Here is Don Preston's 3rd and final affirmative and my final negative.
(Caps for emphasis only).
In my 2 nd Affirmative I adduced arguments from Deuteronomy 32, Isaiah 2-4, Matthew 23, Luke 23:28f, 1 Thessalonians 2:14-16 / 2 Thessalonians 1, Revelation 6 and Revelation 19, showing the perfect thematic and temporal correspondence that definitively demands a pre-AD 70 dating of Revelation. Dr. Bale totally ignored my entire 2 nd affirmative! When confronted with this on FB he said he “addressed” my arguments. FALSE. He offered NOT ONE WORD OF EXEGETICAL ANALYSIS. That is unscholarly and arrogant, an overt violation of the rules.
My final affirmative will appeal to Daniel 9:24f with other passages.
Seventy weeks are determined For your people and for your holy city, To finish the transgression, ....To seal up vision and prophecy.... “And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; And the people of the prince who is to come Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, And till the end of the war desolations are determined.
For brevity, I will focus on just two of the key elements.
Seal Vision and Prophecy– This is a prediction of the final fulfillment of All Prophecy. This is the consensus of scholarly opinion:
1.) “Prophecies and prophets are sealed, when by the full realization of all prophecies prophecy ceases, no more prophets anymore appear.” (Keil and Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament, Vol. 9, (Grand Rapids; Eerdmans, 1975), 344).
2.) “The impression of translators being that all visions and prophecies were to receive completed fulfillment in the course of these seventy weeks. It appears..., to be more agreeable to the context to suppose that the prophet is speaking of the absolute cessation of all prophecy. I Cor. 13:8.” (Charles John Ellicott, Commentary on the Whole Bible, (Cassell and Co., London; 1884), 387.).
3.) “The vision and prophet will be sealed, that is accredited, because their final accomplishment has been reached in those events of blessing for God’s earthly people.” (A. C. Gaebelein, The Prophet Daniel, (Kregel, 1968), 133).
4.) “The reference is not to the accrediting of the prophecy, but to sealing it up so that it will no longer appear. Its functions are finished and it is not henceforth needed.” (Edward J. Young, The Prophecy of Daniel, (Grand Rapids; Eerdmans, 1953), 200).
5.) “The words taken together refer to the final fulfillment of revelation and prophecy, i.e., when their functions are shown to be finished.” (James Leon Wood, A Commentary on Daniel, (Grand Rapids; Zondervan, 1973), 250).
6.) “To set seal to them, to ratify and confirm the prophet’s prediction.” “The close of the seventy weeks will bring with it the confirmation of the prophetic utterances.” “A.V. and R.V. ‘seal up,’ means to close up, preclude from activity, the sense of the expression upon this view, being supposed to be that, prophecies being fulfilled, prophet and vision will be needed no more.” (S. R. Driver, The Book of Daniel, (Cambridge University Press Warehouse, 1905), 136.).
7.) “To fulfill the anticipations of all prophetic books.” (J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible, (New York; McMillan Co., 1923), 540).
In my book, “Seal Up Vision and Prophecy” (Now -[2021]-in fourth edition), I cite over 20 scholarsand could have cited many more - all of whom verify this definition.
Fact: The vision of Daniel 9 does not extend beyond the destruction of the “city and the sanctuary” at the time of the Abomination of Desolation.
Fact: Jesus emphatically posited this for HIS generation (Matthew 24:15-34). NOTE: THE CITY AND THE TEMPLE WERE NOT DESTROYED BY ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES, THUS ELIMINATING THAT APPLICATION OF DANIEL 9.
Fact: Jesus said that in the destruction of Jerusalem, “all things written must be fulfilled” (Luke 21:22).
Fact: Revelation 10:7 says that in the sounding of the 7 th (the last) trumpet, the mystery of God foretold by the prophets would be fulfilled.
Fact: At the sounding of the 7 th trumpet, the city, “Where the Lord was crucified” was to be (future, yet imminent to John) destroyed (Revelation 11:8-15f).
Thus: Seventy Weeks were determined on Jerusalem to fulfill ALL vision and prophecy. (Daniel 9 is not about a singular specific prophecy, but vision and prophecy comprehensively considered, as scholarship confirms).
The Seventy Weeks would end no later than the destruction of Jerusalem. (In AD 70- per Jesus).
All things written would be fulfilled at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem (Luke 21:22) the city where the Lord was crucified– i.e. Babylon (Revelation 10:7 / 11:8f).
Therefore, Babylon of Revelation, the city where the Lord was crucified, was Jerusalem.
I suspect we will get more “this is just Preston’s subjective opinion,” or, “this says nothing about when Revelation was written,” or some other obfuscatoryverbiage, but no actual response. Mr. Bale has no probative answer.
Now, back to Daniel 9:24:
Seventy Weeks Are Determined to Finish the Transgression
“To finish the transgression” meant to fill up the measure of sin.
Just for fun– Eusebius said: “Instead of, "For sin to be ended, and to seal up transgressions," Aquila translated, "For ending disobedience, and for completing transgression." I think that our Saviour's words to the Jews, "Ye have filled up the measure of your fathers," are parallel to this." (Demonstratio Evangelica (Proof of the Gospel) ; BOOK VIII). He - and other patristics - also said the seventy weeks ended in AD 70.
