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This is a transcript of a call a friend had with Hank Hanegraaff on his radio show. He was kind to send me this transcript to put on the PreteristSite. Despite the wild speculations of a heretical preterist site, the caller was not an apologist friend of mine who lives in Florida (not California) and is not likely to call a radio question and answer show. I know it is hard to believe that I know more than one person with the unusual name of "Robert," but it's true.
Robert: "I wanted to ask you a question about the definition of heresy and would you consider full preterism to be heretical?"
Hank: "Well that's a good question. I think the thing we need to realize is that there is going to come a time in which the problem of sin if fully and finally resolved, when Jesus Christ returns bodily and when the dead in Christ are resurrected, and I think to the extent that full preterism does not allow for those future events. I think what they are doing is denying what is essential to the Christian faith not only primarily what is communicated in scripture, but also what is codified in the historic Christian creeds."
Robert: "Okay so would you then consider full preterism to be heretical?"
Hank: "Ya, I do, because I think what you are doing then is you are choosing something that leads to a division in the formation of a sect as 1 Corinthians 11:19 and Galatians 5:20 would point to. So its a teaching that contradicts the teachings of the Bible or a deliberate denial of truth that is revealed by God. So I think this is a very important issue and I think that there has to be, on the basis of the full council of God, a time that the problem of sin is fully and finally resolved. There has to be a time in which our Lord returns and when the eschaton is established the new heavens and the new earth where indwells righteousness, no more death, mourning, crying or pain, nothing impure will ever enter in and so forth. And of course the time in which we are physically resurrected, immortal, imperishable and incorruptible as 1 Corinthians 15 puts it."
Robert: "Is it possible for someone to teach full preterism and still be saved? I mean is it possible for someone to be a heretic and still be saved or if you're a heretic you're not saved?"
Hank: "Well, I'm not in the position of judging anyone's eternal destiny or judging their heart. It may be that people do not fully understand what the scriptures teach. I do think that it is important not to willfully deceive people with regards to essential Christian doctrine which is to say I think it's critical that we do not neglect the hope of the believer, after all the blessed hope is the resurrection. Paul says I don't want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep or to grieve like the rest of men who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him. So the great hope of the believer is the bodily resurrection which happens when Jesus Christ returns and the eschaton is made a reality for all those who long for paradise lost."
See the Author Index for a listing of further Christian Research Journal resources on this subject.