Why does Eschatology divide the Church into 3 camps

My local Church has lost members who didn't agree with our stance on Eschatology.

I don't see why it's such a contentious subject, we can hold different views and remain a faithful Church.
How does holding one of the three views effect your Christian walk. Our Church holds to an A Millennial view.

It was sad to see these brothers and sisters go over such a trivial issue (in my view), it was obviously a big deal to them.
I still don't have a clear picture in my mind, how each of the different views effects our walk with God.

I'm sure it's not an issue in all Churches, so why is it such a big deal in others like mine. Our senior Pastor just told me it was their own decision to leave and he wasn't going to change our stand to accommodate them.

Could somebody please explain the three views in simple terms and why they are so important to the Christian.

I don't see why it's such a contentious subject, we can hold different views and remain a faithful Church. ... How does holding one of the three views effect your Christian walk. ... Could somebody please explain the three views in simple terms and why they are so important to the Christian.

My local Church has lost members who didn't agree with our stance on Eschatology.

I don't see why it's such a contentious subject, we can hold different views and remain a faithful Church.
How does holding one of the three views effect your Christian walk. Our Church holds to an A Millennial view.

It was sad to see these brothers and sisters go over such a trivial issue (in my view), it was obviously a big deal to them.
I still don't have a clear picture in my mind, how each of the different views effects our walk with God.

I'm sure it's not an issue in all Churches, so why is it such a big deal in others like mine. Our senior Pastor just told me it was their own decision to leave and he wasn't going to change our stand to accommodate them.

Could somebody please explain the three views in simple terms and why they are so important to the Christian.

Let's begin with the different views. (And for more details you can study this link:https://www.blueletterbible.org/faq/mill.cfm)

There are actually four views of eschatology:

1. Dispensational Premillennialism: Christ will come to take His Church (His Bride) to Heaven before the Tribulation and Great Tribulation, at the end of which He will come to earth visibly and literally, and then He will establish a literal Millennial Kingdom on earth. (This view interprets the Bible literally and this is my view).

2. Historical Premillennialism: This view presumes that the Rapture and the Second Coming are simultaneous, after which the Millennium goes into effect. ( this view fails to take into account that the Marriage of the Lamb must precede the Second Coming of Christ, which means that there must be a Pre-Tribulation Rapture.)

3. Postmillennialism: This view does not present a literal Millennium. Instead it claims that we are already living in the Millennium "era", and the world will be "Christianized" before the second coming of Christ. (since the Millennium is spiritualized and there is no correspondence to actual world conditions, this is absurd)

4. Amillennialism: This view claims that there is no future Millennium and that the Kingdom of God was established on earth after the resurrection of Christ. However, they do believe in the second coming of Christ after this "Kingdom Age" (this view dismisses a literal 1000 year reign of Christ, and claims that 1000 does not mean 1,000 in Rev 20. So it is a fanciful interpretation. It also includes Replacment Theology where the Church replaces Israel).

As you can see, these are drastically different views of eschatology, therefore they are contentious. Those who believe that Scripture must be taken in its plain literal sense cannot possibly accept the spiritualizing of Scripture, which would mean that one can make any Scripture say whatever suits one's fancy.

As to how this affects our Christian walk, it does make a difference. If we believe that God has not appointed us to wrath but to obtain salvation, and we know that the Tribulation and the Great Tribulation are for the unbelieving and the ungodly, as well as the enemies of God, we cannot in good conscience agree to a distortion of Gospel truth and Bible truth.

It is not trivial. Paul addressed this in 1 Corinthians. I have a thread on it.

If you came here expecting to see unity you'll be in for a huge disappointment. The BDF is full of people pointing fingers, calling names and accusing of heresy or even flatly calling others not Christian, just for a disagreement on beliefs.
This includes the very subject your church faced. People here will tell you that you "can't" be saved for believing in a rapture at a specific point. Or even for believing there's going to be a rapture at all.
Likely most answers you get will be someone telling you why their view is the only right one and this thread will descend into its usual "debate".

My local Church has lost members who didn't agree with our stance on Eschatology.

I don't see why it's such a contentious subject, we can hold different views and remain a faithful Church.
How does holding one of the three views effect your Christian walk. Our Church holds to an A Millennial view.

It was sad to see these brothers and sisters go over such a trivial issue (in my view), it was obviously a big deal to them.
I still don't have a clear picture in my mind, how each of the different views effects our walk with God.

I'm sure it's not an issue in all Churches, so why is it such a big deal in others like mine. Our senior Pastor just told me it was their own decision to leave and he wasn't going to change our stand to accommodate them.

Could somebody please explain the three views in simple terms and why they are so important to the Christian.

Your senior paster? There is no hierachy in Christ's church.

Your senior paster? There is no hierachy in Christ's church.

Hello MarkWilliams,

First, It is definitely not a trivial issue. Regarding Amillennialism, It is a case of not believing what the word of God clearly states and changing its true meaning.

Revelation 19:11-021 is a detailed account of the event of the Lord's return to the earth to end the age and establish His literal millennial kingdom. Immediately fallowing that from Revelation 20:1-7 we have reference to a thousand year period mentioned 6 times. Those who claim that there is no thousand years are simply not believing in the literal meaning of God's word, but instead have applied a allegorical or symbolic meaning to the millennial kingdom. A good rule of thumb when reading Revelation is:

"If the plain, literal meaning makes good sense, then don't seek any other sense."

