The Bible is an amazing book. It was written over 1500 years by 40 different men, including kings, poets, scholars and fishermen, but it's continuity and the uniform way it presents God make it unique among sacred texts.

The most incredible characteristic of scripture for me is the prophecy that's contained throughout. About one third of the Bible is prophetic writing. Jesus Christ himself fulfilled more than 300 prophecies, and still has a few to go.

But prophecy concerning Israel is what finally convinced me that God was real and that the Bible is his word to us.

It was prophesied that Israel would go into captivity in Babylon, and that they would return.

It was prophesied that they would then be broken apart and scattered as a people, because they rejected the Messiah, and that the land that is now Israel would be deserted and the temple destroyed.

It was prophesied that they would be persecuted and killed.

But it was also prophesied that they would be preserved, regathered, and made to prosper again as a nation.

All of these prophecies came true, and all these things can be verified through sources other than scripture, and after 2000 years, there are now more Jews living in Israel than there are in the rest of the world, the dessert is blooming, and the last great prophecies are coming true.

It was prophesied that Jerusalem would become a "burdensome stone", and a "cup of trembling". Everything that's happening in the middle east these days is resounding around the world, and all of it has to do with Jerusalem.

God also says that those who bless Israel will be blessed, and those who curse Israel will be cursed. America has always been a friend to Israel, and that's why God has blessed her so greatly. But there will come a time when every nation will finally turn on Israel, and that's when things are going to get really, really heavy.

These days I read my Bible and the news side by side. It's all matching up, and Jesus is going to be here for his followers very soon.

lol

I likey this post.

Signs that the end is near:


Matthew 24:5 "For many will come in my name, saying, I am Christ, and will mislead many."

Matthew 24:11 "And many false prophets will arise, and will mislead many."


Yes many people claim to be God/Jesus, but that is to be expected. It happened before him and it happened after him, don't really see how that proves anything.



wars:


Matthew 24:6 "And you will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end."


LOL, of course this is always gonna be war, again doesn't prove anything



famines and earthquakes:

"For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes."



LOL, again of course there is always gonna be famines and earthquakes and there always has been, again don't see how this proves anything

Tribulation:

"But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs. Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations on account of my name."

Has happened to people of all the major world religions, don't see how this proves anything.

Obviously all of those things were bound to happen anyway, talk about the lamest prophecies ever. One day there will be war, famine and earthquakes what a joke


op please provide examples of your view of prophecies/signs the end is near

Sure, these things are bound to happen anyway.

But how do you explain all the prophecy that's come perfectly true, and in light of that, how confident does that make you feel that the other prophecies won't?

please list said prophecies anything can be explained

The ones I listed about Israel? Or the end times ones you said won't come true?

which ones did I say wouldn't come true?

You didn't say they wouldn't come true so much as you scoffed at it meaning anything.

OP-

What about the prophecies that never came true and their window of oppurtunity for coming true has passed? If some prophecies don't come true, and others do, aren't prophecies a free roll then?

Regarding Israel- Ever heard of a self-fulfilled prophecy?

There are no prophecies in the Bible whose window has passed. All the ones that were supposed to come true, did, exactly as they were supposed to. Based on that, there is no reason to believe the rest won't.

What does that even mean? Are you saying the Jews put themselves into captivity, destroyed their own temple, and then dispersed themselves to be hounded and killed for 2000 years just so Christians could have something to post on message boards about?

from an article by Ferrell Till,

The prophetic tirades of Isaiah (13-23) and Ezekiel (24-32) against the nations surrounding Israel provide a treasure house of unfulfilled prophecies. Ezekiel, for example, prophesied that Nebuchadnezzar would destroy Egypt and leave it utterly desolate for a period of 40 years, during which no foot of man or beast would pass through it (chapter 20), but history recorded no such desolation of Egypt during or after the reign of Nebuchadnezzar.

