we don't send ourselves to hell

[John V]

First off, the messianic prophecies aren’t that specific, not even Isaiah 53.

Why do you even accept them as prophecies at all, if God can't know what men will do?

If they had been definitive then the very scripturally literate apostles would have recognized the danger to Jesus long before it happened.

One can reject a clear teaching. Jesus plainly told the disciples that he would die in Jerusalem, and they rejected it.

Second, a person can know a general outcome going into a situation without knowing the specifics.

That's not the case here. The specific timing of Peter's denial was given.

If Jesus hadn’t been crucified, he’d a-been hung or beheaded. If Pilate hadn’t sentenced Jesus, someone else would have.

So your position is that God can't predict the actions of any single man, but he can know what a group will do? How does that work?

If one searched hard enough someone could probably find a prophecy for each of those eventualities.

When you do that let us know.

In my opinion, the root of the problem is that people look back into the words of the prophets for historical references when they should be trying to understand the timeless symbolic significance. The words of the prophets speak to our current situations and the human condition in general.

In my opinion, you're denying the clear teaching of Scripture in order to resolve free will issues.

Peter's denial wasn't certain when Jesus predicted it? Are you seriously saying that?

Yes. But remember as you near a decision point the scope of potential choices gets reduced.

Enough said. I worship a different god than you do. To me, if Jesus said it was going to happen, it was going to happen. It wasn't merely a matter of probabilities.

Again, someone can know what will happen even if they do not know how. Almost certainly, my wife and I will eat dinner tonight. What we actually eat remains to be decided.

Again, some predictions, such as the timing of Peter's denial, or the selection of the house for the passover, do indeed go to the level of what will be eaten.