| Young-Earth-Futurist Symbiosis
Kenneth Gentry
(Editor's Note: Consider how Kenneth Gentry's young-earth creationism and global flood views force him to teach a future fulfillment of 2 Peter 3. As Gentry rightly points out, this text involves a parallel between three events in covenant history - creation, flood, and consummation. Gentry promotes futurism precisely because he applies a consistent global/universal understanding to each one. Young-earth creationism requires futurism)
"Fourth, the reference to the unraveling and conflagration of the heavens and the earth is expressly tied to the material creation. Hence, it seems clearly to refer to the consummation, and not to A.D. 70, despite certain similarities. Peter expressly refers to the material creation order: 'from the beginning of creation' (3:4; cf. Gen. 1:1); 'by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water' (3:5; cf. Gen. 1:2, 9); the heavens and the earth which now exist' (2 Peter 3:7). He seems clearly to be defining the "heavens and earth" to which he is referring. He is not contemplating the destruction of the old Jewish order, but the material heavens and earth..."
The new creation, then, of 2 Peter 3 is the renovated material world that will succeed the present temporal order. It will be purified by fire and refashioned by the hand of God. It is on this new earth that the saints will dwell forever [emphasis ours]."
Kenneth Gentry, He Shall Have Dominon (Tyler, TX: Institute for Christian Economics, 1992), pp. 304-305.
"Christianity promotes a full-orbed world-and-life view that flows out of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. For a worldview to be an actual, complete, holistic worldview it must deal with both the world’s beginning at creation as well as its ending at the consummation — and all that lies in between. Thus, it should show where history came from and where it will end..."
"Unfortunately, a new theological movement has arisen from within evangelicalism that stands against the historic understanding of the consummation. This new view calls itself by various names, such as full preterism, consistent preterism, fulfilled eschatology, covenant eschatology, etc. The term “preterism,” which characterizes all branches of this system of thought (including both the orthodox and heterodox views), is based on the Latin word preteritus, which means “passed by"..."
"Sadly, the Full Preterist can gain a hearing among unsuspecting believers by engaging in a certain “craftiness” whereby the minds of the untrained are “led astray” (cf. 2 Cor. 11:3). Thus, unprepared Christians can be “tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming” (Eph. 4:14)..."
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[Editor's Note: Beyond Creation Science co-author, Tim Martin, studied under Kenneth Gentry at Christ College for two academic years (1993, 1994) while Gentry was a resident professor for the school. Kenneth Gentry taught basic Christian Theology, Preterist Eschatology, Postmillennialism, and a fascinating course titled "How To Write a Book."
When it comes to the preterist understanding in Beyond Creation Science, Kenneth Gentry's teaching had a significant influence on the eschatological understanding promoted by Tim Martin as a result of Gentry's direct training and writings.
Also, Ken Gentry was Tim's pastor at Reedy River Presbyterian Church, Conestee, SC, from 1991-1995, so weekly sermons from Gentry also contributed to Tim's theological understanding as well.]
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