This is a summary of a Facebook conversation from December 2014.
OP: How do atheists try to explain fulfilled prophesies?
Other reply 1: Just like Vegans explaining the allure of smokey bacon... they don't
Me: The truth is, most of them have never encountered a fulfilled prophecy, so they don't need to. Which is fine, because prophecy is not given to us as an evangelistic tool.
OP: of course it is. the bible is full of them
Me: I'm aware that there are fulfilled prophecies in the Bible. But does the Bible contain even one example of a fulfilled prophecy being used as an evangelistic tool?
OP: yes. Acts 2:16- . 7:37-
Me: Acts 7 is nothing like a fulfilled
prophecy being used as an evangelistic tool: Stephen is applying
the Old Testament text in a way which his hearers will reject -
and he knows it.
Acts 2 is closer. But remember - the question here is: How do
atheists try to explain fulfilled prophecies? In Acts 2, Peter is
not speaking to atheists but to believers - Jewish believers, who
believed in God and in prophecy. They already believed it, which
is why he used it.
But even for these believers, the fulfilled prophecy is not an
evangelistic tool (you ought to believe me because a prophecy has
been fulfilled): it is an explanation of the miracle, an answer to
the question they are asking, and a point of contact with the
listeners (God said you need to listen to this - so listen well!).
OP: they prove GOD wrote the bible
Me: But only if you already believe most of it in the first place. It's like stories of miracles: if you believe, they strengthen your faith; if you don't believe, they are either coincidences or lies. Read a few liberal commentaries - if you don't believe, prophecies and miracles prove nothing.
Other reply 2: I hope you don't mind me
butting in on your thread - I'm a friend of Paul's from years back
when we shared faith, I am now an agnostic atheist. I agree
completely with what Paul said about an atheist not having to
explain something they don't recognise as having happened.
A miracle or fulfilled prophecy is almost completely a faith
experience, when a believer I would have believed completely in
them along with much of the rest of the biblical text.
Even as a believer I was embarrassed by much of the commentary on
biblical prophecy - as is almost entirely driven by a particular
hermeneutic agenda.
For me everything comes back to the credibility of the existence
of a particular religion's God. Everything else is back story, not
worthy of consideration until the fundamentals are addressed.
