BillyBob
06-04-2013, 06:25 PM
I don't know if many of you [Christians or Catholics] have ever heard this term before but it sheds a whole new light on Scripture. Here's the first description I found and it is in line with the point I would like to share with you all.
Dispensationalism is an approach to biblical interpretation which states that God (http://carm.org/dictionary-god) uses different means of working with people (Israel (http://carm.org/dictionary-israel) and the Church (http://carm.org/dictionary-church)) during different periods of history.
The most obvious example of that would be that the Christians were given a different dispensation than the Jews. For example, the Jews were to abide by Mosaic Law in the Old Testament while Paul clearly said that we are free from the law and that it no longer applies. And the time of the Gospels and Acts is where that change was being made. A lot of things Jesus and the Apostles were doing was still in the former dispensation and that ended at the Cross. Paul ushered in a new dispensation and you can see the resistance he got from Peter in Acts. Peter was trying to convert new christians to judaism and Paul had to step in and stop it.
Anyway, the topic of Christians praying 3 times a day at certain hours came up in a recent thread and the poster who mentioned it pointed to Acts as the source of that knowledge. I have yet to research it further but my first thought was that in Acts they were still practicing judaism even though it shows up in the New Testament. The place to look for Christians adhering to a daily, timely prayer would be in Paul's Epistles or perhaps some later books of the NT. If they do not still adhere to that presumably jewish practice, then it was a matter of old dispensation and no longer applies to Christians.
That was more of an example of dispensationalism than a scriptural lesson.
For those who have ears, hear.
Note to mods: If this thread gets hijacked just place it in the cage instead of closing it, please. That seems to be the new solution. At least those of us who are interested can still discuss the topic at hand.
Dispensationalism is an approach to biblical interpretation which states that God (http://carm.org/dictionary-god) uses different means of working with people (Israel (http://carm.org/dictionary-israel) and the Church (http://carm.org/dictionary-church)) during different periods of history.
The most obvious example of that would be that the Christians were given a different dispensation than the Jews. For example, the Jews were to abide by Mosaic Law in the Old Testament while Paul clearly said that we are free from the law and that it no longer applies. And the time of the Gospels and Acts is where that change was being made. A lot of things Jesus and the Apostles were doing was still in the former dispensation and that ended at the Cross. Paul ushered in a new dispensation and you can see the resistance he got from Peter in Acts. Peter was trying to convert new christians to judaism and Paul had to step in and stop it.
Anyway, the topic of Christians praying 3 times a day at certain hours came up in a recent thread and the poster who mentioned it pointed to Acts as the source of that knowledge. I have yet to research it further but my first thought was that in Acts they were still practicing judaism even though it shows up in the New Testament. The place to look for Christians adhering to a daily, timely prayer would be in Paul's Epistles or perhaps some later books of the NT. If they do not still adhere to that presumably jewish practice, then it was a matter of old dispensation and no longer applies to Christians.
That was more of an example of dispensationalism than a scriptural lesson.
For those who have ears, hear.
Note to mods: If this thread gets hijacked just place it in the cage instead of closing it, please. That seems to be the new solution. At least those of us who are interested can still discuss the topic at hand.