Furthermore, all of the major Jewish commentaries, including Rashi, Saadia Gaon (10th century, Egypt) and Levi ben Gershon, (14th century, France) agree with Rashi’s analysis. (Information from private email from my friend Reuvan Brauner, a world class Hebrew scholar from Israel).
So, Daniel said 70 weeks were determined to fill up the measure of Israel’s sin resulting in the destruction of Jerusalem.
Jesus said Israel had killed the prophets and would fill up the measure of sin in his generation, by killing his apostles and prophets. She would be destroyed (Matthew 23:29f– totally ignored by Bale).
Revelation says “Babylon” had killed the prophets and had now filled up the measure of her sin by killing the apostles and prophets of Jesus, her judgment was coming soon, shortly and quickly– NOT 450 years away!
Therefore, Babylon was Jerusalem and Revelation was written prior to AD 70.
To repeat from my first two affirmatives NO OTHER CITY HAD DONE OR COULD DO WHAT BABYLON OFREVELATION HAD DONE. ONLY JERUSALEM DID THAT! That is historical fact, not opinion. Bale has not touched this - and can’t.
Consider two corroborative NT passages.
Matthew 21:33f
The parable of the Vineyard and Wicked Husbandmen is an echo of Daniel 9- “to finish the transgression.”
Israel was the Vineyard of the Lord (Isaiah 5). This is not a subjective interpretation.
We have the time of the harvest of the vineyard.
We have the persecution of the saints and the Son- filling up the measure of sin.
We have the destruction of the persecutors AT THE COMING OF THE LORD.
Like Daniel all of it relates to Israel as the persecutor and the prediction (s) of the coming destruction of Jerusalem. Nothing about Domitian or Rome here!
Dr. Bale, does Matthew 21:33f predict the AD 70 destruction of Jerusalem for persecuting the saints?
Notice now Revelation 14:
V. 6-8 - The announcement that the Judgment of Babylon (the city where the Lord was crucified) had come; her judgment was at hand.
This is the Father, who knew the Day and the Hour of the end, declaring that the hour had come. The destruction of Rome 450 years violates the language of “at hand” and, “has come.”
V. 18f- Another angel came out from the altar, who had power over fire, and he cried..., saying, “Thrust in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for her grapes are fully ripe.”
Unless Bale can prove- definitively - that John is using the imagery of the Vine / vineyard in a way divorced from its OT source, this effectively proves that Revelation 14 is parallel with Matthew 21 in predicting the coming, imminent destruction of Jerusalem. That proves that Revelation was written before AD 70.
The NT is clear that the time of the harvest had come. It was announced by John the Baptizer (Matthew 3:7-12), and by Jesus (John 4:35). It was to occur at the end of the age, in fulfillment of Daniel 12:3-7, which is explicitly posited for the time when the power of the holy people would be completely shattered (Daniel 12:3–>Matthew 13:43). Paul said that the end of the ages had come (1 Corinthians 10:11).
Questions for Dr. Bale:
Is the vineyard in Matthew 21 different from Revelation 14? If so, PROVE IT.
Is the time of the harvest in Matthew 21 different from the harvest in Revelation 14? If so, PROVE IT.
Is the coming of the Lord to destroy the persecutors in Matthew 21 a different coming of the Lord to judge the persecutors from that in Revelation 14? If so, PROVE IT.
There is more: Matthew 22 and the Wedding Matthew 22– A king made a Wedding Feast for his Son.
Mr. Bale– to whom was the promise of the Wedding given? The Tanakh is definitive: It was Israel, Hosea 2:19f– ‘I will betroth you to me again...” Isaiah 62: “You shall no longer be forsaken.... you shall be called Beulah” (married).
Note: The wedding of Isaiah 62 would be at the coming of the Lord in judgment (v. 10-12). This is quoted directly by Jesus in Matthew 16:27, and emphatically said to take place in the first century generation - v. 28.
Furthermore, in Revelation 22:12, Jesus reiterated Matthew 16:27, (and Isaiah 62) saying, “Behold I come quickly.” Thus, the Wedding– of Revelation– was to occur in the lifetime of the first century generation.
Matthew 22- and Revelation -is about God fulfilling His promise to “re-marry” Israel. It has nothing to do with Rome, who was NEVER married to YHVH- and never divorced!
The servants sent to invite the guests were persecuted and slain. This is the message found in Matthew 23:34– “Isend you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city.”
v. 7: “But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.”
In Revelation, the Harlot, persecuting city, is burned with fire (Revelation 17:10f).
At the destruction of the persecuting city, the Wedding took place (19:6-8).
Mr. Bale, in Matthew 21 what city persecuted the saints, and as a result, the “King” sent out His armies and burned that city? If this was not Jerusalem, what city was it? Will you answer?
This is Matthew 23:35-36: “That on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.
If the persecuting city of Matthew 22 is not the persecuting city of Revelation, PROVE IT.
In Revelation we find that- just as in Matthew 22– the Wedding takes place at the destruction of a city, i.e. Babylon:
19:5f - I heard a loud voice ... in heaven, saying, “Alleluia! .... because He has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication; and He has avenged on her the blood of His servantsshed by her.” And I heard, ... a great multitude... saying,...Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.”
