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Heees back...predicting the end of the the world date again

tomana

Member
sorry, I just remembered this thread says "Baptists only" and I'm not officially a Baptist so I yanked my reply
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Tom Butler

New Member
tinytim, great to see you posting. I see it's been pretty sporadic lately. Glad to know you're still around.

My view is that when Harold Camping got it wrong before, he was toast.

The Bible clearly says prophets of God are 100% right 100% of the time.
Get one wrong, you're a false prophet.
 

Baptist Believer

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
The Bible clearly says prophets of God are 100% right 100% of the time.

Get one wrong, you're a false prophet.
Let me pick your brain here Tom...

I'm struggling for an answer to this question for a friend. I used to hold that if a person claims to speak for God and it doesn't happen, then they are a false prophet (Deuteronomy 18:22). However, many of the Old Testament prophets would fail that test. For instance, Jonah preached that Nineveh would be destroyed in 40 days and then God did not do it because the people repented.

Does that make Jonah a false prophet?
 

Don

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
Let me pick your brain here Tom...

I'm struggling for an answer to this question for a friend. I used to hold that if a person claims to speak for God and it doesn't happen, then they are a false prophet (Deuteronomy 18:22). However, many of the Old Testament prophets would fail that test. For instance, Jonah preached that Nineveh would be destroyed in 40 days and then God did not do it because the people repented.

Does that make Jonah a false prophet?

Well...the people of Ninevah, and especially the king, believed Jonah; and believed that it was their iniquity that would cause their doom...I'm not seeing this as the same.

If we apply exactly the same scenario to Camping, then one would have to surmise that our king(s) repented, and ordered us to repent as well, in order to avoid punishment for our sins....
 

jonathan.borland

Active Member
Let me pick your brain here Tom...

I'm struggling for an answer to this question for a friend. I used to hold that if a person claims to speak for God and it doesn't happen, then they are a false prophet (Deuteronomy 18:22). However, many of the Old Testament prophets would fail that test. For instance, Jonah preached that Nineveh would be destroyed in 40 days and then God did not do it because the people repented.

Does that make Jonah a false prophet?

The little book of Jonah demonstrates well that while Jonah was a Calvinist, God is not. Praise be to Jesus!
 

Tom Butler

New Member
Baptist Believer's question is a fair one to discuss.

I went back and re-read the book of Jonah. Jonah was a reluctant preacher, as we know. When God finally got his attention, he gave Jonah a specific message to preach.
“Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.” 3 Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it. 4 Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” 5 The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.

Later, in light of Nineveh's repentance, God "relented" and did not destroy the city. And remember, even that irritated Jonah. He wanted God to zap 'em all. Jonah was not the least bit happy that God did not destroy Nineveh.

To me, God used Jonah's preaching to effect a change in the people who heard it. Jonah was a reluctant prophet, but he wasn't a false prophet. He preached exactly what God told him to preach.
 

mont974x4

New Member
The little book of Jonah demonstrates well that while Jonah was a Calvinist, God is not. Praise be to Jesus!

It proved no such thing. I could just as easily claim it proves that God chose the Ninevites. Since the book does not directly address the issue both of us would simply be stating our opinion on the matter.

It proved that even God's people can get hung up in bitterness and unforgiveness. It also proves that God is concerned with the actions of all people.
 

Baptist Believer

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
To me, God used Jonah's preaching to effect a change in the people who heard it. Jonah was a reluctant prophet, but he wasn't a false prophet. He preached exactly what God told him to preach.
I agree. However, Jonah still made a prophecy that did not come to pass.

I think the problem lies in the way we approach the "test" for a false prophet in Deuteronomy 18:22.

I found two articles recently that address this topic and I've love to get some input from you and some of the more thoughtful people on BaptistBoard:

Criteria of False Prophets

Exekiel and the Oracles Against Tyre
 

Iconoclast

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
The little book of Jonah demonstrates well that while Jonah was a Calvinist, God is not. Praise be to Jesus!

Jonah was no calvinist, but His God gave the teaching that we understand as calvinism. That being the case God sovereignly worked through all the circunstances....God prepared a fish, God prepared a worm....to bring about exactly what he had ordained to come to pass.
The small book of Jonah reveals oftentimes those who do not yet grasp how or why God is God ....and all that that means. :thumbsup:
 

Tom Butler

New Member

jonathan.borland

Active Member
Jonah was no calvinist, but His God gave the teaching that we understand as calvinism. That being the case God sovereignly worked through all the circunstances....God prepared a fish, God prepared a worm....to bring about exactly what he had ordained to come to pass.
The small book of Jonah reveals oftentimes those who do not yet grasp how or why God is God ....and all that that means. :thumbsup:

Good one, brother. I like your last sentence, too.
 

kyredneck

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
Jonah learned the truth while in the fish.The only non calvinist in the story was the fish....when Jonah said"salvation is of the Lord" the fish vomit him out...like many who resist the truth today.

...heheh, never heard that one before....
 
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