Posted by Stuart Gilman (67.68.70.196) on December 19, 2002 at 05:45:05:

In Reply to: Re: Prophesy posted by brandon on December 18, 2002 at 21:57:16:

There has never been a prediction come true, whatever the source.

What we study is post-diction", the effort to make certain historical events fit the prophesies written - as in astrology - one day before the event all the way back the Hebrew sect of Essenes who promised a Messiah. I cannot give the reference, only the truth - many Jewish friends claim that Jesus was highly educated in the Essene Tradition of the Hebrews and that he took from obscure Essene prophesies the signs and actions that these prophesies foretold. The loaves of bread, the raising of Lazarus, walking on water, etc ... were all in these ancient texts. Whether he walked on water or not is irrelevant, because we also know that Jesus was a political revolutionary. With disciples spreading the word, He could spread ANY word, and the words that spread fit squarely with the Essene description of the Messiah.

To the mundane: At the end of each year Skeptik.com publishes a list of all major prophesies by the world's leading psychics and whether they hit the mark. There is not a single case of a prediction that came true.

Nostradamus' predictions are "true" only with the greatest effort at interpretation, there is not a single prophesy of Nostradamus that is specific and true, there are generalities and interpretations of modern events to fit these generalities.

Prophesy is myth. To be a visionary, however, is something else. A visionary, like Baha'u'llah, astounds me. A visionary does not predict romance, lotto numbers, or the weather. A visionary makes statements about the future in general terms, but the terms or statements are of extreme importance to us. Predicting the failure of democracy and liberty, or warning of its dangers, is one of Baha'u'llah's great visions. There are hundreds of such visionary statements by Baha'u'llah; and Abdul Baha also makes numerous visionary statements which have come true. These visionary statements show great, far-sighted wisdom and relevance to our social, personal and spiritual lives.

In this sense we can examine prophesies as statements of vision. In this sense, there have been many great visionaries and many not at all religious ones. There are also visionaries who are proscribed, or constrained within a particular aspect of possible futures. We can say the H.G. Wells was a great visionary, as was Jules Verne and George Orwell. Countless others. But these examples are of social vision, not religious. The religious vision speaks to us about our spiritual, moral and social lives. The secular vision speaks about culture, science, civilization. There is overlap, surely, but the two differ.

Prophets and prophesies do have the ability to paint a general picture of our futures. Superstition and ignorance make of our prophets and visionaries particulates, none of which is ever intended by a true Prophet or Visionary.

Finally, there are numerous (non) Prophets who make a living post-prophesying the past. Channelers are the best examples of this. Mediums who read the past are also examples of post-prophesy. There has never been any scientific evidence to prove a single example of a medium's statements about anything.

Baha'u'llah was the greatest Visionary (Prophet) of all time.

Allah u Abha

seg

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