Ezekiel also prophesied that Nebuchadnezzar would destroy Tyre, which would never again be rebuilt (26:7-14, but Nebuchadnezzar's siege of Tyre failed to take the city, and Tyre still exists today. A curious thing about this prophecy against Tyre is that Isaiah also predicted that Tyre would be destroyed, but, whereas Ezekiel predicted that Tyre would be permanently destroyed and "nevermore have any being," Isaiah prophesied that it would be made desolate only for a period of 70 years.

wikipedia's definition


A self-fulfilling prophecy is a prediction that directly or indirectly causes itself to become true, by the very terms of the prophecy itself, due to positive feedback between belief and behavior.



Ie the Bible predicts that Jews will someday return to Israel, people read this over time and work to make it happen (see zionist movement)

here

there

I see. And they destroyed their own temple, and started the anti-semitic movement, for the sake of continuity.

The bible also has prophecies of other nations and the Babylonian empire. Did Babylon simply want to make a bible prophecy come true in Jeremiah 25?

11 This whole country will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

12 "But when the seventy years are fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon and his nation, the land of the Babylonians, for their guilt," declares the LORD, "and will make it desolate forever.

Prophecy written: Sometime between 626-586 BC
Prophecy fulfilled: About 609 BC to 539 BC

Oh wow, you can prophesise that someday a country won't exist/ be destroyed. That is guaranteed to happen.


Some day America won't exist.


So I can write a bunch of other things ,claim to be God, and when America inevitable falls in a few hundred-thousand years that proves my divine authorship?

I think you missed the 70 years part....

People believe that it is going to happen so it does. Self fufilling prophecies don't have to be positive. See Oedipus as an example.

Can you provide extrabiblical corroboration that Babylon was destroyed exactly 70 years after it was prophesised? You can't use the Bible to Prove its own claims.

And I don't mean some lame yahoo answers link as "evidence", I mean actual physical evidence of the exact day month and year that the prophesy was written, and actual physical evidence of the exact day month and year that Babylon was destroyed

That much? Really? I'm surprised.

That's not magic, that's the authors of the new testament having access to the old testament. Caesar's census that solved the problem of getting Jesus to Bethlehem in fulfillment of prophecy? Never actually took place. They made it up. To "fulfill" prophecy, so people would be more inclined to believe in their particular messiah over all the others wandering around at the time.

Really now. Compelling stuff right there.

You don't think these might have something to do with each other? It's pretty easy to match things up after the fact, known frauds do this all the time. Please provide some recent headlines, and the relevant biblical passages that you "matched" them to, and then explain to me how the passage is CLEARLY speaking about that particular event, how that particular event is CLEARLY a fulfillment of that specific, non-general and not-easily predictable prophecy. Hint: Things that will inevitably or predictably happen do not count (natural disasters, warring nations ect), unless there is a very clear and specific time/date/name/place attached. Self-fulfilling prophecies are also void.

It would be helpful if you could also show that the "prophecies" were commonly agreed to mean what you are now interpreting them to mean.

Looking forward to reading some amazing stuff!

Librarian One: "Look at this! This guy prophesied that Babylon would be destroyed!"
Librarian Two: "Wow. That actually happened. Incredible - it must be the work of god."
Librarian One: "What should I do with it?"
Librarian Two: "Add it to pile number one."
...more reading...
Librarian One: "Hmm...This one says that Babylon will be destroyed by a great beast. That didn't happen did it?"
Librarian Two: "Nah - he must be a false prophet. Put it in pile two."
...etcetera...
Librarian One: "Gosh. This pile number one has hundreds of prophecies and they all came true!"
Librarian Two: "I know it's incredible. What are the odds? Let's collate all of these amazing prophecies in one book!"
...a couple of thousand years pass...
Believer: "How do you explain the amazing accuracy of biblical prophecies?"
Skeptic: "There are stacks of ways - gimme a sec and I'll come up with one..."