How Soon Will This Prophecy Be Fulfilled? (2)

Originally Posted by muslimsoldier4life

If you're too busy looking for signs of the "Prophecy", then you're too busy serving Allah(God).

Right!

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You're the one that made the claim are you not?

I did make a good faith effort to find some reliable info about how 40 years is what's required to make an area habitable. I found nothing...at all.

I'm sorry, but what I know of chemistry and physics (which is my field and my son's) makes me very very suspicious of this claim.

There are too many variables at work to make blanket statements about it taking 40 years for an area to become habitable, including (but not limited to):

- What sort of fissile material was used
- How much fissile material was used
- blast altitude and prevailing winds at the time of the blast
- whether there even is a critical mass (the "blast" might be from a dirty bomb)
- is there cobalt or iodine in the bomb, because that will extend the time by a sizeable factor
- Did the bomb hit a nuclear plant? Because if that's the case...all bets are off. By the time someone can live there again our time in history will be utterly forgotten.

If it's a small a-bomb like Hiroshima, it's not 40 years -- Hiroshima was rebuilt and reinhabited in about 5 years, if memory serves. Of course that was a tiny bomb by today's standards. Well, actually Hiroshima was never completely uninhabited. People stayed there and lived in shoddy constructions and tents and such. See this.

And radiated areas can be rendered habitable faster in some ways, depending on what isotopes are still present. Strontium-90 you can't do anything about. Cesium-137 can be removed from the body using Prussian Blue.

And I'm just getting started on how complicated this is.

Seriously, if you can point me at a reliable source that talks about it taking 40 years to render a place habitable after being nuked, I would like to read it, if only to see what assumptions about these variables they're using.

Because there is no scientific basis I can see for making such a general claim as you stated it.

It's convenient to pass around tidbits of pseudoscience as a means to jury rig some prophetic text into current events so more books about some prophetic interpretation can be sold though, and I'm sorry but I have seen way too much of that over the years.

Caveat emptor.

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Gentlemen! You can't fight in here! This is the WAR Room!

You might want to read the Book of Jonah and rethink that. He was real disappointed when the prophecies God made through him weren't fulfilled.

Originally Posted by Booko

- What sort of fissile material was used
- How much fissile material was used
- blast altitude and prevailing winds at the time of the blast
- whether there even is a critical mass (the "blast" might be from a dirty bomb)
- is there cobalt or iodine in the bomb, because that will extend the time by a sizeable factor
- Did the bomb hit a nuclear plant? Because if that's the case...all bets are off. By the time someone can live there again our time in history will be utterly forgotten.

.

Are we not interpreting the text as we each see it? You can add your own interpretation and avoid criticizing the OPs. Do you see prohibition of nuclear bombs in the Bible?

Besides, I've asked myself what else could cause desertion for 40 yrs. Not a flood. Not alien invaders (for those into that). Not even some despot bent on forcing everyone out.

Originally Posted by smaneck

You might want to read the Book of Jonah and rethink that. He was real disappointed when the prophecies God made through him weren't fulfilled.

How are you reading that? G*d stayed his judgement on Ninevah for 100 years or until the time of Nahum.

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Huh?

SanFrank, my post at that point wasn't even ABOUT Biblical texts -- was about science and whether a claim that it takes 40 years for a place to become inhabitable again after being nuked is even correct.

Because if it isn't, an interpretation of the meaning of "40" in a Biblical text having to do with nukes isn't a very good fit.

I've no idea. Cities have been deserted for periods of time or sometimes permanently throughout history.

Some cities get destroyed in wars and they keep getting rebuilt. I usually assume it's because of a strategic location and/or access to certain resources (water, arable land, quarries, etc.)

Other cities are abandoned for ecological reasons. Sometimes it's just a natural shift in local weather patterns, and sometimes it's more manmade, like in Ephesus, which apparently was killed by its own success.

Why Damascus might be destroyed and not rebuilt at all or for a period of time beats me. I don't know what strategic value the location has anymore other than being at the intersection of many roads, but many of the strategic advantages that were of use for millenia are weakened or rendered moot by many forms of modern warfare. There's a water source in the Beruda River of course. For all I know the water table might be drained to the point of being unusuable for a time.

Anyway, to get back to my original points --

I don't see how science can be used to support an interpretation that 40 years refers to nuclear destruction in that text. The science of nukes doesn't completely rule out 40 years from what I see, but what we know about the effects of nukes and forms of radiation and health does render the interpretation pretty weak. (As does some knowledge of foreign affairs.)

I also don't see a reason (at the moment) why this particular verse about Damascus and 40 years is an end times prophecy or in another way applicable to our times. Did I miss something, and if so could you point me to it? It wouldn't be the first time I missed something.

There are other interpretative possibilities that are more metaphorical, but my knowledge of the history of Damascus is so limited it's laughable, so I really would not care to hazard a guess. Well, maybe a little guess where to start? I would look at the history of the Ummayad Caliphate first, just because Damascus was the capital and it was a big empire and it wasn't always peaceful and it eventually fell? *shrug*

To be perfectly honest, Damascus and Syria today are concerns for you, but not because of nukes. Some of the oldest Christian communities in existence are still there and they have been somewhat protected by allying themselves with the Assad gov't. Payback could be very very bloody.

