The Problem with Prophecy....

[StormyOne]

A couple of thoughts as starting points:
Gandhi said, "I do not want to foresee the future. I am concerned with taking care of the present. God has given me no control over the moment following."

And then we have this:
Matt 6:25-34

I tell you not to worry about your life. Don't worry about having something to eat, drink, or wear. Isn't life more than food or clothing? (26) Look at the birds in the sky! They don't plant or harvest. They don't even store grain in barns. Yet your Father in heaven takes care of them. Aren't you worth more than birds? (27) Can worry make you live longer? (28) Why worry about clothes? Look how the wild flowers grow. They don't work hard to make their clothes. (29) But I tell you that Solomon with all his wealth wasn't as well clothed as one of them. (30) God gives such beauty to everything that grows in the fields, even though it is here today and thrown into a fire tomorrow. He will surely do even more for you! Why do you have such little faith? (31) Don't worry and ask yourselves, "Will we have anything to eat? Will we have anything to drink? Will we have any clothes to wear?" (32) Only people who don't know God are always worrying about such things. Your Father in heaven knows that you need all of these. (33) But more than anything else, put God's work first and do what he wants. Then the other things will be yours as well. (34) Don't worry about tomorrow. It will take care of itself. You have enough to worry about today.

There are those who say they believe God, yet seem to be obsessed with predicting the future as it relates to "the church." They repeatedly tell us that time is short, the end is near, that unseen forces are gathering to perpetrate mayhem on the chosen of God.... Some churches even boast that their interpretations of certain parts of the bible (mainly the books of Daniel and Revelation) that you just need to stand back and watch the events unfold as they predict.....

The problem as I see it is simple... I don't think God asked anyone to be concerned with any time period than the present... What are we to do with "the present?" The problem with prophecy is that it cannot be confirmed or verified. Obsessing over it renders some well meaning folks bizarrely out of touch, and emphasizing future events (that may or may not happen) causes us to ignore or waste "the present." Thoughts?

 

[Byfaithalone1]

A couple of thoughts as starting points:
Gandhi said, "I do not want to foresee the future. I am concerned with taking care of the present. God has given me no control over the moment following."

And then we have this:
Matt 6:25-34
There are those who say they believe God, yet seem to be obsessed with predicting the future as it relates to "the church." They repeatedly tell us that time is short, the end is near, that unseen forces are gathering to perpetrate mayhem on the chosen of God.... Some churches even boast that their interpretations of certain parts of the bible (mainly the books of Daniel and Revelation) that you just need to stand back and watch the events unfold as they predict.....

The problem as I see it is simple... I don't think God asked anyone to be concerned with any time period than the present... What are we to do with "the present?" The problem with prophecy is that it cannot be confirmed or verified. Obsessing over it renders some well meaning folks bizarrely out of touch, and emphasizing future events (that may or may not happen) causes us to ignore or waste "the present." Thoughts?

I agree.

As I read statistics regarding Christianity (especially in North America), it seems that we may be spending so much time thinking about the future that we have missed the role that we can play in the present. I personally believe that our present has something to do with making disciples.

BFA