Christianity QA

Question:

PROPHECY AND THE CHRISTIAN BIBLE Note: Even though the following focuses on Christian prophecy, it applies to all religions. I simply used Christianity because these are the prophesies that I personally am the most familiar with. Many Christians have spent countless hours trying to decipher the many prophesies in their Bible. The Book of Daniel and the Book of Revelation are the focus of much discussion regarding the future of the world. Much emphasis is placed on the 100% accuracy of the Book of Daniel without paying attention to the historical scholars who point out that the book was written in 632 b.c.e. The reason that this date is known is that all the predictions regarding events prior to that year are 100% accurate and the predictions regarding events after that year are not. As for as the Book of Revelation it is known that the book was written on the Island of Patmos. The real author is in question. This island was famous for its visions. In fact, ancient people would go there and smoke the sacred mushroom in order to experience a vision of one kind or another. Peoples all over the world from the most ancient of times have sought visions through the use of drugs. There is no way to prove that this is the way that the Book of Revelation came into being but we do have to wonder about the fact that it was written on an island devoted to drug induced visions. The truth is that no one can tell the future. Many people put forth their predictions regarding the future and some of those predictions do in fact manifest. But if one looks closely, one sees that a lot of predictions are made but few materialize. There are no doubt people who are quite good at these things but it is impossible to tell which of the many predictions that a seer or prophet makes will actually materialize. Ancient writings are always suspect because it is so difficult to verify authors and dates; making prophecy based on these writing a useless endeavor. Of all the 6 billion people who presently live on the earth, no one has emerged who can consistently and accurately predict the future. Probably the most renown of all seers was Nostradamus but if one looks at all 1000 of his quatrains regarding the future, we quickly see that only a small percentage actually materialized. So if we lived at the time of Nostradamus how would we use these 1000 predictions. We would know that some of them did come true, but how could we know which ones were nonsense? The answer is that we could not. So what good is prophecy? The answer is not much. Calamitous events occur almost daily in the world and yet not one of the 6 billion humans presently residing on the earth has emerged who could consistently predict them. We tend to believe in intuition because we have all experienced times when our sixth sense kept us out of harms way. Yet there were times when we ignored our intuition without any noticeable negative effects. Intuition and prophecy must be therefore put into their proper perspective. It is simply something to consider. If we are about to make a major decision in our lives, we should listen to our sixth sense and balance our logic with these feelings. In regards to Biblical prophecy, Jesus said that no one knows when the end times will come. Jesus said that even he did not know. So why are we wasting so much time concerning ourselves with these things. There is not doubt that the world is going to end one day. Nothing in this reality lasts forever. But will our planet be struck by a comet or astroid or by a rogue planet from space or will the earth die when the sun burns out? Who knows? As regards to our own future, the only thing that is certain is that our bodies will wear out; they will die. Every single one of us will die. So what difference does another 10 years make. Concerning ourselves about the day of our death is totally unproductive. To find peace, we have to live in the now. Certainly we should plan for the future that we desire to live but all we are given is the present moment. There are no guarantees about the future. Lastly, consider how much of Christian prophecy is focused on doom and gloom: the apocalypse, pestilence, disease, war, hunger. The Christian prophecy ends the world the same way that Christianity began it: in violence. Christ died a violent death, untold amounts of violence have been committed in the name of Jesus, and we are to told to believe that this age will end in violence. Consider the level of fear and apprehension that Christian prophecy has manifested and continues to manifest on the earth. Consider how the level of peace will increase when we discard emphasizing a fearful doom and gloom end-of-the-world philosophy and simply live our lives as if today were our last day in this reality. Let us approach the next millennium with a world resolve to make the next century as peaceful as this one was violent; and a world resolve that the next thousand years will be one permeated with peace and harmony and the uplifting of all of humanity. We will manifest a future that is a product of our daily actions regardless of what the prophets of doom promote and the ancient text allegedly foretell. John WorldPeace  email welcomed   WorldPeace is one Word! How can we manifest Peace on Earth if we do not include everyone (all nations, all races, all religions, both sexes) in our vision of Peace? WorldPeace Peace Page:  http://www.JohnWorldPeace.com

Response:

PROPHECY AND THE CHRISTIAN BIBLE Many Christians have spent countless hours trying to decipher the many prophesies in their Bible. The Book of Daniel and the Book of Revelation are the focus of much discussion regarding the future of the world. Much emphasis is placed on the 100% accuracy of the Book of Daniel without paying attention to the historical scholars who point out that the book was written in 632 b.c.e. The reason that this date is known is that all the predictions regarding events prior to that year are 100% accurate and the predictions regarding events after that year are not.

Dear John, are you sure about that date? 632BCE? Is this a typo? I think it must be, because it seems to me that your date is off by only about 300 years! .                        the almost accurate one:  textman  ; .

Response:

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