Subject:
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Re: The god debate again... sigh (Re: Will Libertopia cause the needy to get less?
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Wed, 29 Nov 2000 21:59:11 GMT
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Viewed:
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1027 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Jon Kozan writes:
> > I appreciate your taking the time to respond, but I hope you can recognize
> > that someone not already convinced of a prophesy's predictive value would
> > not be convinced by these two (or, as far as I'm aware) any examples in
> > modern times.
> It's very easy to look back on something and say that it was easy to predict.
> Hindsight is always 20-20 eh? You asked for 2 prophecies that the Bible has
> made and I've given you them... Ok, so you don't like them, that doesn't make
> them not true.
Agreed--they're not made false by my dislike, but neither are they made
true by your assertion of them. In order for any prophesy to be given any
value, it must have some specificity, otherwise you can simply say "well, it
didn't happen yet, but it will--just wait." Hindsight in identifying vague
assertions as prophesy is also 20/20.
Furthermore, if Israel is (hypothetically) once again forced from its
homeland, will that invalidate the alleged prophecy? Or is it sufficient
for Israel to tag home base? Or would this just be another example of "wait
a little longer, they'll return again for sure?"
Again, thanks for putting forth these two prophecies; I should have
specified that I wanted two specific, verifiable examples, but you duly
answered the request I made.
> But the thing you ignore with the Bible is that it's not one or 2, it's
> hundreds of prophecies. The odds of them all coming true are truly
> frightening.
Frighteningly small? Or simply frightening in their implication?
> Perhaps to individualize the point is that *you* may want to re-consider your
> own beliefs as more prophecies come true -- or you could just continue being
> ignorant of Biblical prophecies.
We'll see. I predict instead that any prophecies "identified" as such
will be equally nebulous and equally low on predictive value.
> Ignorance is easy.
So is credulousness.
> But many a skeptical but honest searcher has found the claims of the Bible to
> be far more than just a nice story (as Lar put it).
It's far more than a nice story, just as The Tempest and The Faerie Queene
are more than nice stories (to use contemporary examples). It's also
replete with well-known inconsistencies and allusive, figurative language
allowing the document to be interpreted in almost any way the reader desires
(within reason). That, I submit, is a good chunk of what makes it, like
many old works, enduring; the ability to be dissected and applied to
subsequent generations of readers, each of which derives personally relevant
meaning from it.
Moreover, using the same logic as "those who haven't found Him haven't
looked in the right place," one could assert that the honest, skeptical
researcher wasn't really honestly (to himself) skeptical in the first place.
Dave!
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