What Are The Chances?

 

Today is Good Friday.  The day that Christians all around the world stop and contemplate the sacrifice by Jesus on the cross to bridge the gap between God and humankind.  I have been asked by a close friend in the past "You aren't one of those Christians are you?  One that takes the Bible literally, are you?"  I've been scolded by a Christian friend not to take the Bible as literal because it isn't trustworthy like a history book.  I've been made fun of by atheists who say I'm unintelligent because I take my faith blindly, without logic or reason.  I respectfully disagree with them all. 

In an exercise of building my own faith,  I have asked myself, "What are the chances?"  Well, come to find out, I'm not the only one that has wondered about that very question. Mathematicians and statistical scholars have asked too, and they have even calculated the odds.  So, here they are:

There are over 700 prophecies written to help us identify the Messiah throughout the Bible.  Prophecies foretelling how, when, where of his birth, death and resurrection.  And don't forget, also his return.

Dr Peter Stoner (Science Speaks, 1958)  calculated the probability  that the chance of one man accidentally fulfilling just 8 of these prophecies is one in 10 ¹⁷ It is a number that is hard to wrap the mind around.  Here is an illustration by Dr. Stoner to help us visualize it:

If you mark one of ten tickets, and place all the tickets in a hat, and thoroughly stir them, and then ask a blindfolded man to draw one, his chance of getting the right ticket is one in ten. Suppose that we take 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas. They'll cover all of the state two feet deep. Now mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly, all over the state. Blindfold a man and tell him that he can travel as far as he wishes, but he must pick up one silver dollar and say that this is the right one. What chance would he have of getting the right one? Just the same chance that the prophets would've had of writing these eight prophecies and having them all come true in any one man, from their day to the present time, providing they wrote them in their own wisdom.

Now, what are the odds that only 48 of the more than 700  prophecies of Jesus were fulfilled?  Dr. Stoner estimated the odds against that to be 1 in 10 to the power 157. [1]  A number that would fill a  blank page with zeros.  Here is an illustration to help us visualize this number:

How large is the number one in 10¹⁵⁷? Well, it contains 157 zeros! Stoner gives an illustration of this number using electrons.

Electrons are very small objects. They're smaller than atoms. It would take 2.5 TIMES 10¹⁵ of them, laid side by side, to make one inch. Even if we counted 250 of these electrons each minute, and counted day and night, it would still take 19 million years just to count a line of electrons one-inch long.

Statistically, any odds beyond 1 in 10⁵⁰ have a zero probability of ever happening by random chance. This is Borel's law in action which was derived by mathematician Emil Borel.

Dr. Stoner concludes,''Any man who rejects Christ as the Son of God is rejecting a fact, proved perhaps more absolutely than any other fact in the world."

Those are the odds.  If you take blind faith out of the equation and insert mathematical probability and logic, you get a zero probability that Jesus was accidentally or mistakenly the prophesied Messiah. 

That means Jesus came just as God promised. He lived among us just as God promised, He died for you just as God promised.  He rose from the dead just as God promised.  And He will come again in glory just as God promised.  It is a Good Friday, indeed!

Revelation 19:10,

“The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”

*If you are interested in studying some of the prophecies Jesus fulfilled check out the Bible Study link on the top right of the blog.  I will add it as soon as Resurrection Sunday is over, but for now I am going to go celebrate with my family!

The End of the World as We Know it?

I am watching the posts on the "End of the World", along with millions of others around the world, and have been asked by several people what I think of it.   So here it is.......I think that Harold Camping of Family Radio isn't helping but hurting.  I have read that he has spent $4 million dollars in this campaign funded by followers and supporters to reach lost souls, calling them to repent.  That tells me Harold and many others believe fully in his prediction, but it also tells me they are misguided. 

Matthew 24:26 clearly states that "NO ONE (emphasis mine) knows about the day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father."

