Do you believe in prophesy?

Question

I just saw an answer to a question, and its credulity just boggled me:

"How do i know? because it says so in the Bible. and in the Bible were over 700 fulfilled prophecies where eye witnesses testified the fulfillment of prophecies made up to 400 years sooner. 200 of these prophecies were about the birth of Christ. Over TWO HUNDRED prophecies testified Christs birth and they ALL came true and were documented by eye witnesses and those documents have been found."

In my opinion, all of these prophesies were "reverse engineered" with the benefit of hindsight. For example, the birth of Jesus. In the mind of whoever wrote the "Gospel of Matthew", the Messiah HAD to be born in Bethlehem, so he concocted a bizarre story of a fictitious census to place Jesus in Bethlehem at the time of his birth. Modern biblical scholars simply don't take this proposition seriously. It's reverse engineering, not fulfilment of prophesy.

What do you think?

Answer 1

Very true considering that the Jews have a completely different set of "messianic prophecies" from the same scripture base.  

The only prophets I respect are scifi writers that have a good understanding of where science and technology will go.  David Brin and Jules Verne are good examples of this sort of "prophesy".  All others rely on very vague statements that could be fullfilled by any number of events.

Answer 2

Its the real deal. Roman, Mesopotamian,  Hebrew and Egyptian history plus others prove it right..

Answer 3

You have gotten your facts all messed up. The Bible has thousands of prophesies, over 2,500 of them were messianic foretelling of the coming of Christ. Which he fulfilled every single one to the "t". Answer me this if these are all concocted stories, then how are the gospels and therefore the entire rest of the Bible with most of the authors who never met each other and most who lived in different cities and countries able to write the exact same story in perfect harmony? How can you tell me they concocted stories? Wouldn't they all have to concoct the same story? Go buy this book and read it THE SIGNATURE OF GOD, BY GRANT GEOFFREY its prophesy statistics will blow your mind.  

Answer 4

Prophecies are either reverse engineered, self-fufflying or hopeless vague.

Answer 5

I think you're right. End of story. Apologetics and theology is a boring game.

Answer 6

Hi, Schnapper:

Jesus said: I tell you these things in advance so after they fulfill, you will know I am He."

Thus, prophecies are made to be engineered after they fulfill.

Take the only part of the Bible that says you can't understand it until the "end of the days", and "the wicked will do wickedly and none of the wicked will understand, but the wise shall understand."

You can find out by reverse-engineering Daniel 12. First read that chapter, then after scratching your head in wonder, read http://abiblecode.com and see if you are wicked and baffled, or wise and understand.

Shalom, peace in Jesus, Ben Yeshua

Answer 7

There are so many things foretold that has been fulfilled that "reverse engineering" is not possible. There was and is a higher intelligence behind them.

That's what I am convinced of and believe.  :o)

Answer 8

Your question was "Do you believe in prophesy?"

And the answer is "yes".

You then go off on some rant about The Bible.

The Bible is a book; it was written by men.

Do I "believe" that everything written in The Bible is factual?

A resounding "no".

Answer 9

Theres not one specific "prophesy" in that moldy old book of goatherder myths, and anyone who wishes to claim otherwise bears The Burden Of Proof to support their claims.

Since no such objective proof has ever been offered, those claims fail.

Answer 10

there is two of   them son of man is second

Answer 11

If the prophesy in the Bible is fulfilled in our time, it can't be reverse-engineered.

Isaiah 29:10 For the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered.

  11 And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed:

  12 And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.

  13  Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:

  14 Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.

Answer 12

God spoke the world into existence, so it's the spoken word spoken in faith that brings fulfillment. Yes,  I believe in prophesy. But there are several kinds.

Answer 13

I can prophesy that the sun will rise tomorrow morning at a particular time, and be correct.  Your "reverse engineering" premise is on the money.

Answer 14

Yes, I believe in Prophesy

all of the Prophecy's in the Old Testament were fulfilled

Jesus came to fulfill those things spoken of him

:)

Answer 15

Yes, I imagine there was a lot of reverse engineering.  I do believe that God can speak through humans and indeed has done so.  But there are many self-proclaimed prophets I don't trust.  

Answer 16

Do I believe in prophesy, yes.

The bible, no. The census was not fictitious, it just took place around 4CE. The bible has a tendency to contradict itself and not to follow known history. As for the reverse engineering, it was effective.

Many cultures have parallel prophecies, each with a different cultural spin. Being as humans have written the documentation of the prophesies, there is the problem of interpretations, omissions and additions to the various prophesies. One can collect various stories and prophesies, comparing them and attempting to puzzle together which parts are relevant. The problem again arises in that the interpretation is subject to the individuals viewpoint and understanding which may not be a proper understanding of the original intent.

I have done just this for years and although I have my understanding and believe some of the things I have seen are what was prophesied, it is by my viewpoint and understanding. Another may interpret any or all of it differently. I look at the small ones in order to get a feel of the time-line as best I can. What I have so far has both positive and negative aspects coming but again it would depend on ones viewpoint.

Answer 17

I believe in prophecy. The Old and New Testamewnts are FULL of it. In the New Testament, the five fold ministry is established with prophets being one of the five.

Answer 18

Yeah the Romans were good at doing stuff like that. They would either write a prophecy based on something that had already happened and claim it was much older, Or they would rewrite something to fit a prophecy. Its all very easy to do.

The answer above me brings up another good one. Most prophecies are extremely vague and could apply to many situations.