5/15/2023 0 Comments Reason to believe(3) In the fifth century BC, a prophet named Zechariah declared that the Messiah would be betrayed for the price of a slave-thirty pieces of silver, according to Jewish law-and also that this money would be used to buy a burial ground for Jerusalem’s poor foreigners (Zechariah 11:12-13). (Probability of chance fulfillment = 1 in 10 5.) The fulfillment of this prophecy in the birth of Christ is one of the most widely known and widely celebrated facts in history. (2) In approximately 700 BC, the prophet Micah named the tiny village of Bethlehem as the birthplace of Israel’s Messiah (Micah 5:2). (Probability of chance fulfillment = 1 in 10 5. Also note that from 1 BC to AD 1 is just one year.) Jesus’ crucifixion occurred only a few years later, and about four decades later, in AD 70 came the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus. (Remember that due to calendar changes, the date for the start of Christ’s ministry is set by most historians at about AD 26. The decree regarding the restoration of Jerusalem was issued by Persia’s King Artaxerxes to the Hebrew priest Ezra in 458 BC, 483 years later the ministry of Jesus Christ began in Galilee. Abundant documentation shows that these prophecies were perfectly fulfilled in the life (and crucifixion) of Jesus Christ. He further predicted that the Messiah would be “cut off,” killed, and that this event would take place prior to a second destruction of Jerusalem. (1) Some time before 500 BC, the prophet Daniel proclaimed that Israel’s long-awaited Messiah would begin his public ministry 483 years after the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem (Daniel 9:25-26). Readers are encouraged to select others, as well, and to carefully examine their historicity. There is no room for error.Īs economy does not permit an explanation of all the Biblical prophecies that have been fulfilled, what follows in a discussion of a few that exemplify the high degree of specificity, the range of projection, and/or the “supernature” of the predicted events. According to this Bible passage (and others), God’s prophets, as distinct from Satan’s spokesmen, are 100 percent accurate in their predictions. The acid test for identifying a prophet of God is recorded by Moses in Deuteronomy 18:21-22. Messages from Satan, furthermore, fail to match the detail of Bible prophecies, nor do they include a call to repentance. Through clairvoyants (such as Jeanne Dixon and Edgar Cayce), mediums, spiritists, and others, come remarkable predictions, though rarely with more than about 60 percent accuracy, never with total accuracy. God is not the only one, however, who uses forecasts of future events to get people’s attention. (The remaining 500 or so reach into the future and may be seen unfolding as days go by.) Since the probability for any one of these prophecies having been fulfilled by chance averages less than one in ten (figured very conservatively) and since the prophecies are for the most part independent of one another, the odds for all these prophecies having been fulfilled by chance without error is less than one in 10 2000 (that is 1 with 2,000 zeros written after it)! Approximately 2,500 prophecies appear in the pages of the Bible, about 2,000 of which already have been fulfilled to the letter-no errors. For over thirty years, RTB has produced thousands of resources for Christians and nontheists alike and participated in lively conversations about the relationship between science and faith.Unique among all books ever written, the Bible accurately foretells specific events-in detail-many years, sometimes centuries, before they occur. Response to his breadth and depth of experience in both science and faith prompted him in March of 1986 to start Reasons to Believe. Ross served on the ministry team at Christ Church Sierra Madre. After completing his doctorate at the University of Toronto and postdoctoral research at the California Institute of Technology, Dr. Physics and astronomy captured his curiosity and never let go. His fervor began at age seven when he went to the library to find out why stars are hot. Ross engaging in his favorite activity, responding to questions about science and faith. This mission started with RTB president and founder, Dr. Our mission is to bring hope to people by illuminating and clarifying God’s role as Creator and highlighting his purposes for creation, especially for human beings. Our commitment to sound reason and scientific research puts RTB in a unique position to engage in gentle, respectful dialogue with people from various worldviews. As an international, interdenominational ministry, our purpose is to show that science and the Christian faith are allies, not enemies. Reasons to Believe (RTB) was established in 1986 with the awareness that people have a fundamental desire to understand our world, the universe beyond it, and the implications of that knowledge for their beliefs.
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