Posted by dave w on January 10, 2001 at 20:58:02:
In Reply to: Re: you are wrong posted by Elana Janson on January 10, 2001 at 03:33:50:
Well if we are allowed to 'explain' a prophets predictions that turned out wrong the world is full of prophets with a 100% accuracy. If I stand up in a crowded room and say that some of the people there will win a lottery before they leave the room and they all get up and leave the room without having won a lottery I was WRONG. There is nothing ambiguous about the passages I quoted. The only people that need to explain them are people who asssume apriori that the prophesies are somehow true despite all appearances to the contrary. Anyone who reads them with an open mind and a willingness to use their God given ability to think logically has to conclude that the authors of the new testament thought they were living in the end times. They were apparently wrong.
Of course this doesn't mean everything they say is wrong. The bible is full of wisdom (ie: the golden rule - if everyone just lived by this rule how different the world would be). It is also full of contradictions (read Acts 9:7 where the men with Paul on the road to Damascus "heard the voice but could see no one." Then read Acts 22:9 "My companions saw the light but did not hear the voice.") and portrayals of God that must make him shudder ie: that he is going to pour out bowls of plagues and horsemen of death etc.
While there is much to worry us in the modern age you as a historian must know that we (at least us in the western world) are living in a golden age. The average middle class person has a lifestyle that 99% of the people of the past would consider miraculous. You feel cold - go turn up the heat, feel hungry - go to the fridge, hurt yourself - call 911 and highly trained people with a million dollars worth of equipment will rush to your house and do everything they can to make you feel better (sometimes even bringing you back to life if you just died from a heart attack).
And yes it is true we may be poised on the eve of destruction we also face the possibility of a future where we have conquered disease and poverty. A future where all humans live a life of freedom and dignity. The choice is ours. A lot of things could stop us from achieving such a future. One of them would be enough people believing the veracity of Revelation that it becomes a self fulfilling prophesy.
I'm sure you sincerely believe you have seen the future in Revelation but if you look hard enough you can see the future in the Egyptian Book of the Dead or the writings of the Hindus or the bottom of a cup of tea. I have no illusions that you will find my arguments convincing but if I can keep just one reader of this Forum from slipping back to the Dark Ages of superstition my efforts will have not been wasted. And if you're right and I'm wrong please say a small prayer on my behalf.