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(June 5, 2014 at 6:19 pm)JimmyNeutron Wrote: I have something I wish to discuss with an atheist or atheists. If any of them would take the time to hear me on this thread I would be very grateful. I have some information that I consider hardcore evidence, not proof though, of the validity of the Bible. I'm not trying to evangelize anyone here, I just would like to share some facts that I have accumulated from several sources.
I ask that you remain open minded and logical, and that you do not stray off topic. Also, don't assume that you have heard all this before, because odds are good that you haven't. People don't usually defend their views religion in the way I am about to. I'm not going to ask you to take my word for any of this. I will provide verification of my facts. Here goes:
POINT 1#: The Bible contains various prophecies. If a sufficient number of these prophecies is true, than it is very likely that these prophecies are what they claim to be. Some kind of supernatural or divine revelation. Either that or they are a highly unlikely and EXTREMELY lucky guess. Can we agree on this first point?
First - There is NO WAY to determine if the so called Prophecies were written before - or after the event they portend in most cases
Second - Xtians like to ignore the prophecies of the messiah in the Old Testament - claiming they are covered by a NEW COVENANT - rather than admit they are failed prophecies
Third - How will you compare the percentage of so called "true" prophecies to simply "chance".
What do you consider a prophecy - example - is the nonsense of genesis considered a prophecy or simply a bunch of Fairy tales?
(June 5, 2014 at 7:54 pm)JimmyNeutron Wrote: This one is kinda complicated, so here goes:
The Book of Revelation was written around the year 95 A.D. You can read up on that HERE.
In Revelation 17 an angel is explaining the vision of John. He speaks about seven hills, saying "They are seven Kings; five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; and when he comes, he must remain a little while." This verse is translated various ways, all to the effect that the 7th king must reign for a short time.
So he's saying that there are seven kings that all have something in common, that make them all part of this set of seven. It then says that the beast is the eighth and is of the seven. So the antichrist shares this same commonality with the seven kings. It is widely accepted that the antichrist is likely to be descended from the Romans, specifically the Holy Roman Empire. Here is a big reason why:
There have been exactly seven emperors of the Holy Roman Empire with the name "Charles" and you can read a complete list HERE. You will notice that the 7th Charles reigned for only about 3 years. The logical next step in following this lead is to look for an eighth ruler of the HRE named Charles. Sure enough, there is an heir to the throne of the United Kingdom (which is descended, of course, from the HRE) who is named Charles. The current Prince of Wales. He is set to become King of Great Britain after the current monarch.
Now, let's take a look at more of the prophecy that focuses on the identity of the antichrist. Revelation 13 contains one of the most famous passages in the Bible: "Here is the wisdom: let him who has understanding calculate the number of beast, for it is the number of a man. His number is 666." Virtually everyone knows of this piece of scripture. Many people have tried to calculate the number of the beast using various number systems. For example, increments of 6. A = 6, B = 12, etc.
There is only one system that actually makes sense here, the system of hebrew gematria. This is the system with which John would have been familiar. In hebrew, there are no numerical digits. Instead they use hebrew letters as numbers. Aleph, the first letter, is 1. Bet, the second, is 2, and so on. Once you reach the 10th letter, you start counting by tens. The 11th letter is 20, the 12th letter is 30, etc. When you reach 100, you count by hundreds. There are 22 letters in the hebrew alephbet. This means that the highest number is 400. This chart shows it all (hebrew is written right to left):
We can apply this same system to english letters as well. Note that we must stop at 400 or else we wouldn't be using the hebrew system, thus the last for letters of the english alphabet must be mapped to 0:
A = 1
B = 2
C = 3
D = 4
E = 5
F = 6
G = 7
H = 8
I = 9
J = 10
K = 20
L = 30
M = 40
N = 50
O = 60
P = 70
Q = 80
R = 90
S = 100
T = 200
U = 300
V = 400
W = 0
X = 0
Y = 0
Z = 0
The official title of the man in question is "Charles, Prince of Wales" or as some call him "Prince Charles of Wales." Either way, the following still applies:
C = 3
H = 8
A = 1
R = 90
L = 30
E = 5
S = 100
P = 70
R = 90
I = 9
N = 50
C = 3
E = 5
O = 60
F = 6
W = 0
A = 1
L = 30
E = 5
S = 100
Add them together yourself if you like. Your result will be 666. This could be dismissed as a coincidence. But that explanation becomes less likely when you consider the following:
The name of the man in question in hebrew letters adds up to 666 as well. These two languages are important for this reason. If the Prince of Wales is the man spoken of in Revelation, then his name should add up to 666 in his native language (english in this case), as this is his given name. It should also add up in hebrew, as this is the language of the people to whom God was giving this prophecy. I won't go into it here, but the name also adds up to 666 in Greek, which was the trade language of John's day.
So, his name matches the other 7 kings (Charles)
His name adds up to 666 in English, Hebrew and Greek
The name "Charles" means "Manly" ("It is the number of a MAN")
What are your thoughts thus far? I am completely open for alternative explanation.
If the Bible is supposed to be the inerrant inspired word of a god - then ALL of the prophecies in the bible - should be specific and true - or the bible is NOT what is claimed.
However - when you say - there is ONLY ONE system that actually makes sense here - YOU have not established that to be true - is that only one system makes it look true while others do the opposite?
The onus is on you to provide the proof that this is the only system that makes sense - and YOU have not done that
(June 5, 2014 at 8:13 pm)JimmyNeutron Wrote: Not the same thing. This is not about finding the meaning in the numbers of certain words and names, simply finding the numbers themselves. Not going into the fact the number means anything in particular other than that it was predicted.
Sorry - but YOU are using a single prophecy as a basis for your claim
The first thing you need to do is identify ALL the prophecies in the bible - and list them - as well as the number you claim are TRUE.
A single prophecy can simply be chance and is of no use in your quest
(June 5, 2014 at 8:23 pm)JimmyNeutron Wrote: Anyone care to provide a logical counterpoint, or are you just going to try hard to be clever and use curse words in place of reason?
Reason says that using a single example from the bible - means nothing.
Do you have another 100 that meet the same criteria?
I can probably find ONE prophecy in every Religious Tome that actually came true - and you will argue that this is not a sufficient sample - to use against that. So why should I consider a hand picked "prediction" from the bible - as representative of ALL the prophecies.
And needing to use another "questionable" study - like numerology or astrology or voodoo- fails to help your cause because the methods themselves have NOT been established to be better than chance at prediction .
I have a suggestion - WHY not use the bible itself to prove the bible
In the Bible - there is a method to determine if a god is real - in the Old Testament - It is simple and direct
The god must light the fire under an animal prepared for cooking upon request
If the fire doesn't light - the god is false.
I have never had a god start the fire - no matter what type of meat!
Jesus never did the fire trick so he must not have been God.
That Elijah was a crafty old dude. He soaked the meat and the altar in oil when he doused it with the water. The Baal priests were foolish by not making him observe the same procedures that they had used.