Below is what God added to the end of His book of Revelation as a warning to those who change His word:

"I testify to everyone who hears the words of prophecy in this book: If anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. nd if anyone takes away from the words of this book of prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book." - Rev.22:18-19

By purposely changing the meaning of Christ's literal thousand year kingdom, they have indeed added to or taken away from the meaning of the words of this prophecy. One of the biggest problems regarding eschatology today, is those interpreting scripture that is meant to be taken literally, but instead allegorizing/spiritualizing or symbolizing it.

Amillennialism means that they do not believe in a literal thousand years. But the truth is that they have spiritualized the meaning making it an unknowable amount of time. They believe that the spiritualized thousand years began at the destruction of the temple and that it is still on-going till this very day. This belief also does away with God's coming wrath, the day of the Lord, which is described in detail in Revelation from chapters 6 through 18. Therefore, amillennialism is also doing away with God's coming wrath which has been prophesied from the prophets of old and then by the apostles and now by us. Amillennialism teaches that the world is going to be Christianized in preparation for the Lord's return. Yet, the word of God says just the opposite with the world getting worse, the church being removed, the antichrist being revealed and God's wrath being poured out via the seals, trumpets and bowl judgments.

There is much deception within the church in these last days, and Amillennialism and preterism, are two of the most destructive, false teachings today. My advice to you, is to do your own studies on end-time events and all related scriptural information so that you will be able to discern the truth from all the lies out there.

All that your pastor has done is just adopted a known false teaching, because he did not come to that conclusion of Amillennialism by reading the word of God, but from the false teachings of men.

I will keep you in prayer that God will give you understanding regarding this issue and give you strength to stand on His word.

So if I understand you correctly, you're saying all true believers will arrive at the same conclusion and those who disagree are not true believers

Consider this Mark: would you consider those who believe that the resurrection has already taken place not a big issue? Paul did! Hymenaeus and Philetus who were teaching that the resurrection had already taken place. Regarding this, Paul called it godless chatter, that it would spread like gangrene, that they destroying the faith of some and that because of their teaching they had departed from the truth.

Amillennialism also teaches that the resurrection will be spiritual and not physical, even though the word "anastasis" translated as "Resurrection" means to "stand up again, physically, bodily" Their teaching goes directly against Jesus' bodily resurrection which is the guarantee of all believers of a bodily resurrection in an immortal and glorified body.

Your right, our Pastor said the millennium referd to in revelation is symbolic of a long period of time. He also preached that the Lord is building His Church in spite of all the worlds opposition. He said the Church is growing quickly, preparing for the return of Christ.
His preaching was very convincing, I'm sure he would give a good account of himself if he was challenged which I intend to do after I gain some more knowledge.

I'm going by what our senior Pastor said, he said this issue is not imperative and we can have fellowship with those who hold to the other views

Thanks Ahwatukee, I'm noting all of this down and I will present it to our senior Pastor on Sunday. I just hope he takes the time to consider it all carefully and give me a thorough Biblical response. I don't like rocking the boat, but sometimes it has to be done. Human nature being what it is, I know that nobody likes confrontation.
The Pastor always tells us to check the scriptures to make sure he's teaching us accurately, he says that the Word of God must always be the final authority in all matters

Tell him also that, the word of God should be read in the literal plain, literal sense until a symbolic sense is required. I will tell you that he will use all of the apologetics of the false teachers that he has studied. Like preterism, Amillennialism is a doctrine of demons, which has crept into the church. Those who have fallen under these demonic teachings will fight tooth and nail to support it. Therefore, I can tell you right now that he is not going to be moved from his position. He is teaching the false teachings of men that have been introduced by Satan.

Regarding your pastor telling you to check the scriptures to see if his teaching is accurate, I can tell you that it already is not. Consider the following:

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"Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven with the key to the Abyss, holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, the ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. And he threw him into the Abyss, shut it, and sealed it over him, so that he could not deceive the nations until the thousand years were complete. After that, he must be released for a brief period of time.

Then I saw the thrones, and those seated on them had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or hands. And they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

The rest of the dead did not come back to life until the thousand years were complete. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection! The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and will reign with Him for a thousand years.

When the thousand years are complete, Satan will be released from his prison, and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to assemble them for battle. Their number is like the sand of the seashore.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the context above, we have the words "a thousand years" mentioned 6 times. Because of this consistency, the thousand years should be interpreted in the literal sense, for there is nothing in the context that would lead the reader to believe in anything other than a literal thousand years.

If you have any questions at all regarding Revelation or end-time events, I'd be happy to point you to the relevant scriptures so that you can read them for yourself.

Blessings in Christ!

Divisions in your church or in the world are nothing new, many denominations and many still arising, different faiths and many still arising- This is just prophesy fulfilled:

Dan 2:42 And as the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. 43As you saw the iron mixed with clay,so the peoples will mix with one another, but will not hold together any more than iron mixes with clay.

As for the 3/4 or 5 positions on eschatology, non is right. Key points of truth that you need to know before you make any step:

1. Rapture is not mass but individualistic
Two in a field one goes another is left. 10 in a car crush, 9 or 8 perish 1 or 2 survive. It all happens on earth it doesn't entail flying off. It is an everyday thing.

2. Jesus doesn't come as a physical entity- He comes as the kingdom of God which doesn't come with observable signs and has no specific time, we only say "He is and was and is to come the Almighty'. meaning that it is an everyday thing since 2000 years ago.
So there's no such thing as pre/mid/post trib position/ amillenium or not. All we are waiting for is the end of the age and this only comes when the last person is added to the kingdom as the number is predetermined.

Let no man cheat you.