to have unity in the Spirit and not to debate over frivolous things. We are to be of one mind, encouraging each other and showing respect to those who would teach.
If you can do this, and not abhor what he may say, then go. Otherwise I would take a pass.
i myself am not sure what the truth is about all this, but since its something you feel convicted on, i do think its important enough to do SOMEthing. if i were you, id consider talking to the stand-in ahead of time if you can. ask what his general belief is on that, and if that alone is exactly what you understandably abhor, then no further questions will be needed about his faith; id then ask if he plans to incorporate these beliefs into his teaching, and also what he plans to teach; actually, FIRST asking what he plans to teach might be a good starting point. if it has nothing to do with prophecy, then youll of course want to ask if he plans to pepper that stuff in. just, kindly get info ahead of time if you can, and if necessary, let him know if his teaching will make you not want to be there. if you cant communicate ahead of time, i see no problem with kindly saying what you think during his teaching- possibly going first with asking questions during the session, to show a willingness to seek understanding first, even though your questions will be leaning on revealing his flawed thinking. just IDEAS im giving you to consider to approach with. sometimes, we take one step forward, only to find we need to change our method of execution suddenly. so i cant give a one-size-fits-all answer; gotta just put on your character armor being a sweet christian with genuine concerns and doing your best not to get heated if disagreement arises. that is HARD for me so thats why it occurs to me to mention. i agree with the previous comment as far as going in not ready to be upset or whatev, but i just dont think the word “abhor” necessarily indicates that you were going to get ugly in any case. i think its a fine word to make it clear how you feel about dispensational premillenialism itself. whatever you choose, even if you show the greatest kindness to everyone, im sure youre aware you could still make negative waves even without being guilty of anything. im sure some people were horrified to hear jesus speak against false ideas in the church in front of everyone. didnt make him wrong or mean. so there are consequences, possibly good or possibly bad or both, that youre aware of. so its how ever much the topic means to you, etc, what youre willing to fight for and possibly sacrifice. so im praying for you in how you approach this, its a big deal in the end, one way or another, even if only temporarily. hope the best for you!
If you want to get along don’t challenge the teacher! WHen you go to church (no one is perfect) you pay attention and listen and you receive the good and dismiss the bad. WHat else is needed? Nothing.
Thank you so much for your prayers! Now THAT I find encouraging!
I like that answer. You seem to think like I do. You must be right! Lol. Just kidding.
I used to be the guy who wanted to set everyone straight, but I think I was coming off as arrogant in those days. I realized it and decided to humble myself. I don’t have to be right and if I keep an open mind and set aside my preconceived notions so I can discuss a topic and understand the posters point of view. I guess they call that being teachable, remain teachable. And there has been a time or two that I was able to catch mistakes in my doctrine, so I studied it more than I ever before and consequently I was able to comprehend where I had been wrong in my thinking.
Ok I’ll tell you but I don’t really want to lol. I used to be Amillennial and was solidly in the post trib rapture group. So I am Premillennial now and I could show you exactly where I was wrong with post trib. But I doan wanna. Amillenials are generally mean and arrogant and like to argue so maybe we better not, lol!
I’ll tell you one thing, I was wrong because…I was not reading the Word literally enough. When I read it literally, it goes “click” in my brain.
I am an Amillennial, interesting that even though you have never met me, never even heard of me yet you can describe me as mean and arrogant…
I like the general advice Bestill gave you. I also like what wantthetruth said about trying to speak the the person ahead of time.
Is his line of thinking the accepted or dominant thinking in this church? If it is and you don’t agree perhaps you need to find a different place to worship. If this person seems to be a minority then have a amiable discussion with him, accepting you almost certainly won’t change his thinking. Depending on that outcome not attending that service might be a good idea. Rom 12:14 says pursue peace. (dep on translation) Pursue is a strong word, it takes some effort. You are not being untrue to yourself or your beliefs if you choose not to confront this fellow. It isn’t an actual heresy in the sense he is teaching a different Christ, many Christians share his belief. Which circles back to is this a prominent thinking in the church, and how do you feel about the rest of the theology. Just a thought, is there someone else you know in this church you could talk to about this? Remember we are called to be different from the world, in part this means we can affirm other Christians without always agreeing with every belief they have. Who knows, maybe God isn’t finished with them yet. 
I wasn’t talking about you. I don’t know you and have never talked with you before, so how could I be talking about you?
I was talking about my experience with amillennials on other boards when we was trying to have a civil discussion about the rapture. Those amillennials were arrogant and would not even discuss scripture but call people names and all sorts of stuff. They were arrogant and downright mean. Like I was not allowed to hold a different perspective about thee rapture.
