Bible Question:
The rest of it: (sorry i did this in reverse order, i am a newbie :-) From Jeremiah: God lies to Zedekiah again by telling him that he will die in peace and be buried with his fathers. But later (2 Kg.25:7 and Jer.52:10-11) he dies a violent death in a foreign land. 34:5 All those who move to Egypt will die by the sword, famine, or pestilence. None "shall escape from the evil" that comes directly from God. But many, including Jews, have moved to Egypt and most seem to have escaped from God's promised evil. 42:15-18, 22 God prophesies that Babylon will never again be inhabited. But it has been inhabited constantly since the prophecy was supposedly made, and is inhabited still today. 50:39 God says that Babylon will be desolate and uninhabited forever. He says that only dragons will live there. But Babylon has been dragon-free and continuously inhabited since then. 51:26, 29, 37, 43, 62, 64 God promised Zedekiah (Jer.34:5) that he would die peacefully and be buried with his fathers. But here we see that he died a miserable death in foreign land. 52:10-11 From Micah: "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting." The gospel of Matthew (2:5-6) claims that Jesus' birth in Bethlehem fulfils this prophecy. But this is unlikely for two reasons. "Bethlehem Ephratah" in Micah 5:2 refers not to a town, but to a clan: the clan of Bethlehem, who was the son of Caleb's second wife, Ephrathah (1 Chr.2:18, 2:50-52, 4:4). The prophecy (if that is what it is) does not refer to the Messiah, but rather to a military leader, as can be seen from verse 5:6. This leader is supposed to defeat the Assyrians, which, of course, Jesus never did. It should also be noted that Matthew altered the text of Micah 5:2 by saying: "And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda" rather than "Bethlehem Ephratah" as is said in Micah 5:2. He did this, intentionally no doubt, to make the verse appear to refer to the town of Bethlehem rather than the family clan.5:2 Moving onto the New Testament: From Matthew: Jesus mistakenly tells his followers that he will return and establish his kingdom within their lifetime. 16:28 Jesus predicts the end of the world within the lifetime of his listeners. 23:36 From Hebrews: In Genesis (13:15, 15:18, 17: and Exodus (32:13) God promises Abraham and his descendants "the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession." But here Paul admits that God's promise went unfulfilled. 11:9-13 From Peter: Peter wrongly believed that he was living in the "last times." 1:5, 7, 20, 5:4 Peter mistakenly believes that "the end of all things is at hand." 4:7 From 1 John: John thinks he is living in "the last times." He "knows" this because he sees so many antichrists around. 2:18, 4:3 John warns his followers to get ready because Jesus is coming soon. 2:28 John expects to live to see Jesus return. 3:2 |
Bible Answer: Crossland - Even though your battery of questions is quite long, I'd nursed the notion to take a segment of them at a time and attempt to render a biblical answer. Having read through your list, however, I've changed my mind and here's why. A pure question that seeks information is a forthright question, one not encumbered by interpretation, presumption, bias, commentary, or presupposition. All of your questions contain one of more of these elements; thus, to respond, one would be burdened with the task not only of attempting to answer the question itself but of trying to overcome the hurdles imposed by so many assumptions that appear within the questions. The ambient assumptions in which the questions are encased does lead one, I must say candidly, to impugn the motives for asking such "loaded" questions on a Forum such as this. Please don't misunderstand me. I do not say the questions themselves are unworthy and should not be asked. What I object to, and vigorously, is the pre-judgmental, presumptive way in which they are posed, as for example, "Jesus mistakenly tells his followers that" ... or, "Peter wrongly believed that" Comments like these do no honor to the Bible..... Finally, it seems to me that it would be characteristic of whoever had the head for the kind of minute research required in order to formulate this set of questions would be able to research the answers to them, given the vast amount of biblical exposition and exegesis readily availble on the internet and elsewhere. --Hank |