Are You Sure You're Right? - Eschatology

This post is part of a series based on chapters from the new Church of God book by Jerry Hickson, Are You Sure You're Right? (For more information see my review).

 

Eschatology is another area where the Church of God differs significantly from mainstream American Evangelicalism. After having just refuted Calvinistic determinism, Jerry Hickson now tackles this doctrine in chapter 3, "Do You Have to Be Right or Get Left Behind?".

 

End times teachings can easily lead to much confusion, so it is no wonder that a large proportion of people within the Church of God are unclear as to what they believe. It should also not be a surprise that many have latched on to the immensely popular and hyped speculations in Left Behind and other premillenial-dispensational teachings. Hickson is right (no pun intended) to raise this matter in his book.

 

The Church of God has always held an amillenial view of eschatology. For the average reader, Dr. Hickson takes the time to explain the various perspectives and even provides an historical overview of the development of apocalyptic interpretation and eschatology within our movement. Initially we held a church-historical approach, whereas now "Church of God thinking has progressively moved to the preterist and/or idealist interpretation" (p. 39). Highlighting the Church of God emphasis on the present day Kingdom of God is also a helpful part of the chapter.

 

What I find intriguing is that an amillenial interpretation of Scripture is typically a more "liberal" position, compared to the much more literal orientation of Fundamentalism and Evangelicalism. Church of God folk who would abhor the thought of being labeled left-of-center, often ignore the significance of how our views on such matters as eschatology and women in ministry go against the grain of typical conservatism. This is further evidence that our hermeneutic is not as closely aligned with Evangelicals as we would like to believe. Even though Hickson brings attention to the role of hermeneutics (p. 40), I wish he would have developed this further as it would reveal some of our foundational distinctives that further differentiate us from mainstream conservative Christianity.

 

Overall, Hickson's explanations and analyses in this chapter are quite straightforward and on target.