bjs1 wrote: ↑Tue Mar 01, 2022 8:49 pmIn a weird way, sort of. Jesus said that there would be "wars and rumors of wars." And he was right.
Apologies in advance, but the sarcasm-ometer might red-line...
Was Jesus somehow unique at that time and in that place, in predicting wars and rumours? It seems from a quick glance over at
Wikipedia's entry that such things existed, and there's an entire Old Testament that (for want of a less redundant word) testifies to many wars in the past, plus devotes multiple chapters to so-called 'prophets' that say the same thing.
Could Jesus possibly be
more vague? From reading the Bible, you get the impression that people of the time paid a great deal of attention to such things as the number of troops in warring armies, which tribes' cities were put under siege and how many of their inhabitants were killed as a result. War is a 'big enough deal' that most people in Jesus' time would be very familiar with it, and they probably would have a fair knowledge of current inter-tribal threat levels.
Telling them that there'll be rumours of war in the future is like taking them into a bar and saying that people will be drinking there later that evening. Sheesh, Jesus - tell us something we don't know. Give us dates and number of iron chariots, man!
Jesus being 'right' that there
were in fact wars and rumours after he died, as my previous two points show, shouldn't be held as an impressive feat by anyone other than the kind of child who's astonished playing 'peekaboo'. He doesn't even bother to invent the kind of seemingly specific detail that can nevertheless be interpreted in different ways and makes for a basic minimum prophecy. "When those under the Red Sun blow three trumpets, there will be strife in both valleys and five thousand will weep." That's the kind of thing you need - not just "war".
We are experiencing those wars and rumors of wars.
<bolding mine>
Just how likely is it that the invasion of Ukraine is the "
those" you're referring to? Why was not one of
these ten battles what Jesus had in mind? Why not the Crusades? Take your pick from
another Wikipedia list and offer some reasons why Jesus might skip over
all of these, two World Wars, two Gulf Wars and go straight to Ukraine in 2022?
However, where Robison saw this as a sign of the end of the age, Jesus said said that these things would continue to happen and that they are not a sign of the end.
<bolding mine>
Well, he got that right. Folks love 'em some fighting', I guess. Plenty of them seem to get worked up enough to do their fighting 'in his name', too. Perhaps Jesus should have said, "Sorry folks, but I foresee war between people becoming worse, not better. And if you ever catch yourself thinking that the group of people over there who don't believe in my father the same way you do should be killed... well, you've just not been paying attention to what I've been saying."
Jesus missed a golden chance to remove a major reason for war and blew it. If you want to claim he predicted Putin's invasion, he should shoulder some of the blame for it too.
(unfortunately there's no Grimm Reaper smilie available) Russia is being used by god to fulfill prophecy (who god can't do its own dirty work is another raging question, but it's not the first time we hear this from biblical 'know-it-alls' like patty).