One would reason that if any being would know about the hour it would at be Jesus, the One coming back.  Mr. Camping isn't the first to try and figure out the day.  Here is a rundown of a few famous other date setters (of the 200+ recorded):

*400 A.D.- Hippolytus "calculated that 5,500 years separated Adam and Christ and that the life of the world was 6,000 six full 'days' of years until the seventh the day of rest." His calculations in 234 indicted there were still two centuries left. (from A History of the End of the World, Rubinsky and Wiseman, 1982).

*500 A.D.-A Roman priest and theologian in the second and third centuries, predicted Christ would return in A.D. 500, based on the dimensions of Noah's ark.



*950 A.D.- Adso of Montier-en-Der wrote a "Treatise on the Antichrist" which was a response to a number of mid-century crises that had provoked widespread alarm and fear of an end-time apocalypse. Five years later, Abbo of Fleury heard a preacher in Paris who announced that the Antichrist would be unleashed in the year 1000 and that the Last Judgment would soon follow.   
 
*968 A.D.-Panic in Otto's army at an eclipse the soldiers took to portend the end of the world (Gesta episcoporum Leodensium, MGH SS IX, p.202)  And when the last Carolingian dynasty fell with the death of King Louis V in 987, many saw this event as a precursor to the arrival of the Antichrist. King Otto II of Germany had Charlemagne's body exhumed on Pentecost in the year 1000 supposedly in order to forestall the apocalypse.
 
*1000 A.D.-This year goes down as one of the most pronounced states of hysteria over the return of Christ. All members of society seemed affected by the prediction that Jesus was coming back on Jan 1, 1000. There really weren't any of the events required by the Bible transpiring at that time. The magical number 1000 was primarily the sole reason for the expectation. During December 999 AD, everyone was on their best behavior; worldly goods were sold and given to the poor, swarms of pilgrims headed east to meet the Lord at Jerusalem, buildings went unrepaired, crops were left unplanted, and criminals were set free from jails. The year 999 AD turned into 1000 AD and nothing happened.




*Both Halley's comet in A.D. 989 and a super nova in A.D. 1006 were interpreted as signs of the end. About the same time, the Moslim caliph, Al Hakim, destroyed the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem prompting apocalyptic fear in the west as well as violent anti-Jewish outbursts.
 
*Pope Innocent III predicted the end would come in 1284

*16th century Mother Shipton declared "...The world to an end shall come; in eighteen hundred and eighty-one."

*A 17th Century Baptist preacher named Benjamin Keach predicted it would be in 1689.

*1715 A.D.-Christ's coming; Isaac Newton, a note in his research on the Law of Gravity (Luther Martin, Date Setters, Guardian of Truth, Sept. 15, 1994)

*1809 A.D.-Mary Bateman, who specialized in fortune telling, had a magic chicken that laid eggs with end time messages on them. One message said that Christ was coming. The uproar she created ended when she was caught forcing an egg into the hen's oviduct by an unannounced visitor. Mary later was hanged for poisoning a wealthy client.


*1836 A.D.-John Wesley wrote that "the time, times and half a time" of Revelation 12:14 were 1058­1836, "when Christ should come" (apud A. M. Morris, The Prophecies Unveiled, p. 361)

*Jehovah Witnesses have predicted the end numerous times, most notably in 1914, 1915, 1918, 1920, 1925, 1941, 1975 and 1994.
*1953 A.D.-David Davidson wrote a book titled "The Great Pyramid, Its Divine Message". In it, he predicted that the world would end in 1953-AUG.



*1970 A.D.-The late Moses David (formerly David Berg) was the founder of the Christian religious group, The Children of God. He predicted that a comet would hit the earth, probably in the mid 1970's and destroy all life in the United States.   Also, The True Light Church of Christ made its claim to fame by incorrectly forecasting the return of Jesus. A number of church members had quit their livelihoods ahead of the promised advent.
 
