I recently got a private message from someone telling me that "everthing (sic) in the bible has happened exactly like it said it did. The bible has thousands of prophecys (sic) and all of them have come true." Now, ignoring for a moment all the self-fulfilling prophecies, prophecies so vague that they can always be interpreted to be right, trivial prophecies, later texts that could easily have been written so as to conform to the prophecies, prophecies that aren't corroborated by any source outside the Bible... ignoring all of that, is it true that all Biblical prophecies have been fulfilled save for the end-times? Well... no.
Jeremiah informs us that God will smite all the Israelites migrating into Egypt (42:15-18). Even so, I think we can be reasonably certain that people from Israel have journeyed into Egypt without suffering God's wrath. Egypt isn't even the enemy of Israel it was in Biblical times, so what reason would God have for a jaunt into another neighboring country now?
Isaiah predicts that five cities in Egypt will undergo a language conversion to the Canaanite tongue (19:18). Of course, since this never happened, and since the language of the Canaanites is now dead, I don't see it happening any time in the near future. Of course, I'm not a true prophet.
Isaiah just a few verses later fortells of an alliance between Israel, Egypt and Assyria (19:23-25). Since Assyria is no longer a country, the odds of this prophecy being fulfilled have dropped considerably. And if Assyria were to reform, it wouldn't be the same Assyria that Isaiah, in all his God-given prescience, predicted.
Ezekiel purports God making claims that the Ammonites will be "no more remembered" (21:32). The difficulty with accepting this bold declaration is that it is printed in the Bible, which means that for the memory of the Ammonites to be truly erased, the Bible would have to be erased as well. Which would make the prophecy known to nobody, and hence useless. Apparently Ezekiel's God didn't take Logic 101.
Ezekiel prophesied that Nebuchadnezzar would destroy the city of Tyre (
26). He goes on to tell Tyre that they will never be rebuilt. Yet later we learn that Nebuchadnezzar was unsuccessful in the raid of Tyre (
29:18). Alexander the Great conquored Tyre hundreds of years later. It was then rebuilt, contrary to Ezekiel 26:14. Had Ezekiel been vague and not stated that it would be Nebuchadnezzar who would destroy Tyre, and not stated that Tyre would never be rebuilt... well, it would just be chalked up to another successful prophecy. However, Ezekiel mentions specifics, and even informs us that he got it wrong. And yet here I am, having to reiterate that not all the prophecies in the Bible have come true.
Comments (16)
It's a little known fact that the language of the Canaanites was actually modern English. Weird, I know.
@chaospet - I definitely just googled that to see if it was true. /fail
In other news, fantastic post. I find it fascinating how many discrepancies the Bible contains- yet SO MANY PEOPLE believe in it absolutely. I've learned more about the Bible from Xanga than I did reading it for thirteen odd years. Fascinating.
I *heart* amillennialism.
Wow, the fact that the person who wrote you the message started out with "everthing" made me say that entire sentence in a deep southern drawl. In fact, if you say it like that it totally makes sense.
@Shy___Away - Google is part of the conspiracy to conceal the truth. Don't be fooled!
THere are unfulfilled prophecies in the Bible. I guess that this might be more a question for what is the nature of free will in fulfilling prophecies? Or, more specifically, do all prophecies actually have to happen? I would say no (and cite the book of Jonah as a good example).
@Shy___Away - Not really. But that's a very very long explanation to describe a very very large amount of verses taken out of context to prove a point.
@JadedJanissary - That's an interesting point, but you have to be careful not to conflate claims about what HAS to happen with claims about what simply WILL happen. Prophecies are claims about the latter, not the former. Hence issues of free will don't really get raised, and free will considerations don't really offer a good explanation of or justification for falsified prophecies.
Interesting!
@chaospet - there are many kinds of prophecy given in the Bible, it's certain. However, prophecies really aren't always claims about what HAS to happen.
@JadedJanissary - That's just what I said - the prophecies are NOT claims about what has to happen, just claims about what will in fact happen. And that's why the issue of free will doesn't get raised; there's no reason in principle that you can't make accurate predictions about what someone will in fact do of their own free will. And so if the prophecies in the Bible do in fact turn out to be mistaken (and we seem to have some good examples of that here), you'll need to appeal to something other than free will to explain why they were false.
@chaospet - It would seem we have a fundamental and unresolveable disagreement about the nature of what prophecy is. In my studies as a Biblical Scholar, I would argue that prophecy can broadly fall into the categories of foretelling, and forthtelling. Forthtelling is sort of "wisdom prophecy" - insight from a Godly or Inspired person who knows a particular insight on a particular issue, whether broad or narrow. Foretelling is what you're speaking about. Foretelling (heavily exampled in the major and minor prophets), is usually understood as being the foretelling of events as though they must happen. However, another possible understanding (and one from the Arminian point of view, rather than the calvinistic/deterministic view being offered as fact) is that prophecies are themselves only determinations of what will happen if things do not change by people changing their course of actions. It is possible that both exist, i suppose, but I would suspect that that is not the case. That is a perfectly adequate explanation, unless, of course, it can be proven that all prophecies fall into the given definition.
@chaospet - @JadedJanissary - Just for the record, I don't think you two are going to settle this. Feel free to keep debating, I don't mind. However, I feel that I should clarify that I'm arguing against the viewpoint chaospet is bringing up, which is the one I hear most often from believers. JJ, without the prophets disclaiming which is which (foretelling vs forthtelling) the concept of determining if prophecy is valid becomes moot. This isn't to say your point is, but for the sake of what I'm arguing, I'm discounting the possibility of forthtelling unless noted by the author (again, as most believers I have discussed this with do).
@JadedJanissary - Well, claims about what HAS to happen are metaphysically loaded; you're then saying that certain future events are necessary, which is much more than to say that they are actual. I don't see any reason to read foretelling (which is what I do have in mind) in such a way.
To put my view another way - there can be facts about what actually happens in the future, which can include facts about what people will actually choose to do of their own free will in the future. If so, then there is no reason (in principle) that God or a prophet could not foretell (as you define it) what people will actually choose to do of their own free will in the future. If so, then you cannot explain falsified foretellings by appealing to the fact that people acted of their own free will.
The issues here are deep and complex of course. There is a very long tradition of debate over the compatibility of God's foreknowledge of our actions with genuine human freedom. But that is my view on the matter in a nutshell.
I remember that when you posted this on your other blog, Soccerdadforlife pointed out several errors, both contextually and factually. Have you made corrections in this re-post?
Looks like a prophecy has been fulfilled: PROOF THAT THE BIBLE IS CORRECT!
Looks like a prophecy was not fulfilled and won't be: THAT PROPHECY DIDN'T HAVE TO COME TRUE IN THE FIRST PLACE!
>.>
@ModernBunny - Ah, the convenient clarity of hindsight!