Lucian in his True History - a work of fiction written in the 2nd century - mentions space travel.

aperez241,

"I told him that as the New Testament was written well after the Old and the supposed date of Jesus death, everything in it could have been crafted to fit the so-called prophesies,"

If you were going to write a fairy tale to sell an idea wouldn't it be logical to include everything that people have previously accepted as true to make it seem more credible?

Since the Old Testament prophecies didn't come true during the lifetime of the prophets who said them then they are fakes.

Deuteronomy 18:22 (NOG) = "If a prophet speaks in Yahweh’s name and what he says doesn’t happen or come true, then it didn’t come from Yahweh. That prophet has spoken on his own authority. Never be afraid of him."

As it says in Ecclesiastes 10:14 (CEB) = "Fools talk too much! No one knows what will happen; no one can say what will happen in the future."

Remember what the Bible says about Jewish fairy tales =

Titus 1:14 (CEV) = (CEV) = "Don’t pay any attention to any of those senseless Jewish stories and human commands. These are made up by people who won’t obey the truth."

So the guys who wrote or edited the holy babble book 2 managed to know what was in book 1, the OT. Not a bit surprising

Biblical prophecies are as impressive as personal Christian testimonies. Boring!

Prophets were speakers like the modern day talking heads on news channels. They were politically aware, and always on the lookout for political and military threats. Prophets were quite upset that the people were not paying attention to the threats and mindlessly going about everyday life as if doom was not around the corner.

Similarily, todays prophets, predict doom and gloom, while promoting their version of a saviour. Bill Maher's predictions, and those of his guests are an example of todays prophets. Of course there is the fox news prophets as well.

My view is that todays prophets are no better or worse than the prophets of old at predicting doom and gloom if this or that leader doesn't take charge.

In Biblical times, a messiah was a political and military leader who was capable of securing the nation from their enemies. When some wondered if Jesus was the messiah, they were wondering if he would lead them to victory over the Romans. Obviously Jesus declined the opportunity, so he wasn't the messiah they were looking for.

Mark is generally recognised to be the oldest of the gospels. Scholars speak of the Paulinian and the Petrine "influences" in Mark ... two authors were involved in its production. The first author's work was altered (mainly by interpolation) and expanded by the second author ... who was opposed to what the first author was putting across The first author was someone of very sophisticated intellect ... the second author did not understand the details of what he was up to. The first author was not an overtly religious man ... the second author was.The original text was written around 136 AD ...the story being set a hundred years earlier. It has to do with the Samaritan "uprising" against Pontius Pilate in 36 AD. Simon of Cyrene is to be understood as being Simon bar Kokhba, the Messianic leader of the 132 AD Jewish revolt against the Romans. The Jewish concept of the Messiah at the time was of a warlord who would lead the Jews to victory over their enemies.The only historical person lauded as the Jewish Messiah was Simon bar Kokhba. Jesus is a fictional character. The earliest known Christian text is dated around 148 AD. Picture yourself as someone living in 136 AD ... looking back over the last 100 years.

Mark 1,14 is usually translated as "After John was put in prison." ... that's NOT what the Greek word paradothenai means in this context. It is referring to the baptism of Jesus by John. It has the sense of a "handing over of authority from John to Jesus". (If it does mean "put in prison" then the reader would be left wondering why and when John was imprisoned). John has baptised "all the people of the Judaean countryside and of Jerusalem" ... then handed over to Jesus who came from Galilee and went back there. Why? One has to know about Jewish history and the varieties of Jewish belief to see what the author is on about. There was a Jewish "royalist" faction, approved of by the Romans, based in Gennesaret on the shores of the Sea of Galilee.One must realise that this is a PLAY, a work of fiction ... meant to be performed in a theatre in front of a sophisticated audience ... who would understand what its all about. There was no historical event in which ALL the Judaeans and ALL the people of Jerusalem were converted en masse! Jesus is merely the King of the Jews, not the Son of God. The voice from the heavens was his deceased father. Verses 12 and 13 ... where Jesus is tempted by Satan ... is an interpolation by the second (Petrine) author. On arriving at the Sea of Galilee he meets James and John. His meeting with Simon and Andrew is an interpolation. When he arrives in Capernaum the mother-in-law he heals is HIS OWN. As far as him preaching in synagogues is concerned he would not have been allowed to do so if he was an unmarried man! That was the custom at the time. The sequence of him dealing with a heckler in the synagogue, healing his mother-in-law, healing a leper, followed by healing a paralysed man is a progressive demonstration of his abilities. ALL references to Peter throughout the Gospel are interpolations. The original author structured his text ... it is composed of "scenes" of exactly 51 words ... and he used other devices to protect his work. I have experimented with this technique ... its easy to do. Another thing I discovered is that AFTER the second author altered and expanded the text it was subjected to damage ,,, cut up into pieces ... then incorrectly reassembled by someone. When the Jews called upon Pilate to crucify Jesus the text says that he resolved, as an act of his own will, to do "sufficient to satisfy them", released Barabbas ... and took Jesus "out of sight" into his palace. Simon of Cyrene is then recruited to "carry Jesus' cross" ... a slight "fiddling with the text" results in it being Simon on the cross! The Jews are led to believe its Jesus who has been crucified. Simon of Cyrene is Simon bar Kokhba ... the leader of the Jewish revolt in 132 ad ... who was heralded as the Jewish "Messiah" (the Jewish Messiah being a warlord who would lead the Jews to victory over their enemies) ... who has recently died. Simon of Cyrene had a son Rufus ... so did Simon bar Kokhba. Why Cyrene? In 116 AD there was a Jewish revolt there in which the Jews massacred tens of thousands of Romans and Greeks. The 132 AD revolt was a continuation of this. The original story may have been written shortly after the end of the 132 AD revolt ... around 136 AD. There is evidence that the original story may have been altered and expanded by someone residing in a Jewish religious community that was not destroyed by the Romans, sometime around 138 AD. The original story (play) may not have had very much in the way of publicity.

As Yogi Berra said, ''Making predictions can be really hard, especially about the future."

I have checked out some of the hundreds of online christian sites that claim 44 or 10,000 or whatever, absolutely true and inerrantly correct and unequivocally proven prophecies in the Old T about the birth, life, ministry, miracles, teachings, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension and return of Jesus.
Every so called prophecy is some vaguely worded portion of the OT, quoted out of context, referencing anything, regardless of how thinly connected it might be, to the myth of Jesus.
Isiah's "A virgin (maid) shall give birth to a child" prophecy seems to be the clear favourite and they all seem to ignore how a few verses later Isiah hires a temple prostitute for the very purpose of his original prophecy to King Azah.

A psalm about suffering atrocities at the hands of enemies and awaiting deliverance from god is another favourite one because it has a suggestion of crucifixion and tormentors gambling for the victim's possession and words like bones, blood, and dogs.

The prophecies of Jesus the Christ are simply like the rest of christianity, wishful thinking.