Are we living in the last days?

[otseng]

From speaking with my brothers and sister, far from undermining our faith and causing confusion, the impact of coronavirus only serves to strengthen our conviction we are living in the last days and our resolve to preach the good news of the kingdom before the Lord tells us the work is complete.

For debate:
Are we living in the last days?

[William]

[Replying to post 46 by Tcg]
2 problems with this post.

1. There is a difference as what you're arguing and what I will be doing, if you will actually read my post. I will be posting the dates AFTER they happen and not before. That is assuming I have internet or this site still exist when those things happen. So your post is a strawman.

2. The dates you're pointing to where man's attempts at prophecy. The dates were not gleaned from the Bible. What I'm posting are the Bible's prophecy. Again if you will read my post, I have given no dates. Only that they will happen not because I said so but because the Bible says so. If you don't believe the Bible is accurate so be it and we if this site is still available to me and I am still alive I will come back to this very post and prove not my words but the Bible's words.

William: And if these things do not happen, will you be able and willing to explain to us why you got it wrong?

Than the Bible is wrong if these things don't happen before humans kill themselves off. Now the question back is what if they do happen? Will you be able and willing to explain why you got it wrong? BTW you will not be explaining it to me.

William: Okay - so then you will finally say "The Bible was wrong" and move on from your present position. We shall see.

As for me, I am not claiming the bible is right or wrong and nor am I making claims about what the future will bring for humanity, so no...I will not be having to eat humble pie for wrongful predictions nor will I be having to explain to you or anyone else why I believed in things that turned out to be untrue, because I am not making any claims about future events which involve belief in interpretations of religious script

[Mithrae]

Jesus’ only indisputable teaching about the end of the age is that “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.�

The end could be near (as we measure time; all times are soon to God), but there is nothing that makes me think that the end is more likely to come now than 20 years ago, or 100 years ago, or 1,000 years ago.

Than the Bible is wrong if these things don't happen before humans kill themselves off.

In other words you guys will assume that the bible is right as long as the human race exists You will literally never acknowledge that it is wrong, because the only scenario in which you would hypothetically do so is one in which there's no-one left to know it.

What if some unprecedented catastrophe wipes out two thirds of global population... but in subsequent decades all we see are the remaining societies adapting and gradually recovering? Wouldn't the absence of divine foretelling of such an event imply that there was no divine foreknowledge?

What about if the Jewish people and religion ceased to identifiably exist, rendering all the predictions centered around them impossible?

What if substantial permanent colony/s on other planet/s made 'the end of the world' something relevant to only part of humanity?

What if events line up very closely with biblical prophecy - moreso than at any time in the past two millennia - but it eventually turns out to be yet another false alarm, with no reasonable prospect of such coincidental similarities ever occurring again?

[Zzyzx]

.
Last days of WHAT? Empires rise and empires fall, then others rise and eventually fall. So what?

Greed and lust for wealth, power, special status provide ideal mechanisms for societal destruction. No god tales required.

Apocalypse believers have been predicting “The End� for thousands of years. Some may anxiously await being 'Raptured' (perhaps anticipating some sort of personal benefit and perhaps gloating over the imagined fate of those who do not share their religious beliefs).

Mankind now seems to possess the ability to self-destruct with atomic weapons pointed at itself and with rampant environmental destruction. If / when humans do go extinct other species will benefit.

[brunumb]

[Replying to post 52 by Mithrae]

In other words you guys will assume that the bible is right as long as the human race exists Eh? You will literally never acknowledge that it is wrong, because the only scenario in which you would hypothetically do so is one in which there's no-one left to know it.

Some will simply rationalise it away and go on regardless. There is an excellent book about this very subject.
When Prophecy Fails: A Social and Psychological Study of a Modern Group That Predicted the Destruction of the World by Leon Festinger, Henry Riecken, and Stanley Schachter
An article about the book can be found in Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_Prophecy_Fails

[Tcg]

[Replying to post 46 by Tcg]
2 problems with this post.

1. There is a difference as what you're arguing and what I will be doing, if you will actually read my post. I will be posting the dates AFTER they happen and not before. That is assuming I have internet or this site still exist when those things happen. So your post is a strawman.

As you will notice if you read my post, I didn't credit you with the dates I provided. Those dates were the creation of the Bible teacher, Charles Taze Russell. What they indicate is that you are not the first to make claims about the last days. They also reveal the fact that Russel was 100% wrong.

Of course he is not alone, but rather an example of the many that have claimed to have inside knowledge about the last days from the Bible and were of course wrong on every count.

2. The dates you're pointing to where man's attempts at prophecy. The dates were not gleaned from the Bible. What I'm posting are the Bible's prophecy. Again if you will read my post, I have given no dates.

What you are posting is vague claims of future events. You are wise to not give dates. When the things you are claiming don't happen, you can simply claim that they will happen sometime in the future.

Perhaps you'd be willing to give us some idea of how long we should follow this thread to see if prophecy unfolds as you claim it will. Should we watch it for days? Weeks? Months? Years? Centuries? Millenia?

If you don't believe the Bible is accurate so be it and we if this site is still available to me and I am still alive I will come back to this very post and prove not my words but the Bible's words.

Rest assured, I'll be watching. Of course I doubt I can devote centuries to that effort. Some sort of time frame would be helpful.


Tcg

[JehovahsWitness]

What about if the Jewish people and religion ceased to identifiably exist, rendering all the predictions centered around them impossible?

The existence of the political state of Israel and the Jewish people is utterly irrelevant to future biblical prophecy. They ceased to be relevant as a people when they rejected the Messiah. If the State of Israel was wiped out tomorrow biblically nothing whatsoever would change.


JW

[William]

What about if the Jewish people and religion ceased to identifiably exist, rendering all the predictions centered around them impossible?

The existence of the political state of Israel and the Jewish people is utterly irrelevant to future biblical prophecy. They ceased to be relevant as a people when they rejected the Messiah. If the State of Israel was wiped out tomorrow biblically nothing whatsoever would change.


JW

William: What is relevant to "future biblical prophecy"?

[JehovahsWitness]

What about if the Jewish people and religion ceased to identifiably exist, rendering all the predictions centered around them impossible?

The existence of the political state of Israel and the Jewish people is utterly irrelevant to future biblical prophecy. They ceased to be relevant as a people when they rejected the Messiah. If the State of Israel was wiped out tomorrow biblically nothing whatsoever would change.


JW

William: What is relevant to "future biblical prophecy"?

They don't figure in any of the prophecies, none of the prophecies to be fulfilled after the first century concern them.



JW

[Charles]

"Demand money with the threat of violence and you’ll get arrested. Do it with the threat of eternal damnation and it’s tax deductible"

The warning of eternal damnation is just that, a warning and not a threat by any extent ideology of jurisprudence

[Zzyzx]

.

"Demand money with the threat of violence and you’ll get arrested. Do it with the threat of eternal damnation and it’s tax deductible"

The warning of eternal damnation is just that, a warning and not a threat by any extent ideology of jurisprudence

Charles, a person's signature is NOT a matter of debate or dispute. The debate topic is 'last days' -- not defense of preachers or potentates.