He wasn't born until 37AD and his references to Jesus (two in total) were written around 93 to 94 AD, oddly he made no reference to him in his earlier works.
He was neither a contemporary of Jesus, nor eyewitness and as such its not evidence of Jesus fulfilling prophecy at all.
Why is it odd Josephus didn´t mention Him in earlier works?
All contemporaries and eyewitnesses who wrote about Him, their writings are in the biblical canon. The one who made research to collect statements from other eyewitnesses, his writing is also in the biblical canon.
You totally and utter missed the point on that one.
When you have a source that has to change the prophecy to try and make it fit (oh no god didn't mean that - what he means is this - an angel told me he was wrong - honest) it undermines the claim to a very large degree. When you have to 'cut and paste' facts to try and make the data fit the prophecy it undermines the claim to a very large degree. When you still can't make the data fit and you then have to say 'its not quite finished yet, just wait for this to happen, then your both cherry-picking and mixing it with hindsight and it undermines the claim to a very large degree.
When your doing all three (which is what is happening here) you are deeply into the area of utter nonsense.
The one(s) who had to change the prophecy to try and make it fit his/their view is/are the author(s) of the wikipedia entry.
from the article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prophecy_of_Seventy_Weeks#Historical_setting
After the 62 sevens the Anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed" (verse 26). The ruler "will confirm a covenant with many for one seven, he will put an end to sacrifice and offering, and at the Temple he will put up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him" (verse 27). This is a broad outline of the oppression of the Jews by Antigonus (the "ruler who will come")
*[Wrong: it´s "the
people of the ruler who will come" which means the romans who destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple 70 AD, Vespasianus, the emperor wasn´t in Jerusalem, he was in Rome.]
and his allies the Hellenizing Jews (the "many" with whom he "will confirm a covenant")
*[Wrong: "the many" is always a term for the people of Israel; all tribes combined, that can never be only hellenized Jews especially not at such an early phase.]
, from the murder of Onias the high priest (the "anointed one" who is "cut off")
*[Wrong: the "Anointed One" is a term for the Messiah, which is Jesus Christ]
in 171 BCE, to December 168, when sacrifices in the Temple were ended and replaced with a pagan altar, the "abomination that causes desolation".
*impl. by me
The (almost) correct exegesis is even mentioned in the same article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prophecy_of_Seventy_Weeks#Dispensationalism_interpretation
I hadn´t noticed that before, if I did it would have spared me to translate everything from my german source into English (if I had just copy/pasted it, the part of the post would be in German
http://www.rogerliebi.ch/d7/sites/default/files/downloads/chronologie_des_at.pdf)
The data does fit, no matter how you try and fight it. "Utter nonsense" or not, when you hear about a new Temple being built in Jerusalem (and in a way they are already preparing that) you might want to think back on this here. Now don´t come with self-fulfilling prophecy theories on this, the Jews in Israel do want a 3rd Temple but they certainly don´t care about fulfilling this prophecy.
All of
this? (just did a little Google)
My list was certainly somewhat smaller than this. Shall we go through every point?
In my book, a god would make sure that its texts are 100% accurate and that there cannot be any debate at all. We're not talking about politics here, where a majority can be enough.
Exactly what Mohammad must have thought!
Some of these subjects do deserve their own thread. And I always love the double negative.
Haha, sorry about that.
I have nothing against homosexuals, of course.
You will find that (some) Muslims also believe in the prophecies in their holy book. If I'm not mistaken, there is even some discussion on that in this very thread. Why are they wrong about theirs and you right? And another question: Why were you looking for god? Your search sounds like a self-fulfilling prophecy to me.
Hmm, I post the question in the 'Do you believe in God' threat about prophecy in the Qur´an, the guy I asked answered "What do you mean?". I haven´t read all of this thread, though. Only prophecies I´m aware of all concern the paradise ...
If I explain a prophecy that is still ongoing, like the seventy weeks of years, and talk about actual events that will happen like, here on earth, is something different to a prophecy about a life after death. I doubt anyone can decide to just die and simply come back to see if he can prove or disprove that. Even if someone claims he did that, we would all have to be able to do the same in order to see it for ourselves... anyone like to try?
Oddly, the Hadiths are pulled forth when Muslims claim prophecies, there is something about how women will be dressed unaccordingly and arabian cities will have buildings so high they reach the sky (something like that)... ok, but women have dressed sparsely and high buildings existed before this was written. Another one says the sun will rise in the west and that animals and objects will start to talk.
Search for God - self fulfilling prophecy:
Well if the initial thought was, i must find my god, and eventually found it at some point, one can call it self-fulfilled.
But it was, can there be a god or not? Starting from a neutral point, and most of the time in my life I was agnostic and had periods I defiened myself atheist. In Kuwait, I read the Qur´an and had, logically, talked to many Muslims, but never really became religious. That was before the debate with the atheist, (still good friend of mine) which I talked about in a former post.