Please say prayers for them.

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Gentlemen! You can't fight in here! This is the WAR Room!

Originally Posted by Booko

I also don't see a reason (at the moment) why this particular verse about Damascus and 40 years is an end times prophecy or in another way applicable to our times. Did I miss something, and if so could you point me to it? It wouldn't be the first time I missed something.

It's exciting to read your analysis. Amos 1.3, Jeremiah 49.23 and Zech 9.1 all point towards the demise of Damascus, and seeing that it has been the longest inhabited city on earth, never having been deserted nor suffered total ruin, it would be safe to assume that prophecy needs to be fulfilled. (p.s. the 40 referred to egypt). The lebanon-syria-iran bloc more accurately represents the lands of biblical persia than just iran alone. This lends to another prophecy yet to be fulfilled, that of Eze 38, of which I assume you are aware of. The bloc, more accurately, is made up of Hezbollah in Lebanon, a terrorist group funded by Tehran. Assad in Syria has been suported by Tehran. Their common enemy has been Israel and are not ashamed to say it.

The demise of Damascus would equate with Eze 38, where hordes of Israel's enemies gather from the North against the backdrop of Israel's mountains. Damascus is not far from those, golan heights, etc.

The bloc is accompanied by Russia in today's news. Some include Russia in Eze 38 and surprisingly they are the resistance to topling Assad today. Russia continues to provide Assad (and Iran) arms and just yesterday vetoed the UN initiative to request Assad's removal. They are quiet yet staunch supporters of Syria's regime and is going out of its way to give Iran nuclear technologies and the advisers it seeks.

With all that said, it seems impossible to narrow down anything prophetic as to order of events, a timeline, outcome, etc. About the only thing I am certain of is the key players. They are all named biblically and they are all in place today.

To be perfectly honest, Damascus and Syria today are concerns for you, but not because of nukes. Some of the oldest Christian communities in existence are still there and they have been somewhat protected by allying themselves with the Assad gov't. Payback could be very very bloody.

Please say prayers for them.

I am also aware of the existence of christian communities in Damascus and I also pray for them. I would hope they are making the biblical connections to today's events too.

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The Bible doesn't say anything about God postponing His Judgement, it says He repented of it:

God repented of the evil, which He said He would do unto them; and He did it not. 4,1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. 4,2 And he prayed unto the LORD, and said: 'I pray Thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in mine own country? Therefore I fled beforehand unto Tarshish; for I knew that Thou art a gracious God, and compassionate, long-suffering, and abundant in mercy, and repentest Thee of the evil. 4,3 Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech Thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.'

(Nev'im (Prophets), Yonah (Jonah))

Whoah, you are really mixing things up. If by Persian you mean the Persian Empire that would include all the countries of the Middle East as well as Turkey. But Isaiah, far from condemning Persian or predicting its demise, refers to its ruler as 'messiah' the only gentile to whom that title is applied.

Originally Posted by smaneck

The Bible doesn't say anything about God postponing His Judgement, it says He repented of it:

God repented of the evil, which He said He would do unto them; and He did it not. 4,1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. 4,2 And he prayed unto the LORD, and said: 'I pray Thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in mine own country? Therefore I fled beforehand unto Tarshish; for I knew that Thou art a gracious God, and compassionate, long-suffering, and abundant in mercy, and repentest Thee of the evil. 4,3 Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech Thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.'

(Nev'im (Prophets), Yonah (Jonah))

Yeah, but He later judged Ninevah; back to square one.

I think if the Lord repented of fulfilling the prophecies as pointed out in the books of the Major and minor prophets, He would have written than down as He did with Jonah's case.

Originally Posted by smaneck

Whoah, you are really mixing things up. If by Persian you mean the Persian Empire that would include all the countries of the Middle East as well as Turkey. But Isaiah, far from condemning Persian or predicting its demise, refers to its ruler as 'messiah' the only gentile to whom that title is applied.

sorry, i don't see that in Isaiah. Verse?

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IMO, I see that Islam has a cause/effect on world events. As of now, Islam is doing just what it's supposed to be doing. It's playing itself out on the world scene as it was meant to do.

Cities of Hama (biblical Hamath) and nearby Homs are being hit hard and Russia (Ezekiels' Gog) is giving Damascus the green light, fully backing Assad in hopes control can be gained on the opposition.

Slaughter in Syria: Rocket attacks, blood in the streets and a relentless fight for freedom – This Just In - CNN.com Blogs

http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/07/world/...ene/index.html

Jeremiah 49.23 This is what the Lord said about Damascus: "The people in the cities of Hamath and Arpad are worried and troubled because they have heard bad news. Anxiety rolls over them like a sea, and they cannot rest. 24 The people of Damascus are weak and have fled in terror. They are in pain and misery like a woman in labor. 25 The famous city that used to be happy is completely deserted. 26 On that day her young men will be killed in the city streets, and all her soldiers destroyed. 27 I will set the walls of Damascus on fire and will burn down King Benhadad's palaces. I, the Lord Almighty, have spoken."