For this, here’s a recording (audio and video) of a roundtable sort of discussion about the millennium hosted by John Piper. Participating are Jim Hamilton (premill), Sam Storms (amill), and Doug Wilson (postmill). It is a sort of “X Views” book in audio complete with interruptions, energy, a few instances of a little frustration, and some humor thrown in for good measure.
Now about that, a while back I saw some disparaging comments about the “4 views” types of books with the attitude, “I don’t want four views; just tell me what God says.”
It sounds pious but the reality is that there is, at times, some lack of clarity about what God says. Four views types of books help to flesh out various arguments in favor of views. And that’s a helpful thing.
It’s not that God says two or three conflicting things. It is that the Bible is not entirely clear about some things, though it is explicitly clear about other things.
This panel discussion demonstrates that idea that there are some things about which there is legitimate dispute. And as such, it is helpful to have a good discussion about it.
For my dollar, Jim Hamilton owns this discussion.
1 comment:
I think there's value in the 4 views type books, but the limitation is actually what your final comment shows--they typically just reinforce the view you already held. I don't know if I've ever encountered someone who changed their position after reading one of the books. So, they are helpful in understanding the arguments, but not effective in changing minds.
Ben
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