Does prophecy support the Bible

Exactly six days, or just there abouts? Try Gulf War I. Gulf War II took a little longer, but it was an invasion and successful invasions take longer than merely repelling the invaders.

There is always a correct interpretation. Many interpretations of the same poem and considered 'valid', but only one is correct.I'm tempted to follow the "I wont take a step back" approach in this case, but then what is the point of entering discussion ?The Bible consists of literal as well as figurative forms of speach. Indeed the Hebrew word was written in such a fashion as to make it easier to remember by the oral tradition.Thus we have to choose what we believe to be literal and what is figurative.Clearly a parable is figurative, a metaphor. Not a collection of pretty words, but often like a poem, you need to study the author of the poem before you can truely understand his words. This is the essense of Christ's Word.Thus we have to go through the Bible and see what is intended to be literal and figurative.Take Luke 5 vs 36-37 - figurative36 And he spake also a parable unto them; No man putteth a piece of a new garment upon an old; if otherwise, then both the new maketh a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new agreeth not with the old. 37 And no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish.The Mosaic Laws - litteralMany prophesies are metaphors , I believe you will find many such in the book of Revelation.So when we deal with a prophesy, we have to be willing to consider atleast the figurative meaning.The word in question is 'generation'Strictly today it is used to refer to a specific generation (ie: 3rd, 4th), and often when done, the generation is mentioned. However it is also often used to refer to a type of people, not limited by age.eg:PS 102vs80"This shall be written for the generation to come: and the people which shall be created shall praise the LORD. "PS 112vs2
"His seed shall be mighty upon earth: the generation of the upright shall be blessed. "PR 30vs8
"There is a generation that curseth their father, and doth not bless their mother. "Mat23vs33
"Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? "Mat 24vs36
"Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. "Mark 9vs19
"He answereth him, and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him unto me.""generation" is often used not to refer to the litteral 'generation' (parent and offspring), but rather (as shown above) a type of people. The interpretation would be valid, but not neccesarily correct.Z

The Bible is perfect for me. What gave you this idea ? The 666 numbers association with commerce is the prophecy. The cashless society is simply the medium that allows the prophecy to be fulfilled.

As shown above, your contrived reading barely reaches the threshhold of silly.

Hehe, if you say so I guess.

If the Bible is good enough for you then why try to pretend something it doesn't ?

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Thus we have to choose what we believe to be literal and what is figurative.

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Boom.Your belief. Not objective meaning.

Any responses to the rest of my post or is this it ?

What am I pretending ? Please clarify. Which part are you having difficulty understanding ?Z

Actually, you pretty much lost me with this:

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There is always a correct interpretation. Many interpretations of the same poem and considered 'valid', but only one is correct.

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Could you, perchance, give me the one correct interpretation of The Wasteland by T.S. Eliot? Or better yet, the one correct interpretation of Ulysees by James Joyce? Or of the soliloquies from Hamlet?Edited in: it, I'll go right for the throat on this one. Give me the one correct interpretation of Finnegan's Wake.[This message has been edited by Dan Carroll, 11-25-2003]

I guess you can't manage to follow the thread back.But here is the point again. The Revelation does not mention a cashless society. I(t does not mention bar codes either - do you think John was too stupid to notice that bar codes are put on goods, not people ?). So why try to pretend that it does ?

Dan Dan Dan, could you edit out one of the four letter words you edited in please?It is the one near the start of the sentence!Cheers!AdminBrian.

Done. Sorry.

I'm sure if you asked the authors, they could do that though Can I give you the ONE correct interpretation of the Bible ? Probably not.
I know I am not 100% correct. Indeed there are verse's I am unsure about.
I recognise and acknowlege what I do not know. Indeed in the book of Revelation there are
many verse's I don't know what the author means. I dont think we are intended to know what they
mean until it closer to the time.This is much the same way (as discussed earlier) the Jews would have had little understanding
regarding Hosea's statement 6 vs 2-32 After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.
3 Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning;
and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.Only after Christs death and ressurection would this have made much sense.In the same way there are indeed verses we already understand, as oppose to verses such asRev 4 vs 6-7
6 And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne,
and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind. 7 And the first beast
was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man,
and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle.Do to the nature of the book , an interpretation of this would be substantially more difficult as it has not
happened yet no ?Tell me, how would someone living before the invention of the bar code have any much of an idea what Paul was talking
about regarding the number of the beast and commerce ? Now however as the prophecy unfolds, it becomes much clearer what
the author meant.Z

Now we're getting closer to agreement. I don't think there is any way to find the one true intent (which is more accurate than one correct meaning) of the bible. Not only are the many authors long dead, but the original text of much of it is lost to antiquity. Even before sitting down to hash out translation errors, the new testament can't even be read in its original language.Where we part company is on the intent of the prophecies themselves. You say in your post that as we see bar codes developing, we see what author's meaning was in one prophecy. But as far as I'm concerned, this is circular reasoning. It's using the assumption that the author intended long term (rather than short term) predictions, and the assumption that he meant something other than what he said to show that he meant a long term prediction of something other than what he said.Most important of all, it uses the assumption that the biblical prophets were actually able to tell the future to show that the biblical prophets were actually able to tell the future.This is just shoddy literary criticism. An appropriate method would be to work within the text to glean meaning from the text, then attempt to apply the meaning to the real world. (If it is at all applicable.)For instance: when interpreting The Tempest, you can't start with the assumption that, since this was Shakespeare's last solo play, it was intended as his farewell to art. Having not looked at the text yet, there's nothing to suggest it. But what you can do is use the text of the play itself to capture the viable meaning of a man abandoning his craft, by literally burying his books. Once that meaning can be read, it can be applied to the fact that this was Shakespeare's last solo play, and most likely his farewell.A very simplified reading of the Tempest, but you get my point. Start with the text, and work from there. If you want to use the Bible's meaning as it compares to real world events as evidence of the Bible's truth, you have to start by establishing the Bible's meaning without comparison.