This Babylon was the city that killed the prophets (16:6). She is “where the Lord was crucified” (11:8). She killed the apostles and prophets of Jesus (18:20-24). Her destruction is the fulfillment of Deuteronomy 32:43 the prophecy of Israel’s last days. It is not about Rome. - as proven in my 2nd Affirmative, BUT IGNORED BY BALE.
Babylon was THE GREAT HARLOT. In the Tanakh- the source of Revelation- the word “harlot” is used to speak of A WIFE THAT HAS VIOLATED THE MARRIAGE COVENANT:
“In the OT, almost all of the occurrences of the prostitution metaphor (86 / 91) apply to the people of the Covenant (Israel, Judah or Jerusalem).” (Sebastian R Smolarz, Covenant and the Metaphor of Divine Marriage in Biblical Thought, (Eugene, Ore., Wipf and Stock,2011), 8f)
Jesus called Jerusalem an “adulterous generation” three times (Matthew 12:39; 16:4; Mark 8:38). What other city than Jerusalem was an adulterous wife, Mr. Bale? YHVH was NEVER MARRIED TO ROME. Rome therefore could not be an adulterous, (harlot) wife. Only Old Covenant Jerusalem was EVER married to the Lord, divorced and given the promise of being married again.
Mr. Bale, If Babylon is Rome, when was YHVH EVER married to her? Did the Lord marry a pagan city and call her “the new Jerusalem”? (See Don K. Preston, We Shall Meet Him In the Air, the Wedding of the King of kings, for a full discussion).
Mr. Bale, is the Wedding of Matthew 22 different from the Wedding in Revelation? If so, PROVE IT!
Is the persecuting city in Matthew 22 different from the persecuting city– the city that killed the prophets, Jesus and Jesus’ apostles and prophets- in Revelation? If so, PROVE IT!
The persecuting city of Matthew 22, (that was to be destroyed for persecuting the servants of the Lord), was first century, Old Covenant Jerusalem.
The persecuting city of Revelation, Babylon, was about to be destroyed for persecuting the OT prophets, Jesus, and Jesus’ apostles and prophets.
Therefore, Babylon of Revelation was first century, Old Covenant Jerusalem– unless Bale can definitively prove otherwise. (He has admitted that he cannot prove this wrong!)
I offered the following in my affirmatives and on FB repeatedly. I have challenged Bale to answer it. He has not typed one word of response. He has no answer.
All the blood of all the righteous, including the prophets, of Jesus and Jesus' apostles andprophets, would be avenged in the destruction of Jerusalem-- Jesus. This is not a subjective opinion. It is fact.
All the blood of all the righteous, including the prophets, Jesus and Jesus’ apostles and prophets, would be avenged in the destruction of Babylon-- Revelation. This is not a subjective opinion. It is fact.
Therefore, Babylon was Jerusalem.
Finally:
Fact: Babylon in Revelation was the Great City where the Lord was crucified – Revelation 11:8.
Fact: Jerusalem is where Jesus was crucified. Therefore, Babylon in Revelation was Jerusalem. Since Revelation was written before the destruction of Babylon, that means Revelation was written before the destruction of Jerusalem. This is not a subjective opinion. It is fact.
A Faulty Hermeneutic
In FB discussion 10-28-2021, Bale claimed: “interpretations do notmake something definitive unless the text itself explicitly states so.” So, per Bale, unless Revelation explicitly says, “Babylon is Jerusalem,” that identification cannot be proven. This is specious.
I responded by asking Bale if he is a Trinitarian (knowing that he is). He refused to answer saying I was “being ridiculous” and that he did not have to answer the question. The reason he refused is clear: There is no hermeneutic that says unless there is an explicit statement a doctrine cannot be true. I challenged him to produce a quote from any standard work on hermeneutic that teaches this– he ignored that.
Bale knows there is no “explicit statement” in Scripture saying “there is a trinity.” Thus, by his own hermeneutic, his Trinitarian doctrine cannot be true. Entrapped, he refused to continue that discussion. He won’t like me posting this, and will claim it is a violation of the rules– it isn’t. The reason he won’t like it is because it exposes the foundational error of his approach to this debate.
The rules of this debate state that the negative is to follow and answer, to the best of ability, the affirmative arguments. Everyone that has read Mr. Bale’s “negatives” knows he has failed, completely, to follow my arguments and to answer them.
The contrast between Bale and myself is glaring and revealing. He refused to offer a word of exegesis in response to my exegesis of numerous Biblical texts, saying he did not do so because of “word count” restrictions. Yet, he wasted over 250 words telling us that some scholars claim Revelation was a post eventu production from someone falsely claiming to be John. When cornered on that, he said he did not believe what he shared.
He has complained that I have not given any “historical arguments.” Well, I consider the inspired Word of God to be of more value and more authoritative than any uninspired, highly debatable writings, some written hundreds of years after the fact. Mr. Bale is free to cite them all he wants.
For those who value the Word of God as I do, the fact that Mr. Bale has totally ignored every Biblical argument, every syllogism I have offered is more than revealing. Scoffing at my arguments is not refutation. Calling them my “subjective opinions” does not prove them wrong. Insulting me has no polemic value, and simply reveals his desperation.
