The OP invited embracers of Full Preterism to comment, initially. Which means Doug and Robby--and maybe RickC, but he's a bit of a Maverick so who knows. But this is how the brush-up started. I wrote:
I rarely say this, because generally I find the posts well thought out, but I find this kind of humorous. As if any eschatological view would have made humans reaction to Jesus' ministry while in the spirit (post AD 33) any different to the reaction to his ministry while in the flesh. It has always been the matter of "He is a good man"; "No, but he misleads the people"--"Hossanah" one day, "Crucify him" the next. Men spin their webs of control and engage in intrigues quite apart from any true faith. If a person has true faith in God and Christ, their lives will produce good fruit apart from their eschatological paradigm. And the last time I checked, Israel was 80% agnostic....so there you go.
To which Doug replied:
I don't understand your point. Are you saying that no matter what doctrine people follow, if they are believers they will bear good fruit?
And I reiterate for Doug, Robby, Matt and any others who care to chime in; Eschatological paradigms should ALWAYS take a back seat to a person's true walk with God. I have met Futurists that live badly, plan unwisely--and I have met others that don't. Remember, I was raised in a group that believed that the end was CLOSE--Always. I feel more competent than most to comment on how a person lives when viewing the future that way. And guess what? There were PLENTY of JWs that went about their daily lives without a halt or a blush and you would have thought that they believed that this world was going to continue on just as it always had. Even the group pressure aspect of this paradigm didn't make them decide any differently on their life course. Others, well, they went all out because the end was 'just around the corner'.
So YES, Doug, and any others that may care, I do believe a person can bear good fruit irrespective of their eschatological paradigm, and I do believe that if one's eschatology is not just an ancillary part of their walk with God, then I question whether there is much of a 'walk' at all. I can tell you for a fact that I have known Furturists (imminent return of Jesus types) who embraced Preterism because someone turned them on to a book like "When Jerusalem Fell" or some such thing, who went from Christianity to unbelief in the space of a year. Why? Because their eschatology WAS their walk, and once that little plastic stick was pulled out. all the marbles went Kerplunk!
Regards, Brenden.