Second Peter Chapter Three - Dispensationals and Old-Earthers

[notreligus]

2Pe 3:1  This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder,
2Pe 3:2  that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles,
2Pe 3:3  knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires.
2Pe 3:4  They will say, "Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation."
2Pe 3:5  For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God,
2Pe 3:6  and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished.
2Pe 3:7  But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
2Pe 3:8  But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
2Pe 3:9  The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
2Pe 3:10  But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.
2Pe 3:11  Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness,
2Pe 3:12  waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn!
2Pe 3:13  But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
2Pe 3:14  Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.
2Pe 3:15  And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him,
2Pe 3:16  as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.
2Pe 3:17  You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability.
2Pe 3:18  But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.


This Chapter has to be considered when we speak of the consummation of all things.

Dispensationals will claim that the Gentile Church is in Heaven during these cataclysmic events.    Will the Church be receiving her heavenly blessings for billions of years?

We know that the Old-Earthers envision some giant fan where God throws all sorts of stuff at it for billions of years and He just waits to see what sticks.   So when God does what Peter says He will do - and I am certain that Jesus and the Holy Spirit did not lie to Peter - is Peter presuming that we all will know that it will take God billions of years to create New Earth?   It required billions of years for the first Earth so why won't it take billions of years for the second one?   You folk don't see anything distinctive about this Earth from the rest of solar system (or beyond) and there must be every element and material necessary on every planet to produce plant, animal, and human life there too.    If this sounds silly to you Old-Earthers, well, it's no more silly than the claims I've read from Old-Earthers. 

Dispensationals and Old-Earthers....How do you interpret Peter's words?   Are they straightforward or are they apocryphal and it will require some sort of esoteric interpretational system to understand it?   And, those of you who reject the doctrine of Original Sin, we know you reject what Peter said anyway because the Earth is not cursed.  That's a myth, right?   There's nothing distinctive about this Earth from a theological point of view, right??

[Ginger Rella]

2Pe 3:1  This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder,
2Pe 3:2  that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles,
2Pe 3:3  knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires.
2Pe 3:4  They will say, "Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation."
2Pe 3:5  For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God,
2Pe 3:6  and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished.
2Pe 3:7  But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
2Pe 3:8  But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
2Pe 3:9  The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
2Pe 3:10  But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.
2Pe 3:11  Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness,
2Pe 3:12  waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn!
2Pe 3:13  But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
2Pe 3:14  Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.
2Pe 3:15  And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him,
2Pe 3:16  as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.
2Pe 3:17  You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability.
2Pe 3:18  But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.


This Chapter has to be considered when we speak of the consummation of all things.

Dispensationals will claim that the Gentile Church is in Heaven during these cataclysmic events.    Will the Church be receiving her heavenly blessings for billions of years?

We know that the Old-Earthers envision some giant fan where God throws all sorts of stuff at it for billions of years and He just waits to see what sticks.   So when God does what Peter says He will do - and I am certain that Jesus and the Holy Spirit did not lie to Peter - is Peter presuming that we all will know that it will take God billions of years to create New Earth?   It required billions of years for the first Earth so why won't it take billions of years for the second one?   You folk don't see anything distinctive about this Earth from the rest of solar system (or beyond) and there must be every element and material necessary on every planet to produce plant, animal, and human life there too.    If this sounds silly to you Old-Earthers, well, it's no more silly than the claims I've read from Old-Earthers. 

Dispensationals and Old-Earthers....How do you interpret Peter's words?   Are they straightforward or are they apocryphal and it will require some sort of esoteric interpretational system to understand it?   And, those of you who reject the doctrine of Original Sin, we know you reject what Peter said anyway because the Earth is not cursed.  That's a myth, right?   There's nothing distinctive about this Earth from a theological point of view, right??

Well, I shall take the bait as first reply, and then those who wish to due true debate will come along.

First: 2Pe 3:13  But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

I offer the following possibility.  We do not know, definitively if this planet we are living on will be the planet made anew after the total destruction.

After all, it is said a new heavens and a new earth. In 2Pe 3:5

It is just possible that there already exists a new heavens and a new earth somewhere, just waiting for the time when it will be needed.

But in any event, based on these verses it appears that God wants this creation of his gone, in it's entirety.

We will  just have to wait to see what His plans are.

Now... as to your "  You folk don't see anything distinctive about this Earth from the rest of solar system (or beyond) and there must be every element and material necessary on every planet to produce plant, animal, and human life there too"

Not true.

I have consistently said that Man , as we know him, ... that would include you, me, going back to certainly Noah, and most likely Adam, and along with all the plants and animals, fish, and fowl  came into being at a different time then the actual creation of the various galaxies and solar systems.

Remember, it was not until actual life was about to be created that our sun, moon and stars were created... because life needs the sun.... and placed so that earth was the 3rd planet from the sun.

This was not the same light mentioned in Gen 1:2.

So if we were created for this planet it is because we were made for a specific reason... Why, you ask. Simple truth is we simply do not have a need to know.

But whether we were crested 6,000 - 10,000 or 13,000 years ago...  or even 12,000 years ago if  as suggested in 2 Peter 3:8 "  that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." instead of 6 literal 24 hour days.... It seems we came about under a different thought pattern and therefore
you can me an old earther and a young earther at the same time.

And I am

[4WD]

It required billions of years for the first Earth so why won't it take billions of years for the second one? 

you think heaven is going to be a second attempt by God to form the "perfect" universe??  Curious!

[Alan]

We know that the Old-Earthers envision some giant fan where God throws all sorts of stuff at it for billions of years and He just waits to see what sticks. 

Who ever said that? You "know" nothing.