What I have offered is but a fraction of the evidence that DEFINITIVELY proves that the book of Revelation was written prior to the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 and was predictive of that event. (I offer a wealth of additional evidence in my book, Who Is This Babylon?).
---
My Final Negative:
This will be my 3rd negative in response to Preston’s
3rd and final affirmative.
Preston is supposed to be arguing that: “The Book of Revelation was definitively written prior
to the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 and is predictive of that event.”
Preston argues that I ignored his entire 2nd
affirmative. What more can be said than that this is simply a lie? He claims
that he gave arguments from Deut. 32, Isa. 2-4, Matt. 23, Lk. 23:38, 1 Thess.
2:14-16, 2 Thess. 1, Rev. 6 and 19 and claims they show “the perfect thematic and temporal correspondence that definitively
demands a pre-AD 70 dating of Revelation”. Preston claims I “offered not one word of exegetical
analysis”, then proceeds to produce an ad hominem that this is “unscholarly and arrogant, an overt
violation of the rules”. As I noted, which you the reader can read, in my 2nd
negative, Preston, unfortunately, was found to have broken many of the rules he
agreed to and has done so since the question and answer part of the debate by
not bothering to answer every question asked of him. It is unfortunate Mr.
Preston has chosen to go down this unprofessional and unscholarly route but
this debate will continue nonetheless as I agreed to.
As to the scriptures he tries to argue from, nowhere does Deuteronomy
32, Isaiah 2-4, Matthew 23, Luke 23:28, 1 Thess. 2:14-16, 2 Thess. 1, nor do
the texts in the Revelation itself, chapters 6 nor 19 mention the date of
Revelation either to give us anything remotely definitive to make Preston’s
claim that he will definitively prove Revelation was written pre-70 CE. I will
remind the reader that there is a word limit to these debates, hence I will not
be posting the entirety of the texts that are referenced unless absolutely
necessary for the reader is fully capable of reading them for themselves to see
if they, anywhere, show when the Revelation was written. One will clearly see
that nowhere do any of these texts referenced does happen.
Preston will appeal to Daniel 9:24 here in his 3rd
and final affirmative to prove definitively that Revelation was written pre-70
CE. While I am glad Preston decided to quote some scholars of some sort for
once in this debate, the problem is none of these scholars he quotes give any
information about the Revelation nor its dating with what he quotes.
He claims that Daniel’s
mention of “‘Seal Vision and Prophecy’
is a prediction of the final fulfillment of all prophecy. This is the consensus
of scholarly opinion…” as if this is a fact. It is begging the question as
this is not all agreed upon in scholarship. Preston quotes Keil and Delitzsch's
Commentary on the Old Testament Vol. 9, p. 344: “Prophecies and prophets are
sealed, when by the full realization of all prophecies prophecy ceases, no more
prophets any more appear.” Keil also states that “The extinction of prophecy in consequence of its fulfillment is not,
however (with Hengstenberg), to be sought in the time of the manifestation of
Christ in the flesh; for then only the prophecy of the Old Covenant reached its
end, and its place is occupied by the prophecy of the N.T., the fulfilling of
which is still in the future and will not come to an end and terminate till the
kingdom of God is perfected in glory at the termination of the present course
of the world’s history, at the same time with the full conclusive fulfillment
of the O.T. prophecy…”[1]. With limited time, and
the inability to go and fully read this commentary, I can presume these two
scholars do not align with Preston in his full preterism view. They also I
presume do not believe that the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem
initiated the end of prophecy and the end of the Old Covenant as they clearly
state here that this only happens with the full conclusive fulfillment of the
O.T. prophecy.
Preston continues and
quotes a commentary from Charles John Ellicott about the cessation of all
prophecy. However, if you read the same commentary in the same part of Daniel,
Ellicott states none of what he has said is definitive as Preston tries to make
it out to be when he says in his commentary that on the seventy weeks that
“Great difficulty is experienced in discovering what sort of weeks is intended.
Verses 25-27 are sufficient to show that ordinary weeks cannot be meant.
Possibly, also, the language…implies that ‘weeks of days’ are not intended
here. On the other hand, it is remarkable that in Lev. Xxv.1-10 the word week
should not have been used to signify a period of seven years if year-weeks are
implied in this passage. However, it is generally assumed that we must
understand the weeks to consist of years and not of days… The word ‘week’ in
itself furnishes a clue to the meaning. It implies a ‘heptad’ and is not
necessarily more definite than the ‘time’ mentioned in chap. Vii. 25.[2]” One can read on in this
commentary where multiple times Ellicott states he is not forming a conclusive
opinion on this text, something all scholars will acknowledge until something
is proven unanimously to be fact. Preston tries and fails to use this
commentator to present as if what Preston says is a fact when in fact it is
not.
Preston continues on
quoting A.C. Gaebelein. Gaebelein certainly gives his interpretation of Daniel
9 here and that is good and well but it is an interpretation and other valid
interpreters would disagree with his take and Gaebelein even admits as such in
this commentary when he says that if they understood the text the way he does “If this had been understood the learned
commentators would not have invented that misleading, blundering interpretation
of the seventy weeks prophecy which is so universally taught in our day. We
shall touch upon these errors in the course of our exposition[3]”.
