The Nature of True Prophecy

[Donald Darden]

I see a trend appearing in some public television shows, that are now trying to put a positive spin on the future.  Not long ago they were mostly interested in telling us bad things are going to happen.  Now they want to convince us that there possibly is a way out.

Ofen, they also quote sources, which we consider prophetic, as well as leading authorities, who contribute conclusions based on observations.

It raises the question of what is the difference between prophecy, prediction, and conclusion.  I'm here to address those differences according to my own interpretation of each.

First, there is prophecy.  A prophecy is a foretelling of something that will come to pass.  It is not based on facts in evidence at the time of its telling.  It lacks specifics, making it hard to pin down precisely as to time or place or actual events.

A predicition is a foretelling of a possible outcome.  It is based in part on facts in evidence.  It leaves room for doubt.

A conclusion is based solely on the facts in evidence.  As long as the facts are as they are, the conclusion will hold.

Now anybody can attempt to state a prophecy, or make predictions, or draw conclusions.  But recognizing which is actually involved takes some analysis.

Here is another element of each:  A prophicy is either true or false.  That is, it will either come to pass or it will not.  But only when it comes to pass can we say whether it is true or not.  Until then, we cannot say which it is.

A prediction can be analyzed and the facts studied, which will likely lead to more facts that will also be studied.  In time the prediction will either be upheld, making it a conclusion, or it will be countered, and shown to be in error.

A conclusion will be shown to be a failed prediction if the facts change.

And here is another aspect:  Predictions and Conclusions are mere reflections of each other.  But prophecy is apart from either.

   

[Donald Darden]

Here is a principle concerning True Prophecy:

True Prophecy will come to pass in time.  Otherwise, it would be a false prophecy.
Though we cannot tell with certainty which is which, we depend upon knowing the source of the prophecy for confirmation as to whether it is true or not.

True Prophecy comes from God, as God is the source of all Truth.  You may not concur with me on this, but accept it as a part of my spiritual life.  I don't intend to debate on whether there is a God or not, and right now I am really just trying to address the nature of prophecy, so take counter arguments to another thread.

True Prophecy WILL COME TO PASS.  If we could exactly foretell where, when and how certain prophecies were destined to happen, we could perhaps prevent them from taking place, right?  But if we prevented it, then it would no longer be a true prophecy, a contradiction in nature.  This is the reason that prophecy is never that exact, so that we cannot act to prevent it.  And this is why efforts to understand prophecy and prevent it from ever taking place is destined to fail.

True Prophecy has purpose.  If true prophecy cannot to prevented, what purpose does it serve?  From a God-fearing point of view, true prophecy identifies those that were in touch with God, and therefore able to speak for God when it comes to man's affairs.  Tue, whatever else they say concerning God must come from Him as well.  Thus, God uses prophecy to identify those that speak to us on His behalf.  True prophecy also serves to warn us of what the future holds for all of us.

Now if you understand and accept all this, then the future is not free of its own terror.  For someone that truly believes in God and serves Him, there is much  to hope for, but it is not for a life without suffering and death here.  In fact, people have died in every decade and century for their beliefs, or dispite their beliefs, and others count them as fools for holding to those beliefs in the face of death.  But nobody can count on leaving this world alive or even in one piece, so I contend that those that have no real hope are the greater fools.

But I'm not trying to sway you to my beliefs at this point.  I'm merely trying to establish the nature and role of prophecy in man's affairs.

Watching the ten greatest threats to our continued existence on TV, which range from global warming to a sudden cosmic burst in our galaxy to another pandemic, in some cases the threat is downplayed because either we feel we might counter it, or we consider the chances of it happening as being more remote than some other catastrophe.  What we are increasingly becoming aware of is that there is much uncertainty about our future or ability to cope with change.  Our world is reaching a point of no return, and the signs are all around us that things cannot continue as they are.

This is a point where the distance between prophecy and predicition has begun to narrow, and in some cases, some people are already drawing conclusions based on predicitions that coincide with some of the prophecies that remain to be fulfilled.  And you can understand, this is not a good thing for any of us, because it means great hardship and suffering for all, and death for many.

It was mentioned that most people that believe in Revelation, the last book of the Holy Bible, and in the prophecies of Daniel, among others, do so with acceptance that all this will eventually come about.  After all, we have it from men who walked with God and spoke for Him.  They do not doubt that it will come to pass.  But for those that do not accept this, they argue that we should look ahead and try to stear another course, that somehow we can make changes that will alter the future.

As one scientist put it, concerning global warming:: "we can prevent global warming if we just change the way people live.   It's that simple".  Trouble is, there is nothing simple about changing the wau people live, is there?  People who are happy with the way they live will fight change, and people forced to live other than as they choose have been reduced to no choice at all.

[Donald Darden]

There is another reason why true prophecy is not specific in nature. abet a minor one:  If you knew the future, and that you could not evade it, it would kill all reason to hope and expect something different.  Suppose you knew all your kids would turn out bad, or that really bad things would happen to them.  It might tempt you not to have kids, and to give up on them, or not put a best effort in raising them, or make some critical error that would drive them to the end that you could foresee.  And you could also see your own demise, the cause and the suffering involved.  We could not live with that certain knowledge, so the future has to be hidden from us so that we can continue marching resolutely or gliding supremely confident towards fulfilling it.  It's the nature of the beast.

[Kent Sarikaya]

Donald thanks, an interesting read you have given us.

If you ever saw the true storie about how crime investigators used psychics to solve some cases, it makes you realize there is so much more going on to what we can explain or understand or put in scientific terms at the moment. The one thing I know that history proves is the that one should keep an open mind. The great crimes of humanity have always come from closed minds dictating what they believe to be the truth.