So tell me again how I was talking about you? Who are you? Oh, another millennial. You said so. No big deal to me. Believe what you choose to believe. I think you should not be so thin skinned. Don’t look for offenses to argue about, we are all children of God and shouldn’t be bickering. We should have unity amongst ourselves, even with different perspectives! Do you think that is possible or do you still want to fight and argue with me?
God bless you brother.
You made a blanket statement about Amillennials, it wasn’t specific to people in your past. You are very defensive, I wasn’t offended, lol, just pointing out the blanket statement. cheers.
It wasn’t a blanket statement! It was about specific group of millennials that I had experience with, lol. Surely there must be exceptions to the rule, right? Oh look, we have one here! I should have known you’d be here Lol!.
Hmm that’s a tough one. I agree with your views. I don’t think being confrontational is the answer, though, since end times beliefs aren’t core doctrines of the Christian faith (imo anyway), and it’s unfortunate how often they divide Christians and churches. The best thing to do is probably to either not go and spend the time in prayer/reading scripture on your own or with other Christians or, if you do go, do so with an open mind and heart, seeking to understand rather than debate.
One other thing maybe to consider is: why do you think this church engaged this person to teach? Do these views represent the general views of the congregation or are they trying to offer multiple perspectives for the sake of discussion and edification?
I would have to look up these terms to know there meaning. I know what I believe, but I won’t tell you. lol. I’m very confident in my believe of how things will go and can back it up with the Word. That’s enough for me. I don’t need to argue it and I respect those who differ. I think that’s the key. Respecting and listening to those who differ.
And that’s ok too! I left that other board because of the rapture threads and lack of moderation. I got tired of it and came here. I haven’t opened a rapture thread either!
I learned recently that it really isn’t about rapture timing, or prophecy fulfillment or any of that. We all grew up discussing these things but it was only leading up to the point. It’s all about love and relationship now and so it behooves us all to emulate Jesus and not bicker but rather show love and compassion to everyone. Unification of the body. If Christians can’t be civil them someone is missing something. When we walk as led by the spirit there is no division or bickering, there is only the truth. And we are all on a need to know basis so we do not know much overall! All it takes is respect like you said.
I agree with you. End time prophecy is what will happen, but now is the time we live for Jesus. Throughout Scripture God makes the point of unity in the Spirit and that arguments and strife come from our sinful nature and not from the Spirit. I don’t think any of us have the full picture or understanding. We know what we can know and we do grow in what we know, but no one has the whole story. That’s why Jesus had to use parables; earthly stories to talk about spiritual things. To the people who heard Him, it wasn’t always obvious what He talked about and even today there are differences of opinion. As long as it fits in with everything Jesus we’re good.
He also said that they (the world) will know we are His disciples if we love one another. Our relationships with other Christians matters greatly. It’s our witness and it’s our attraction. We need to remember that and grow into that person that loves our brothers and sisters. It’s not natural. It’s supernatural.
Exactly. I’m working on it myself. But it’s hard sometimes for me because way back olden days when I was a kid, me and my friends used to talk such crap to each other, or go sock him in the arm hard as I can. That sort of thing. But no one got offended, we were friends. Nowadays people get so offended so easily that, it’s sad. We could insult each other and everyone would laugh even the insulted one. I noticed that in the OT it was almost like, people treated their enemies better than most people nowadays treat their friends! With honor and respect. When I started learning that I knew I better put a bridle on my mouth, lol.
It actually is going very well for I used to be one foul mouthed punk back when. I’ve pretty much learned how to not take offense. Of course that is pride. So who cares if I am believed? I’ve been raked across the coals for some of my testimonies! (How can my testimony offend someone else?!) All I can do is speak the truth as I know it and some will believe me and some wont, simple as that, so that’s ok Brother! Bless you! Right?
Right. It’s taken me a long time to understand that the result of my sharing the gospel is not up to me. I’m not responsible for the outcome, just the doing of it. Makes things a whole lot easier, but still, you want people to believe what you say.
I find that one way to tell if a Christian is mature or not is if they take offense. Those who answer with grace are not offended. There was a story I heard once about President Lincoln. One of his aids came to him and said that Staynor was saying how stupid Lincoln was. Lincoln thought for a moment and answered. He said if Staynor was saying he was stupid there must be some truth in that remark because Staynor was an intelligent and wonderful man. Talk about humility! Most would have been offended big time.
btw…the name wasn’t Staynor but I can’t remember what it was.