Preston then quotes
Edward J Young. I admittedly could not get access to this book and commentary
so I can only go with the answer of I do not know Mr. Young’s full opinion on
the topic he brings up or if he comes at Daniel 9 with proper scholarship
though I assume from what I know of him via the internet that as a Reformed
theologian of Westminister Theological Seminary, that he would, likely be one
to readily admit multiple interpretations have their merits, strengths, and
weaknesses.
Preston then quotes James
Leon Wood. Strangely, upon my first search for this commentary, I found
dispensationalist Thomas Ice quoting Mr. Wood to make a point about the end of
time[4]. Admittedly, I am not a
dispensationalist but from the looks of things, it seems Ice would be in
complete opposition to Preston’s viewpoint but here they are quoting from the
same theologian’s works. I obviously could not read this commentary in full due
to time restraints. I also could not find access to this commentary but I did
manage to find in archives Wood’s Study Guide to Daniel where he says on the 70
Weeks that the atonement was at the Cross where Christ atoned for the sins of
all people. He then gives how he sees Daniel 9 to be about Christ’s atonement
at the Cross and then the destruction of Jerusalem at 70 CE. He also mentions
this is the case he thinks fits best, implying as all good scholars do, that
there are other options one may also consider in interpretations that could be
better and more valid[5]. Wood also is a
dispensationalist as I also found in archives a book of his titled The Bible and Future Events where he
clearly says “the clearest sign of
Christ’s return is the modern state of Israel. The Scriptures teach in the last
days that Jews will return to their homeland in large numbers, with a resultant
reestablishment of their sovereign state.”[6] Woods even says prophecy is being
fulfilled concerning Israel and began to occur in the 19th Century. Preston wants to make it out as if
this scholar of dispensationalism agrees with Preston when anyone can see that
would not be the case as Preston is completely opposed to it being a full preterist.
Next quoted is S. R.
Driver. I’m not particularly sure why Preston quotes this bible critic and it
makes one curious that Preston quotes Mr. Driver who says in p. 135 of this
same commentary that of Daniel 9:24 that “The
70 years foretold by Jeremiah are to be understood as 70 weeks of years (i.e.
490 years); at the end of that period sin will be done away with, and the
redemption of Israel will be complete. Jeremiah’s promises, which, while the
city and nation are being made prey for Antiochus, seem a dead letter, will,
with this new explanation of their meaning, receive their fulfillment; and )as
vv.26, 27 shew) the time when this will take place is not now far distant.” If
Preston read this commentary he knows that Driver has an entire critical commentary
about how these verses in Daniel 9 is generally accepted by historians such as
Ewald and Schurer as being an account of the end of Onias III and shares that
he finds while not definitive that there seem to be a clear reference to
Antiochus’s persecution when he profaned the sanctuary and the Maccabean Revolt
fought against this ruler[7]. Driver in fact gives
multiple potential ways to interpret Daniel 9 in his writing here.
Next Preston quotes J.
R. Dummelow which again, I have to wonder if Mr. Preston read anything beyond
what he quotes… Dummelow says on Daniel 9 that “the interpretation of this is not without difficulty on any view of
the book. Its explanation of the 70 years… is, of course, an artificial one… [He
says clearly] There are two main
interpretations to be considered” and then gives them, even giving
reference potentially to Onias III just as we just saw scholar Driver[8] do confirm these scholarly
men gave their opinions and also gave other positions and discussed the pros
and cons of each viewpoint, something Preston seems to conveniently omit and
overlook in this debate.
I have to wonder if
Preston didn’t read these men and simply quote-mined them to try and make it
appear that they all validate his assumptions. Preston closes this list of
scholars he references by then referencing himself and saying that he cites 20
scholars in his book and could have cited many more who all verify the
interpretation he assumes. Perhaps he should have cited them then… Maybe they
could have aided his affirmative which still has yet to actually be proven and,
at least for this debate will not be since Preston never made any argument that
proves definitively that the text Revelation is written before 70 CE.
Having read the majority
of these scholars and just doing some very basic searches on them to some
degree I can safely assume those scholars listed are not in agreement with
Preston on everything, share there to be multiple opinions and methods of
interpretation that are all just as valid to take as positions. It seems they
don’t even agree with Preston half the time. None of these people besides
Preston are full preterists. Nothing any of these men claim about Daniel 9
share anything definitive about the dating of Revelation nor do they share anything
that has to do with the Revelation.
I’d also add that the
text Daniel 9 as well does not speak one word about the Revelation nor when the
Revelation was written. Even if we make the assumption Preston was correct
about his interpretation of Daniel 9, none of this gives any conclusive nor
concrete examples of Revelation being written before 70 CE? Therefore, all we
have had so far is a very long plethora of quotes that prove nothing except
Preston holds an interpretation of Daniel 9. He has not shown us anything of
substance that will confirm or give us a concrete example to show definitively
that Revelation was written before 70 CE.
