So were any bible prophecies true?

by cheeseman 35 Replies latest watchtower bible

  • cheeseman
    cheeseman

    I'm just wondering to what extent the bible accurately predicted future events?

    When I was a good little JW, I was constantly reassured that we could have confidence in the paradise because the bible always got it's predictions correct since it was inspired by Jah, blah, blah.

    Does anyone know of a good website which critically examines each bible prophecy one by one?

    What do real bible scholars with no bias make off all these prophecies?

    Are there any prophecies which truly baffle scholars and are 100% worthy of being bona fide?

  • Narkissos
    Narkissos


    In round figure: 0

    What we were sold as Bible prophecies were either:

    (1) new ad hoc interpretations of an old text devoid of any futuristic prediction (most so-called "Messianic prophecies"). Just take the OT quotations in the first pages of Matthew and read the quotations in their original context.

    (2) prophecies ex eventu, actually made after the fact and disguised as "prophecy," either by deliberate pseudepigraphy (ascribing the text to a long-dead author, e.g. Daniel) or by the fortune of edition (so the 6th century BC Deutero-Isaiah ascribed to the 8th-century prophet Isaiah).

    The only "prophecies" which clearly stand as "true prophecies" (in the sense of futuristic predictions) are, paradoxically, what we use to call "false prophecies"; that is, those which were never fulfilled.

    Here a few links http://www.google.com/custom?q=prophecies&cof=GIMP%3A%23FF0000%3BT%3A%23000000%3BLW%3A745%3BALC%3A%23FF0000%3BL%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.infidels.org%2Fimages%2Fsearchlogo2002a.gif%3BGFNT%3A%23606060%3BLC%3A%230000FF%3BLH%3A64%3BBGC%3A%23FFFFFF%3BAH%3Acenter%3BVLC%3A%23800080%3BS%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.infidels.org%2F%3BGALT%3A%230000FF%3BAWFID%3Ad097e75c81a73d7a%3B&domains=infidels.org%3Bsecweb.org%3Biidb.org&sitesearch=infidels.org

  • Spectrum
    Spectrum

    Narkissos,

    1. What is the correct interpretation of nation against nation and kingdom against kingdom?
    2. The king of the south shall overcome the king of the north.

    I remember JW saying for the first one that it was WWI & WWII and the second US/UK verse Russia

    Did they not predict the rise and fall and rise again of the UN?

  • googlemagoogle
    googlemagoogle
  • Ingenuous
    Ingenuous

    I can't vouch for any of their sites, but thought it was interesting that both Yahoo! and Google had entire directory categories devoted to biblical prophcey.

    I've personally found The Preterist Archive interesting.

  • Spectrum
    Spectrum

    Thanks googlemagoogle those were great links

  • jstalin
    jstalin

    Excellent links...

  • jt stumbler
    jt stumbler

    historychannel

  • Narkissos
    Narkissos
    1. What is the correct interpretation of nation against nation and kingdom against kingdom?

    This is a very vague statement about wars, the form of which is directly inspired by the OT (Isaiah 19:2; Jeremiah 51:46; 2 Chronicles 15:6) and is quite a common topos of apocalyptic literature, cf. 4 Ezra 13:30ff:

    Behold, the days come, when the most High will begin to deliver them that are upon the earth. And he shall come to the astonishment of them that dwell on the earth. And one shall undertake to fight against another, one city against another, one place against another, one people against another, and one realm against another. And the time shall be when these things shall come to pass, and the signs shall happen which I shewed thee before, and then shall my Son be declared, whom thou sawest as a man ascending.

    As far as the Synoptic apocalypses are concerned, this seems to be a fitting description of the period both before and after the Jewish war (66-73 AD) -- but could be of many others.

    2. The king of the south shall overcome the king of the north.
    This is absolutely clear from the book of Daniel itself: it is about the struggle of influence between the two main Hellenistic dynasties born from the division of Alexandre's empire, namely the Egyptian Ptolemies (south of Judah) and the Syrian Seleucids (north of Israel) from the 4th to the 2nd century BC. Check any recent Bible commentary of Daniel. This has been dealt with here in a number of posts, e.g. http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/10/75920/1.ashx
  • Elsewhere
    Elsewhere

    Throughout history countless people have prophesied the end of the world and they all have one thing in common: They were all wrong.

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