PILLARS OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH DEMOLISHED
Part 2 Prophecy
(Investigator 131, 2010
March)
Truthful prophecy, attested to be such by its
fulfillment, is one of
the main proofs of the truth of the Christian religion.
Every ancient system of religion had its prophecies and seers who
professed to be able to foresee the future. But we find little or no
proof of these powers. There have been successes and failures in
predictions.
Modern spiritualism is the same. Hit or miss, with more missing than
hitting.
Jewish prophecies not fulfilled, almost all have failed.
Prophecies do not require divine assistance, although it is claimed.
Many with observant minds can anticipate events or happenings in
advance quite accurately.
The Bible itself is a witness that truthful prophecy can do nothing
towards authenticating a religion or towards proving the prophet
divinely inspired. It is not necessary to be a Jew or a Christian or a
believer or even a moral man to be able to foresee or foretell future
important events. This does not prove the truth or divine acceptance of
the religion of the Bible, or its superiority over any heathen or
oriental religion known to history, as they all present the same
evidence, the ability to prophesy.
The ability to foretell events is not restricted to the Bible, to any
nation, religion or faith, to any belief or to any moral or religious
qualification. It does nothing at all towards establishing the exalted
claims of Christianity or proving its superiority over other religions.
Brian de Kretser
Institute for Research into Religions
Darwin, N.T. Australia
PROPHECY is EVIDENCE THE BIBLE is INSPIRED
Anonymous
(Investigator 132, 2010 May)
The Bible has prophecies so accurately fulfilled that
atheists have not
duplicated them.
De Kretser (#131), however, claims "almost all have failed". He
accounts for any successes with: "Many with observant minds can
anticipate events or happenings in advance quite accurately."
Let us consider.
Galatians 4:27 implies that Christians would outnumber the Jews.
Christians, at the time, numbered perhaps 10,000 and Jews 4 million. To
correctly foretell that an obscure group will outnumber another group
internationally prominent and 400 times bigger is impressive. If,
however, enough skeptics were to make enough guesses along similar
lines, someone might score a "hit". But the Bible has scored many times:
According to Luke, Jesus' mother Mary said: "Surely, from now on all
generations will call me blessed for the Mighty One has done great
things for me…" (Luke 1:48)
Centuries later this obscure woman was called "blessed" by ever more
people and ever more nations. Of the 100 million women alive,
worldwide, 2000 years ago the Bible picked one, and implied all
generations will know her. And she became history's most mentioned
woman! No "observant mind" of any Bible critic has ever duplicated this
prediction.
Luke explains that Mary is "blessed" because she became mother to "the
Messiah the Lord". (Luke 2:11) That a "Messiah-King" would come and
change the world is clear from the Old Testament:
Look,
your king
is coming to you! He comes triumphant and victorious,
but humble and riding on a donkey… Your king will make peace among the
nations; he will rule from sea to sea, from the river to the ends of
the earth. (Zechariah 9:9-10)
The New Testament
identifies the Messiah-King as Jesus and foretold
that he'll be preached "to the ends of the earth." (Acts
1:8)
Historians for centuries afterwards barely mentioned Jesus despite
their supposed "observant minds" that "anticipate events". Nowadays,
however, many call Jesus "the centre of history."
There's another woman, so obscure she's not even named, but she put
ointment on Jesus, and Jesus subsequently said: "Wherever the gospel is
preached in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory
of her." (Mark 14:3 9; Matthew 26:6 13) When the Bible goes into new
languages the book of Mark is often first to be translated. What "she
has done" is being told in print in about 2500 languages!
In the 1950s many diseases were in retreat due to antibiotics,
vaccinations, better food and improved hygiene. Universities scaled
down their research into disease-causing micro-organisms. Epidemiology
seemed a dead-end profession. Bryan Appleyard wrote: "In the 1960s the
surgeon-general of the United States announced that infectious disease
was conquered." (The Australian Magazine, June 3-4, 2000)
The US surgeon-general was in conflict with Jesus who, when describing
future history until his return, said: Nation will rise against nation
and kingdom against kingdom; there will be great earthquakes…famines
and pestilences… (Luke 21:10-11)
Medical optimism was an illusion. Bacteria and viruses mutate under
environmental stress (including antibiotics) and produce new resistant
varieties. Appleyard noted: "Increasing resistance to antibiotics has
bred new strains of killer bacteria." Epidemiology again became a major
research area.
We've considered a few Bible predictions out of many. They're so
accurate over such long time periods that critics with "observant
minds" have not duplicated them.