Jack the Bodiless

Half-Life:

Why are you so incapable of actually READING the responses you're getting?

And why do you keep citing FAILED prophecies as evidence for the existence of God?

...And why are you so ignorant of both the ancient AND the modern history of your "holy land"?
So, the Zionists never actually fought for an independent Israel? Try telling that to the families of British citizens murdered by Zionist terrorists prior to independence.
...Or because God didn't actually perform any miracles or fulfil any prophecies.

Have you even considered this as a possibility?

If not: why not?
Why are you still asking us to "try again to debunk this one" when it has already been debunked?

Why are you asking us for the explanation when it has already been given several times over?

Why are you not READING and COMPREHENDING any of this, Halfw... er, Life?
WRONG.

Israel was TAKEN, by the ROMANS. And when the Jews revolted against Roman rule, Israel was DESTROYED (again).

CONTEXT, man. CONTEXT.

And, just to add even more ludicrous mangling of the Bible:
This is quite possibly the most spectacular and irrefutable prophecy FAILURE in the entire Bible!

That source conveniently fails to mention that, according to Ezekiel, Egypt was to be conquered and laid waste by NEBUCHADREZZAR KING OF BABYLON (specifically NAMED by Ezekiel). This never happened! Nebby's attempt to invade Egypt was a complete failure!

And Egypt did indeed rule over other nations after this prophecy failed.

Half-Life

What nations did Egypt rule over?

WVIncagold

Oh no you need to answer me first about the Muslim temple on the temple mount. Were not going on another Nebby hunt. Why is the temple mount now have a Muslim Masque? And when do you expect the Hebrews to start killing animals on its alter?

Keith&Co.

The problem with the very nature of most prophecies is the lack of a best-by date.

No one says that 1918 years after the false-messiah's death, the Isrealites will return to Israel. Instead, it's left up to the reader to determine the truth of the prophecy after the fact.
The Books is full of prophecies that have been claimed to be 'fulfilled' time after time after disappointing time. Are they? Can't be sure.

My neighbor down the street is Jewish. He's in Massachusetts, not Israel. So, can the prophecy really be considered fulfilled? Then again, he's not Orthodox. Does that count for/against the prophecy?

Half-Life

But that's not true. There are prophecies in the book of Revelation that aren't fulfilled yet, but we know what they say.

We are just waiting for them to be fulfilled.

No different than knowing what the prophecies said in OT days and then them waiting for them to be fulfilled.

Johnny Skeptic

Not at all. Did God force the Devil and all of the demons to accept him? According to you, they do not believe that God exists, they know that he exists.

Consider the following Scriptures:

John 2:23

“Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did.”

John 3:2

“The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.”

John 10:37-38

“If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him.”

John 11:43-48

"And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go. Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him. But some of them went their ways to the Pharisees, and told them what things Jesus had done. Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? for this man doeth many miracles. If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation."

John 20:30-31

“And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples which are not written in this book. But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name. ”

Did any of that tangible, firsthand evidence force anyone to become a follower of Jesus who was not convinced by his words alone? Did any of that tangible, firsthand evidence unfairly interfere with anyone's free will?

It is up to you to reasonably explain why Jesus criticized Thomas for requiring tangible, firsthand evidence that he had risen from the dead, but willingly provided tangible firsthand evidence to many people who were not convinced by his words alone.

If Jesus had accurately predicted what the names of the Roman emperors would be for the next 200 years, and their dates of birth and death, surely more people would have become Christians. That is a reasonable assumption since historically, many people have accepted all kinds of outlandish religions based upon much less convincing evidence than that. In addition, Nostradamus and Edgar Cayce attracted a lot of followers based upon a lot less convincing evidence than that.

Craigart14

Not only that, the ten (out of twelve) lost tribes of Israel are still lost, perhaps because it was common in the ancient world for conquerors to scatter the conquered. Prevents conspiracies, I guess. If Finkelstein and Silberman are right, the OT was written after the Assyrians conquered Israel. The two remaining tribes, living in the southern kingdom of Judah, probably needed to hear that the nation would be restored.

Craig

Half-Life

But see you're proving MY point. What would it prove if God did this and proved Himself to everyone?

Everyone would KNOW he exists, but they would still have a choice to follow or not.

Hence, not everyone would be Christian. So, what would God be proving to anyone by showing himself?

"OK, Hi, I'm here. It's God!"

Now what?

Toto

If they knew that he existed, they could make an informed choice. Now the choice is based on less than perfect information.

Amaleq13

The only point you've made is that you are apparently incapable of supporting your assertion with a rational argument and evidence. That the prophecies are not vague is only helpful to those establishing that they have not actually been fulfilled.

If they were more vague, your opponents would have a more difficult time.