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RE: A VERY Long Response

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Posted by Chris James on October 12, 2000 15:33:19 UTC

Oh my, where to start:

You said: Furthermore, people often fail to acknowledge all the times the bible has been wrong (the earth isn`t the center of the universe, and it isn`t flat).

My response: Where in the Bible does it say the earth is flat? Any serious Bible student will tell you that the Bible should be taken as it was intended; that is, historical accounts (as in Adam and Eve) should be taken literally. Jesus referred to Adam and Eve not as a "story or allegory" and, if we call ourselves Christians, we should also. Apocalyptic books (such as Revelation) should be taken metaphorically. Is this just Christians spinning what they want? No, Revelation specifically says in the beginning that it is a series of visions (and therefore not a specific prophecy such as one would find in Daniel, Ezekiel, etc).


You said:But take this Creationist example. Adam`s rib was removed to make Eve the first woman. If this is literally true, than it stands to reason that males should have one less rib than woman.

Response: if you go in for surgery, and have a rib removed, will your offspring also have one less rib? Really bad logic...nuff said.


You said: Here, God seemingly sends a direct message that women were created FOR the purpose of entertaining men, and women are to blame for original sin. A tad sexist? Is God openly advocating the subjugation of women? I don`t think most Christians would approve of the metaphor that is Genesis… Christian women in particular.

Response: God`s primary response to original sin is not pain in childbirth...it`s death. Adam and Eve were equal co-heirs to those consequences. Christians do not "blame Eve" for sin...if anything, Adam is spoken of as the one chiefly responsible for sin. Put another way, if Adam had turned to God, said "Hey, that woman you gave me is sinning" then things would have been quite different, no? But Adam sinned, and we all live under original sin as a direct result.


You said: "the bible does not make explicit predictions"

In response (and I don`t represent myself as the author of this...only passing it along) The Bible contains almost 500 specific prophecies concerning the birth, life, death, and resurrec­tion of Jesus Christ — some of which were made well over two thousand years prior to His birth.

For example, it was not only prophesied that Christ would be a descendant of Abraham, (Gen.12:1-3), but that He would be from the tribe of Judah (Gen. 49:10) and the house of David (Ps. 110:1); that He would be born in Bethlehem (Mic. 5:2), born of a virgin (Isa. 7:1 4), betrayed for thirty pieces of silver (Zech. 11:12f.), and also that His hands and feet would be pierced (Ps. 22:16). It is noteworthy that this last prediction was made long before crucifixion was invented as a form of capital punishment by the Persians and a thousand years before it was made common by the Romans.

It was also prophesied that Christ would be crucified with transgressors (Isa. 53:9, 12); that none of His bones would be broken (Ex. 12:46; Ps. 34:20); and that He would cry out from the cross, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” (Ps. 22:1). Moreover, Christ’s resurrection (Ps. 16:8-11), His ascension (Ps. 68:1 8), and hundreds of other details were predicted in minute detail. These prophecies do not deal with vague generalities (as is so often the case with modern-day “prophets” and psychics); they are specific and verifiable. Each was literally fulfilled down to the smallest detail in the person of Jesus Christ.

In addition to Messianic prophecies, the Bible contains nearly 2,000 prophecies concerning almost every nation within a thousand miles of Jerusalem. I strongly suggest researching and internalizing some of these prophecies for use in witnessing situations. As an illustration let me detail the prophecy about the city of Tyre in Ezekiel 26 and its fulfillment.

Tyre was no small, obscure village. It was a great Phoenician city and a world capital for over 2,000 years. It was to the sea what mighty Babylon was to the land. Yet, in the heyday of its power, the prophet Ezekiel had the audacity to predict for it a violent future and ultimate destruction. This downfall would be due to Tyre’s flagrant wickedness and arrogance, traits that were personified in its ruler, Ittobal II, who claimed to be God.

Ezekiel predicted that many nations would come up against Tyre (Ezek. 26:3); that Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar would be the first to attack it (v. 7); that Tyre’s walls and towers would be broken down (vv. 4,9); that the stones, timbers, and debris of that great city would be thrown into the sea (v. 12); that its location would become a bare rock and a place for the drying of fishermens’ nets (vv. 4-5,14); and finally, that the city of Tyre would never be rebuilt (v.14).

History bears eloquent testimony to the fact that all this is precisely what happened. Many nations did come up against Tyre — the Babylonians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Muslims, and the Crusaders, to name a few. And Nebuchadnezzar was indeed the first of these invaders, who — after a thirteen year siege — broke down the walls and towers of mainland Tyre, thus fulfilling the first of Ezekiel’s prophecies. Nebuchadnezzar massacred all of Tyre’s inhabitants except for those who escaped to an island fortress a half mile out in the Mediterranean Sea.

Centuries after Ezekiel’s body had decomposed in his grave, Alexander the Great fulfilled a major portion of the prophecy. In order to conquer the island fortress of Tyre (without the luxury of a navy), he and his celebrated architect Diades devised one of the most brilliant engineering feats of ancient warfare. They built a causeway from Tyre’s mainland to the island fortress, using the millions of cubic feet of rubble left over on mainland Tyre. Thus Tyre was scraped bare as a rock, just as Ezekiel predicted.

The most astonishing of Ezekiel’s predictions was that Tyre would never be rebuilt. This is singularly incredible because Tyre is strategically located on the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea. It also contains the Springs of Reselain, which pump ten million gallons of fresh water daily — enough to take care of the needs of a modern city. Yet, history records that after a succession of invasions, Tyre finally and irrevocably fell in A.D. 1291 — never to be rebuilt again. Today Tyre has been humbled to the point of becoming a place for the drying of fishermens’ nets — just as Ezekiel prophesied two-and-one-half millennia ago.

This prophecy of Tyre is but one among many examples of meticulously detailed and fulfilled prophecies, any one of which is sufficient to demonstrate the truth and accuracy of Scripture. “I have spoken,” says the Lord of Hosts. The Scripture cannot be broken (John 10:35).

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