Don begs the question
and claims it is a fact that “the vision
of Daniel 9 does not extend beyond the destruction of the ‘city and the
sanctuary’ at the time of the Abomination of Desolation” and claims it is a
fact that “Jesus emphatically posited
this for HIS generation (Matthew 24:15-34)”. Preston claims it to be a fact
that “Jesus said that in the destruction
of Jerusalem, ‘all things written must be fulfilled (Luke 21:22), claims
that “Revelation 10:7 says that in the
sounding of the 7th (the last) trumpet, the mystery of God foretold by the
prophets would be fulfilled”, and claims that “At the sounding of the 7th trumpet, the city, ‘Where the Lord was
crucified’ was to be (future, yet imminent to John) destroyed (Revelation
11:8-15f)”.
These are obviously
hotly debated in terms of interpretation and are simply that, interpretations.
None of these are established facts. Preston can claim something is a fact but
that does not make it necessarily true. “Because I said so” is nothing more
than a fallacy called proof of assertion and that unfortunately seems to have
been most of Preston’s entire modus operandi this entire debate to just assert
something is true because he wants to believe it is true. It obviously doesn’t
fly in the field of anything in the field of academia or scholarship. Many
scholars do not accept Preston’s interpretations of any of the texts he
references and can lay their claims that they are just as valid. Furthermore,
none of the passages Preston quotes tell us what year Revelation was written.
The texts he quotes and references in Revelation 10-11 do not need to be
written before 70 CE for them to be accurate nor inspired by God if we will
argue that the text is from God and inspired. These are all merely assumptions
Preston makes as a full preterist. The canon and prophecy also do not have to
cease just because Preston is a cessationist. Many do not buy into that
interpretation of Scripture and can be said to be just as valid in their
interpretations of what they claim to be inspired scripture. Many scholars in
fact interpret from a later date perspective these chapters and verses
referenced and will argue their interpretations are just as valid as Preston
claims he is. From the scholarly perspective, Preston’s claims will just not
stand up to scrutiny in definitively proving Revelation was written on a date that
is pre-70 CE. One should also note that by 80 CE, Jerusalem, though without a
temple, did reform the Great Sanhedrin and did begin to rebuild Jerusalem.
Jerusalem it is established fact in history and archaeology did not cease to
exist until 136 CE when Jerusalem would be flattened after the Bar Kochba
Revolt and be renamed Aelia Capitolina. Rome would even erect a statue to the
pagan god Jupiter/Zeus for a time where the Temple once stood. It would take
until the 7th Century that any Jew would be able to enter the city
again except on the day of Tisha B’Av.
Preston gives an ad hominem and completely unprofessional
dialogue for anyone claiming to be a scholar where he says he suspects that he
will get nothing more than “‘this is
just Preston’s subjective opinion’ or,
‘this says nothing about when Revelation was written’, or some other
obfuscatory verbiage, but no actual response. Mr. Bale has no probative answer.”
Perhaps Preston can show us then where it says DEFINITIVELY (caps for emphasis)
in Daniel 9 where the Revelation was written before 70 CE. Clearly, he won’t be
able to give an answer for that.
I find it humorous Preston quotes Eusebius here since Eusebius
clearly agrees with fellow patristics that Revelation was written after 70 CE
in the reign of Domitian but I digress. Eusebius interpreting Daniel 9’s
seventy weeks to have ended in 70 CE does not mean all prophecy has been
fulfilled. Neither does it mean the Revelation was written before 70 CE.
Eusebius even claims the Revelation wasn’t written before 70 CE but after.
Humorously, Preston announces Rashi and Saadia Gaon and Levi ben Gershon all
agree with each other and that he got this information from someone named
Reuvan Brauner who claims to be a world-class Hebrew scholar from Israel and
doesn’t share what any of these people think, believe, or say about anything. I
have yet also to find any scholarly work or dissertation or anything for that
matter to show this Mr. Brauner is who Don claims he is. To be charitable,
perhaps he is a scholar but as for the rest of this sentence, with charity,
perhaps this is just all typo from Don?
As I noted in the first and second negative in response to
Preston’s first and second affirmatives, Jerusalem did not kill all prophets.
Jews and Rome killed many of the New Testament prophets and took part in these
killings. Therefore, while Preston can claim Babylon is Jerusalem as fact all
he wishes, it does not make it definitive nor necessarily a true statement. It
is nothing more than him begging the question. He can claim I have not touched
his arguments but in fact, I have and I have kept to the actual debate premise
we both agreed to, to which Preston has given nothing to assist his affirmative
stance beside his interpretation. He quotes as fact that Matthew 21 “is an echo of Daniel 9” and begs the
question. An interpretation one
makes does not make it a fact. Matthew 21 does not give us a definitive date of
Revelation. Whether Israel is the Vineyard of the Lord, Isaiah 5 does not give
us a definitive date of Revelation.
