Prophecy Center
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How do Atheists refute the claim that all bible prophecy has come true when the date arrives?

I'm not a Christian by the way, and I don't want snide remarks either, a detailed refutation please, and links if you've got them.

Public Comments

1. And that date is... USELESS TROLL FAIL.

2. They believe that if you look at the facts they haven't.

3. Ever notice that "prophecies," be it bible, Nostradamus, or other sources, are often vague enough to be applied to multiple events? And give it far long enough something that it could fit it is bound to turn up at some point. Or several some points. Doesn't mean it was truly prophesied though.

4. Like what?
Since no biblical Prophecies have come true.

5. Like what, specifically?

"What can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence."

6. Virtually any prediction a person can make will come true given enough time. I can tell you the Earth will be hit by a large meteor. When it eventually happens, will that make me some sort of prophet or fortune teller? No, it will just mean statistics finally caught up with my prediction.

7. It would help your argument if you named some examples. In general, prophecies are worded with vague language that can "come true" by many possible events occurring. Either the prediction is vague and the date is specific, or the prediction is detailed and a date isn't specified, and if both are vague then the prediction is even less credible. If prophecies really came true, then don't you think people would prevent the undesirable predictions from occurring? Prophecies have a way of being justified or explained to fit an event after the event occurs, rather than before it occurs. If every single prediction came true as you claim, don't you think people would be citing these examples all the time? Yet no one ever does.

Edit in response to MDW: "They then claim that the statue is a prophecy about the kingdoms that would rise and fall in the coming centuries." Indeed empires have always risen and fallen. It stands to reason, even as far back as 164-167BCE that any historical scholar of that day could have predicted the same thing. Now a days there is better quality education, so everyone and his cousin aware of history can predict with confidence that todays empires will also someday fall. Now if the prediction is of a specific date that a particular empire will fall, that would be a lot more impressive, especially if the empire showed no signs of collapsing at the time of the prediction. For example, anyone can predict the United States Empire will collapse, and it would eventually come true. The key is to predict when it will collapse. Will the U.S empire collapse 500 years from now? 1000 years from now? Another prediction can be what will cause the empire to collapse. Say predicting a nuclear explosion, without using vague language like "fire in the sky" or "entire cities will be destroyed", to be taken seriously it would need to be very specific like "nuclear bombs will destroy major cities of the United States" or "an Empire will be destroyed on May 11th 2010". Even more impressive would be to combine those quotes and for them to come true. The more specific the better.

8. Did you watch that Twaddle on History Channel last night too? The Seven signs of the Apocalypse. It was total rubbish, wasn't it ... not one scrap of evidence to support their claims. Any anecdotal evidence was taken out of context - it's like the Earth has never suffered any catastrophes in it's 4.5 billion years existence; It was a pretty bad day on Earth when Thea hit it!

Once again, it is up to Theists to prove that Bible prophecy (I assume you mean Revelation) has any grounding ... and so far offered evidence couldn't hold water. These ramblings were written nearly 2,000 years ago - perhaps we should turn to Nostradamus's quatrains as a more effective way of prophesying our future ... and we all know how solid they are!

9. Because none did.
Boy that was easy. Thanks I feel a whole lot better.

10. [citation needed]

11. What bible prophecy?

Example: Daniel - Conservative Christianity dates this book to be written sometime during the exile exile. They then claim that the statue is a prophecy about the kingdoms that would rise and fall in the coming centuries. Modern scholarship dates Daniel (at least Daniel 7-12 to between 164 - 167 BCE. This was a time when Jews were suffering intense persecution at the hands of the Seleucid King of Syria, Antiochus Epiphanes, Antiochus IV. The "prophecy" occurs here to validate the authors claim about the main character. The book of Daniel is commonly refered to as apocalyptic, "the vision of a son of man coming on a cloud." Apocalyptic literature is common to the first and second century BCE and had a large influence on the biblical writers. Thus, the Book of Daniel is a response to specific historical circumstances. It's a response to the crisis of persecution and martyrdom that was going on in the second century BCE.

12. A. What prophecy

B. What Date

C. Are those self fulfilling?

13. Prophecy what prophecy christians don't even know what they even are cause they can never name them.

14. They can say, "I told you so." I am a liberal Christian, but the Bible says that no one will know the time nor the day when the end comes. An amazing number of religious leaders say so and so is going to happen and that the signs are there. Do they mean a phrase like "There will be ... and rumors of wars?" Or "There will be earthquakes?" Or there will be,"... famine, and ... "

O, my! Like that never happened in the past? That is something new? Not.

15. One of the most common prophecies that Bible believers use in trying to prove the Bible true is Ezekiel's prophecy about the total destruction of Tyre.

Usually Bible believers will refer to Josh McDowell's Evidence that Demands a Verdict to support that argument. However, McDowell grossly misrepresented the facts. In fact, Ezekiel's prophecy about Tyre is a false prophecy, for Tyre is a living city today and it is in the same place it was in ancient times.

The actual city of Tyre was on the island off shore. McDowell lied about Tyre being the city on the mainland because the actual city of Tyre still exists and he wanted to make it appear that the prophecy came true. The city on the mainland was essentially a support settlement for the island city and was called Ushu in ancient times. The island city was called Sur, which means "rock" in Phoenician and referred to the geologic nature of the island; it was called Tsor in Hebrew and that is the word used in the original Hebrew of Ezekiel. In saying that Tyre would be made bare as a rock, he was making a play on the name of the island.

The island city of Tyre had two excellent natural harbors. That is why it gained the prominence it did. The mainland city, on the other hand, does not appear to have had a harbor of any significance.

In his prophecy, Ezekiel said that Nebuchadrezzar would totally destroy Tyre and it would never be rebuilt. Also, Ezekiel was one of those in the Babylonian Captivity when he made his prophecy, and he knew full well of Nebuchadrezzar's plans to attack Tyre. The fact is that Ezekiel prophesied against Tyre because its inhabitants had spoken ill of Jerusalem following its recent destruction as recounted in Ezekiel 26:2-3. The prophecy was therefore against the Tyrians of his own time, not those of several hundred years in the future. That is in contrast to the usual claims that the prophecy was fulfilled by Alexander the Great and Antigonus hundreds of years later.

McDowell also said that the prophesy was made three years before the fact. That is false. McDowell said that in order to make it appear that Ezekiel was making a revelatory prophecy. The prophecy was made in the eleventh year of the Captivity, which was 586 BC, and being one of those in the Babylonian Captivity, Ezekiel would have known full well that Nebuchadrezzar was preparing to attack Tyre. Nebuchadrezzar began his siege of Tyre in 586/5 BC, but, though the siege lasted for 13 years, it was a failure; Nebuchadrezzar did not breach its walls. However, both sides became weary after all those years and an agreement was made that Tyre would become a vassal of Babylon.

Despite its visitudes over time, and in stark refutation of Ezekiel's prophecy, the city of Tyre still stands today on what was the original island, which is now connected to the mainland by the causeway that Alexander the Great built.

See Tyre Through the Ages, by Nina Jidejian, and The History of Tyre by H. Jacob Katzenstein.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyre,_Lebanon

By the way, Ezekiel also prophesied that Nebuchadrezzar would attack Egypt and that Egypt would be uninhabited for 40 years. That was also a false prophecy.

16. I never heard that
what date are you talking about