Expert: Vincent M. Wales - 1/10/2011

Question
Christians tell me that the preservation of the Jews over the centuries since their nation was nearly done in by the Romans in the first century AD, is a proof that the Bible is true. They claim that no other people have continued to exist in their culture when they have been broken away from their land. Then, too, they claim that the Old Testament has many prophecies that the Jews would be punished for turning from God, by losing their land and that many more prophecies in the Old Testament promised the Jews would someday be given back their land and that this is what happened in 1948. Do such prophecies being fulfilled prove that the Bible could be true about other issues?

Answer
In 2004, I published my novel, ONE NATION UNDER GOD.  It's set in the future, about 20-25 years.  In this book, I "predicted" that certain things would come to pass by the time the story takes place.  And in fact, a few of them have already done so.  Does this mean the entire book is true?  Of course not.  Nor does it mean I have any sort of prescient abilities.

I'm not even remotely an expert on Jewish history, so I can't comment on that.  However, let me just say something about the word "prophecy."

In the days in which the books of the Bible were written, the term "prophet" meant "preacher."  It did not mean, as we use it today, some sort of holy seer or prognosticator.  Further, when you have in your hands a book filled with "prophecies," it's fairly easy to "fulfill" them, either by design (such as writing a book many centuries later that SAYS the prophecy is fulfilled... which is what happened with the New Testament), or by twisting certain events in such a way as to force them to fit what was written.  I'd propose that this is at the root of your question.