Preston claims “We have
the destruction of the persecutors AT THE COMING OF THE LORD.” As a matter
of fact, Rome also persecuted the Christians and Early Church before 70 CE and
they were not destroyed in 70 CE. During the destruction of Jerusalem, not
every single Jew died either nor were they all destroyed. This is a HISTORICAL
FACT (caps on emphasis) as Jews and Romans exist and continued to exist after
70 CE. I will also note Jews still exist as well. If as Preston claims the 2nd
Coming happened at the destruction of Jerusalem, Jesus the Messiah didn’t
destroy all the persecutors. He left Jews and Romans especially standing after
70 CE. Historical facts disprove Preston’s claim.
Preston begins to try asking me questions now. Whether Matthew
21 was about 70 CE’s destruction of Jerusalem or not, it does not share with us
any definitive account of the book of Revelation and its date. Nothing in
Revelation 14 gives us a date of Revelation. Preston makes a false dichotomy
claiming that “unless Bale can prove
definitively that John is using the imagery of the Vine/vineyard in a way
divorced from its OT source, this effectively proves that Revelation 14 is
parallel with Matthew 21 in predicting the coming, imminent destruction of
Jerusalem. That proves that Revelation was written before AD 70”.
First, proving or disproving John’s imagery of the Vine/vineyard
doesn’t make sense since it is Matthew using this quote. Second, Revelation’s
dating is not dependent on proving or disproving definitively the imagery of
the Vine/vineyard. Third, Revelation 14 nowhere quotes Matthew 21. As a matter
of fact, while Revelation makes allusions to them, Revelation does not actually
quote a single Old Testament nor New Testament work or book.
“The NT is clear that the
time of the harvest had come. It was announced by John the Baptizer (Matthew
3:7-12), and by Jesus (John 4:35). It was to occur at the end of the age, in
fulfillment of Daniel 12:3-7, which is explicitly posited for the time when the
power of the holy people would be completely shattered (Daniel 12:3–>Matthew
13:43). Paul said that the end of the ages had come (1 Corinthians 10:11).”
Is Preston trying to claim the 2nd Coming happened
when John the Baptist announced it? During Jesus’ first coming and incarnation?
Paul when he states the end of the ages had come? Certainly not, these are
obviously about Jesus’ in His first coming and His Incarnation, death, burial,
resurrection, and ascension. Either way, nothing here gives us any information
about Revelation being written before 70 CE. Of note, Matthew 13 doesn’t quote
Daniel 12. Matthew 13 quotes Isaiah 6 and Psalm 77 (LXX).
Preston tries to force some questions to be answered by me.
Nothing he asks of me to answer is relevant to this debate and is nothing more
than an attempt to rabbit trail this debate down something other than the
accepted premise which is over the dating of Revelation: pre or post 70 CE.
It is safe to dismiss these questions but I will note that
Matthew 21, Rev 14, Matthew 22, Matthew 23, Hosea 2, Isaiah 62, Matthew 16,
Revelation 22, Revelation 19, Revelation 11, Matthew 12, 16; Mark 8;
Preston is also trying for a tactic where the debater bombards
the opponent with questions - a gish gallop fallacy. It is safe to say
Brandolini’s Law also applies here.
Preston next proceeds to unprofessionally mention conversations
made on Facebook to others and not what I have written in this debate. Ad
hominem arguments abound here again and Don does as he did in his second
affirmative and breaks the rules of the debate he agreed to. This violates the
agreement in the debate where “no arguments or materials shall be altered by
additions, deletions, or any other alterations in any way”. I would again ask
Preston to be professional but this has fallen on deaf ears as he, yet again,
breaks the rules of the debate agreed upon here in his 3rd
affirmative.
Preston claims a false dichotomy and a non-sequitur here that “Therefore, Babylon of Revelation was first
century, Old Covenant Jerusalem– unless Bale can definitively prove otherwise.
(He has admitted that he cannot prove this wrong!)” Then
he claims he “offered the following in my affirmatives
and on FB repeatedly. I have challenged Bale to answer it. He has not typed one
word of response. He has no answer”. I do not need to answer Preston’s questions on Facebook. They
are not part of the debate we agreed upon. Preston needs to stop acting
unprofessional and unscholarly here. He would have already been dismissed in
any academic debate setting due to his actions and violations of agreed-upon
rules.
Preston continues
claiming what he says is to be counted as a definitive fact. This is begging
the question and simply a fallacious way of arguing. I was going to say this is
an appeal to authority but this is more of an appeal to himself as an authority
and begging the question. He simply continues giving his interpretation as if
it is authoritative and a definitive truth when it is not; an argument of
authority. Divine fallacy abounds here.
Preston proceeds to bring up a FB discussion yet again. This is not
pertinent to the debate and violates the rules of the debate yet again. Quite
simply, Preston cannot seem to stop violating the very rules we agreed upon and
continues to act and engage in this debate in an unscholarly and unprofessional
manner. Preston is supposed to answer the dating of Revelation is definitively
written before 70 CE. Instead, he resorts to making an argument about me being
a Trinitarian. I haven’t answered these questions because they are irrelevant
to the debate. Me being a Trinitarian does not determine the date of
Revelation. Preston should stick to the topic of debate instead of trying to
straw man and push red herrings and make ad hominem arguments.
“The rules of this debate state that the negative is to follow
and answer, to the best of ability, the affirmative arguments. Everyone that
has read Mr. Bale’s “negatives” knows he has failed, completely, to follow my
arguments and to answer them.”
Don tries to argue that he can demand irrelevant questions to be
answered here. I only need to answer questions that are relevant to the debate.
The same is true of Preston. If I ask for example: “Is Don Preston a Jehovah's
Witness?” or “is Don Preston accepting of polygamy?” or “does Don share a
ministry with William Bell who is openly teaching polygamy is acceptable?” Mr.
