stories of prophecies in the bible, being fulfilled in later stories in the

[Zen]

bible... why am i not convinced?
@Bob : if you dont like my question, dont respond
@wha happened : then why shouldnt i follow other religions that say the exact same thing?

 

[PeaceaJoyaandHopeSDA]

You have to have an open mind if you want to learn more. God will not force you to learn of Him.
Amazing Facts with Doug Batchelor has some great online Bible prophecy Bible studies. They are accurate, and they do not conflict with other Bible verses. God doesn't do anything without sending us a warning first. You would do yourself a favor to make informed decisions from the Bible, as time is short. God is not willing that any should be lost. Unfortunately many of us are. You don't have to be like those that were outside of the ark when the flood covered this earth. Someday this earth will be covered in a lake of fire. It will burn everything in it to ashes. You don't have to be left outside of the city of God. Romans 5 tells us that Jesus reconciled Himself to us, through His death and resurrection while we were yet sinners, ungodly, enemies, and without strength.

 

[whahappened]

How about the prophesy written 1900 years ago that man would be destroying the earth during the last days, our time? Man is according to science, literally destroying the earth. Now why would anyone 1900 years ago even think that man could literally destroy the earth when they were not capable of doing so? Revelation 11:18. @@@@ Religions other than Christianity do not have prophesies that have been fulfilled or are being fulfilled. There are other prophesies in the Bible about our day that are being fulfilled that are spot on.

 

[DreamstuffEntity]

1. There are several mundane ways in which a prediction of the future can be fulfilled:

* Retrodiction. The "prophecy" can be written or modified after the events fulfilling it have already occurred.
* Vagueness. The prophecy can be worded in such a way that people can interpret any outcome as a fulfillment. Nostradomus's prophecies are all of this type. Vagueness works particularly well when people are religiously motivated to believe the prophecies.
* Inevitability. The prophecy can predict something that is almost sure to happen, such as the collapse of a city. Since nothing lasts forever, the city is sure to fall someday. If it has not, it can be said that according to prophecy, it will.
* Denial. One can claim that the fulfilling events occurred even if they have not. Or, more commonly, one can forget that the prophecy was ever made.
* Self-fulfillment. A person can act deliberately to satisfy a known prophecy.

There are no prophecies in the Bible that cannot easily fit into one or more of those categories.

2. In biblical times, prophecies were not simply predictions. They were warnings of what could or would happen if things did not change. They were meant to influence people's behavior. If the people heeded the prophecy, the events would not come to pass; Jonah 3 gives an example. A fulfilled prophecy was a failed prophecy, because it meant people did not heed the warning.

3. The Bible also contains failed prophecies, in the sense that things God said would happen did not. For example:
Joshua said that God would, without fail, drive out the Jebusites and Canaanites, among others (Josh. 3:9-10). But those tribes were not driven out (Josh. 15:63, 17:12-13).
Ezekiel said Egypt would be made an uninhabited wasteland for forty years (29:10-14), and Nebuchadrezzar would plunder it (29:19-20). Neither happened.

Also see:

http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/farrell_till/prophecy.html
http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/proph/long.html

4. Other religions claim many fulfilled prophecies, too ( http://www.bci.org/prophecy-fulfilled/ ).

 

[Ceisiwr]

Bible prophecies need to be read in the context of the times in which they were written. They generally take the form of warnings of catastrophe if the people to whom they are addressed don't change their ways - usually adopting the religion or culture of people they live among or neighbour.

One way of claiming that a prophecy has been fulfilled is to pick on an event or set of events and read it or them back into ancient scripture, and twist that scripture to make it fit the events and mean something the original prophet or scribe could not have meant or conceptualised.

Another is to accredit an ancient prophet with prophesying events that he could never have known about - if indeed he was real, and not a legend or a demi-god adopted by the Israelites but transformed to be consistent with their later monotheistic beliefs. This has happened in the gospels, which are littered with claims that something was done to fulfil a prophecy; an example is "Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us" (Matthew 1:22-23/Isaiah 7:14).

And theologians often read back later scriptures, reflecting beliefs current at the time they were written, to earlier scriptures. For example, John identifies the great dragon in Revelation, that ancient serpent (from Sumerian myth, symbolising the waters of chaos), with Satan and the Greek equivalent the Devil (from Diabolos that has similar meanings as Satan, such as Accuser); that has been read back into Genesis 3 to claim that the serpent in the garden of Eden was Satan - even though these were separate myths.

As another example, the prophecies in Revelation were expected to happen within the lifetimes of those living at the time, the 1st or 2nd century CE, followed by 1,000 years. They just didn't happen, although believers push them further and further into the future to other times, when they continue not to happen.