Things Fall Apart :: By Pete Garcia
Published on: October 6,
2020 by RRadmin7 Category:General Articles
The law that entropy increases—the Second Law of Thermodynamics—holds, I think, the supreme position among the laws of Nature. In fact, entropy appears to be the only true natural constant. All things fall apart, and human civilization is not exempt.
Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington
With all this talk of the New World Order, the New Normal, and the Age of Aquarius, I have become somewhat nostalgic for the old world order. Now, I know that as a Christian, this world is not our home, and we are destined for glory upon glory into the eternal realm; but still, looking back over our lives, there were good and testing moments in our lives that made us who we are today.
We are living longer these days, which has caused an excess of generations to all be alive at the same time. From Centennials and Millennials to Generation X and Baby Boomers (even a few Silent Generation folk are still kicking around), the 20th-21st centuries have become a cornucopia of cross-generational experiences. Like many of you, I consider myself fortunate enough to have not only been born in the last century but also in the last millennium as well.
However, this idea of cross-millennial generations got me thinking about Dispensationalism and our current predicament as a nation. It’s easy to blame everything on Centennials (Gen Z, iGen [1996-Present]), on their general laziness and discontent for America, but can you blame them. Most grew up either right before or right after 9/11.
They went from that to being a nation at war for almost 19 years. Right around the time they can get a job and start making money, the market crashes (2008). They then get eight years of the abomination, I mean, the Obama Administration. They lived through H1N1, Ebola, COVID-1984, and every natural disaster known to man.
Yet, they were not the first generation to suffer. The Silent Generation (1945 and earlier) saw two World Wars, the Spanish Flu, and the Great Depression. Baby Boomers saw the Korean and Vietnamese Wars and the Hippy movement. Still, Centennials have one greater disadvantage than these previous generations: they live in a largely Post-modern, Post-American, and Post-Christian world. Their lives are being earmarked by the upgrades in technology (pre/post iPhone).
Nevertheless, my thoughts of late regarding
Dispensationalism has infinitely bordered more on the ambiguous than simply as a hermeneutical construct. It had more to do with the transition between dispensations rather than the dispensations themselves. At least the first two (Innocence and Conscience) had vastly different and physical ramifications in their before and after realities. For those who lived between them (Adam and Eve, Noah, and his family), the differences must have been shocking.
Within traditional Dispensationalism, there is a four-part organization regarding each particular age or epoch. The first part is the act, which separates it from the previous era. The second part is the challenge God gives mankind within that particular time period. The third is man’s failure to live up to said challenge. The fourth part is the judgment regarding that particular failure. The late Dr. Charles Ryrie explains as follows:
The principal characteristic of a dispensation is the economic arrangement and responsibility that God reveals in each dispensation. Such responsibility is a test in itself. Most men fail the test, and then judgment follows. The dispensational scheme has two perspectives: a cross-sectional aspect (which is sometimes misconstrued as cycles but which is, in reality, a spiral) and a longitudinal aspect (which emphasizes the unfolding progress of revelation and continuing principles throughout the ages of the dispensations). (Source)
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Subject: Things Fall Apart 
Tue Oct 06, 2020 9:28 pm