Preston does not have to answer a single one of these questions as none of them
are relevant to the dating of Revelation. Whether he is or isn’t, or agrees or
disagrees with those things is irrelevant to the debate. It would also be
spreading the offense fallacy.
“The contrast between Bale
and myself is glaring and revealing. He refused to offer a word of exegesis in
response to my exegesis of numerous Biblical texts, saying he did not do so
because of “word count” restrictions. Yet, he wasted over 250 words telling us
that some scholars claim Revelation was a post eventu production from someone
falsely claiming to be John. When cornered on that, he said he did not believe
what he shared”. I have
already explained in my second negative in response to Preston’s second
affirmative why I used that example. Don is trying the ergo decedo fallacy, non
sequitur again, red herring, and I am sure a logician could find more fallacies
here.
“He has complained that I
have not given any ‘historical arguments.’ Well, I consider the inspired Word
of God to be of more value and more authoritative than any uninspired, highly
debatable writings, some written hundreds of years after the fact. Mr. Bale is
free to cite them all he wants.” I have not complained (ad hominem there) about Preston giving no
historical arguments. It is a fact that nowhere in his first nor second
affirmative does he give any historical arguments. Preston then argues a divine
fallacy that he considers “the inspired
Word of God to be of more value and more authoritative than any uninspired,
highly debatable writings, some written hundreds of years after the fact. Mr.
Bale is free to cite them all he wants.” One should readily ask this. Why
did Don bother to quote all those biblical scholars if they are all uninspired
and full of highly debatable writings and are all written hundreds of years
after the texts were written? Calling the kettle black much? Secondly, Don
claims this “inspired Word of God” is
more valuable and more authoritative… this begs the question… what does Don
claim the “inspired Word of God” is? Never is that defined. Mormons for example
will say they believe Jaredites existed in the Americas but if one brings up
archaeology with them and shows there is no case for this being true, they can
claim a divine fallacy too by Preston’s failed logic here. Again, this is not
how scholarship or academia works. Preston commits a divine fallacy claiming
that something is true because he wants it to be just like a Mormon debating
historical truths. All Preston apparently has are his interpretations of what
he believes and nothing remotely close to definitive nor substantial beyond
that to prove that Revelation was written before 70 CE.
Don claims that “For
those who value the Word of God as I do, the fact that Mr. Bale has totally
ignored every Biblical argument, every syllogism I have offered is more than
revealing. Scoffing at my arguments is not refutation. Calling them my
“subjective opinions” does not prove them wrong. Insulting me has no polemic
value, and simply reveals his desperation”.
This is a no true Scotsman fallacy being done here trying to
make it out that I do not value the Bible. He attempts an appeal to the bandwagon
as well here and blatantly lies when he claims that I have ignored every
Biblical argument he has made. As a matter of fact, I have dealt with each and
every piece that he has brought up and every single time, Don has not proven
definitively that Revelation was written before 70 CE. I would also note that
none of his arguments would work even from a Christian apologetics standpoint.
They certainly would not work at all if he were debating a non-Christian who
doesn’t care about his opinion about what books he thinks come from God or not
over this. Clearly, it doesn’t work with one who identifies as a Christian
either but I digress. Preston next charges me with ad hominem by sharing the
fact that he has given nothing as of yet except for his subjective opinions.
Then he pulls his own ad hominem by calling me a person who insults him and is
desperate. Don has proven throughout this debate that he is unwilling to be
professional about this debate.
“What I have offered is but a fraction of the evidence that
DEFINITIVELY proves that the book of Revelation was written prior to the
destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 and was predictive of that event”. Perhaps he should have brought those arguments
up then if they are so good? Alas, he has not and this is nothing more than a
nonsensical statement. Preston has given us no proof beyond his subjective
opinion that Revelation is written before 70 CE. He has repeatedly broken the
rules of the debate multiple times and acted in an unscholarly and
unprofessional manner.
In conclusion, as has
been shown above in this final negative against Preston, he has simply done
more or less the same as before. He has given nothing to definitively prove
that the Revelation of St. John was written before 70 CE except proof of
assertion for the most part and then a plethora of needless logical fallacies,
ad hominem, no true Scotsman fallacies, and more as shown above.
[1]
Keil and Delitzch’s Commentary on the Old Testament. Volume 9. 344-345.
[2]
Charles John Ellicott, Commentary on the Whole Bible. Cassell and Co. London.
1884. 387.
[3]
A.C. Gaebelein. The Annotated Bible. Daniel Commentary. 54. http://www.swartzentrover.com/cotor/E-Books/christ/Gaebelein/Daniel/The%20Prophet%20Daniel.pdf
[4]
Thomas, Ice. https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1030&context=pretrib_arch
[5]
James L Wood. Study Guide to Daniel. 115-120. Lamplighter Books. Zondervan.
1975.
[6]
James L Wood. The Bible and Future Events. 18-19.
[7] S.
R. Driver, The Book of Daniel, (Cambridge University Press Warehouse, 1905),
140-142
[8] J. R. Dummelow. A Commentary on the Holy Bible. New York; McMillan Co. 1923. 539-541.
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