*1986 A.D.-(He's back) Moses David of The Children of God faith group predicted that the Battle of Armageddon would take place in 1986. Russia would defeat Israel and the United States. A worldwide Communist dictatorship would be established. In 1993, Christ would return to earth.
 
*The book "88 Reasons Why the Rapture is in 1988" came out only a few months before the event was to take place.  After the passing of the deadline in 88 Reason's, the author, Edgar Whisenaunt, came out with a new book called "89 Reasons why the Rapture is in 1989." This book sold only a fraction of his prior release.
 
*In 1992, David Koresh of the Branch Davidian group in Waco Texas changed the name of their commune from Mt. Carmel to Ranch Apocalypse, because of his belief that the final all-encompassing battle of Armageddon mentioned in the Bible would start at the Branch Davidian compound. They had calculated that the end would occur in 1995. After a 51-day standoff, on 1993-APR-10, 76 members died as a result of a deliberately set fire.
 
*Harold Camping in his book "Are You Ready?" predicted the Lord's return in Sept 1994. The book was full of methods that added up Bible numbers up to 1994 as the date of Christ's return. Sept. 15, 1994: Last Day and Return of Christ; Harold Camping; Book: 1994? (pub in 1992) "Last Day and return of Christ sometime on or between September 15, 1994...and September 27, 1994." (p. 531) "I will be surprised if we reach October 1, 1994" (p. 533) Camping hedged his bets though, by offering a back up date of 2011 if 1994 was wrong.
 
*TOMORROW* Harold Camping's back up date of May 21, 2011, 6pm
 
So here we sit....watching another prediction come and go.  Much time and energy is wasted on books, predictions, false teachings, and advertising.  Money that could go to really help the lost, hurting, or poor is squandered.  Precious time is thrown away that could be spent sharing the Good News that sins are forgiven for those who accept and Jesus really is coming back, someday.  Unbelievers stop and stare at it like a train wreck; reaffirming the lie that Christians are crack pots.  This further attacks the reputation and believability of the Bible and believers everywhere as if Judgement Day Predictors like Harold Camping actually represent the TRUTH at all.

There is one thing that Harold Camping is helping to prove...the BIBLE is trustworthy.  If his predictions of Judgement Day were right the Bible wouldn't be; for NO ONE knows the hour, thus sayith the Lord!!!!
 
The Truth is that the end of the world is nearer today than yesterday.  Jesus died for the sin of the world and WILL return.  He doesn't know the hour and neither does anyone else, only God does.  We would be wise to be about the Father's Business until then.  (More on that in the next blog :)
 
  *Notes taken from: http://www.bible.ca/pre-date-setters.htm  and http://www.focusonlinecommunities.com/blogs/Finding_Home/2011/05/19/will-the-world-end-on-saturday)

Part 2 "Do you know the Rock?"

"In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands-a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces." Daniel 2:44-45

Nebuchadnezzar's Dream Part 2

This rock represents the kingdom of Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. This kingdom will fill the whole earth and never be destroyed. Jesus is described over and over in scripture to be the rock, foundation, stone the builders rejected, capstone, the living stone, chief cornerstone, and so on. (see Psalm 118:22-24, 1 Pet 2:4-8, Isaiah 29:16, Matt 21:42-43, Mk 12:10, Lk 20:17, Acts 4:11, Eph 2:20, Ro 9:33 & 10:11)

King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream....it terrified him to the point of hysteria. He knew it meant something big and he paid attention. He didn't rest until an explanation was given. God gave Daniel the dream and it's meaning. At the time of the dream only the head of gold, Babylon had been fulfilled. If every single part of the the statue's pretold analogy has been fulfilled up to the toes over a span of 2,600 years then it is logical to assume God will fulfill it to the end as well. I do not know when the end will come, no one does, but I know we are not at the shoulders or belly button, we are under the feet. The Rock is coming...do you know Him?

"That if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." Romans 10:9