Bible Codes, Prophecies and Predictions

[Asonokirk V 2.0]

I was watching a special on A&E about the Bible Codes and the research. There are men at the top of their scientific professions who believe the codes are real, and others who do not. I really don't care if anything found is real or not. What concerns me are the connotations involved with predictions and prophecies.

It scares me that so many people think the future is somehow predictable through prophecy, and that we are heading towards certain predictions (the end of the world, etc.).

This scares me because, is it just me, or isn't "predicting the future" something that anyone and everyone can do, easily? I mean, I've always believed "the future" is WHAT WE CHOOSE IT TO BE. Predicting the future? I mean, come on, WE decide what future we want, and then we make it happen.

This "prophecy" crap is like people giving up control over their own lives. If we sit back and "wait" for "predictions" to happen, then subconsciously we are allowing those prophecies to direct our actions so that they become self-fulfilling. That is just REALLY FREAKING STUPID.

How 'bout this: I predict WE CAN HAVE ANY DAMN FUTURE WE FREAKING WANT, ALL WE HAVE TO DO IS MAKE IT SO. I don't know about the rest of you, but I DON'T WANT A FUTURE THAT FEATURES THE END OF THE WORLD AS ITS HIGHLIGHT! Apparently some do, and that is what scares me. They'll work to make that happen without realizing that is what they're doing.

[Asonokirk V 2.0]

I don't think God wants any of us to turn our wills over to anything other than what our hearts tell us is the right thing to do. Believing in any prophecy is giving that prediction some control over you, and is surrendering your own will to something not of your own choosing. There is a huge difference between following laws, such as the Ten Commandments, and allowing your destiny to be pre-determined by believing what you hear is supposed to happen.

Since I gather you are a Christian, I'm going to tell you what I've learned through Bible study, research, discussion and self-examination over the past 30 or so years: That by being willing to trust that God would allow me to understand His Word, by not accepting what others tell me without examination, and by reading the New Testament with an open mind, I have discovered many of the notions Christians have about God, Jesus and the Word of God are not supported by the understanding God has granted to me. I have further discovered that it might be important for people to re-examine their faiths, to find their own answers without relying on others to provide answers.

Find your own answers, and do not close your mind to what these answers reveal.

[Son of Gilbert]

Think Jesus gets high?

[Asonokirk V 2.0]

Do you believe that Christians are mind-less drones?
Do you think that believig the Bible as being the Word of God is unreasonable? I would like to suggest that Christianity is a reasonable faith. Now I've only being a Christian for 26 years so I don't have the years of experience that you apparently do. I don't claim to know everything about God, faith or the Bible. I do know that the God of the Bible has changed my life and He continues to change my life to this day. My life has not been a easy life of what you might call easy believism. I've had my struggles and continue to have my struggles in life. But I hold onto my faith in Jesus in the midst of my struggles and see a God that is actively involved in my life.
I don't know maybe I am misuderstanding what you are trying to communicate to me???

My message to you? Don't just believe what anyone tells you without verifying it is true for yourself. Why am I telling you that? Because I know that for many, many years I believed what I was told about God, the Bible, etc., without actually studying God's Word. Once I did that, and it took me years and years of reading the Bible over and over again, I realized a lot of the things I was told just weren't right. I had allowed what other people believed is true to prevent me from finding out on my own what is true.

[Space Tycoon]

Which is why I call myself an agnostic rather than an atheist or believer

[Rowanberry]

I understand that, in short, Asonokirk's message is: Faith is great, but beware of your faith becoming blind, because then, you can be fed a lot of nonsense in the name of it.

I have a friend who is very much in a situation like the one he described. She is a member of a rather conservative church, "indie fundie" like she herself has described it. Through her own experiences in life, she has now realized that there is no ground, religious or secular, to several things that her church teaches, and has started to question those beliefs quite heavily; but, she never has questioned her faith.

[Asonokirk V 2.0]

I understand that, in short, Asonokirk's message is: Faith is great, but beware of your faith becoming blind, because then, you can be fed a lot of nonsense in the name of it.

I have a friend who is very much in a situation like the one he described. She is a member of a rather conservative church, "indie fundie" like she herself has described it. Through her own experiences in life, she has now realized that there is no ground, religious or secular, to several things that her church teaches, and has started to question those beliefs quite heavily; but, she never has questioned her faith.

Exactly.

[Asonokirk V 2.0]

I may be misunderstanding you guys but it sounds like your saying that a Christian most of the time just goes by blind faith... I would say that its reasonable faith.

My question is with the area of predictions. A lot of theologians have made a lot of comments as to what the so-called predictions mean that they say are in the Bible. A lot of Christians believe what they are told about these "predictions" without really trying to study them for themselves. I found not only does the Bible never actually say the world is going to end, but it really doesn't make a lot of predictions at all. The predictions it does make are things that are obvious results of human nature, which hasn't changed in thousands of years, and shows no sign of changing anytime soon. You can predict that people are going to do certain things in the future because they've always done these things.

There are other things I've heard Christians say and I wonder if they really understand what it is they are saying, or are they just mouthing words they've heard or been taught?