What difference does prophecy make?

[richbansha]

Do the prophetic books of the Bible really matter? It has been ages since I read any of them. I do not hold them in disdain. I just don’t see any real applicability. What is going to happen is going to happen. If I am on Christ’s side who really cares what is to come?

There isn’t too much in the letters either. They seem to be distilled and better explicated in the catechism. So, what is the need?

The historical books are good for just that, history. If you skip over the endless family descents then you can really learn something. I read them sometimes. The most bang for the buck is in the wisdom books. Sirach is my favorite. And of course the Gospels. Those are the books I really care about.

Is there anybody out there who has found a good, practical reason to study the prophecy books? The Left Behind mania doesn’t count. Jesus can come when he is good and ready. I will be waiting. My concern is that I may be limiting myself by too much cherry picking.

 

[Zooey]

But, when you read the prophets, there are so many wonderful things that are told there, that came true in Jesus’ life!!
I love to read them!! Our Lord is there on every page…Our Lady is all over, too!! It’s thrilling!!

 

[Fidelis]

richbansha:

Do the prophetic books of the Bible really matter? It has been ages since I read any of them. I do not hold them in disdain. I just don’t see any real applicability. What is going to happen is going to happen. If I am on Christ’s side who really cares what is to come?..

Is there anybody out there who has found a good, practical reason to study the prophecy books? The Left Behind mania doesn’t count. Jesus can come when he is good and ready. I will be waiting. My concern is that I may be limiting myself by too much cherry picking.

I think your problem may be that, while you seem to recognize the errors found in the “Left Behind” approach to prophecy and the prophetic books, you are still thinking of them in these terms–that is, as primarily “fortunetelling.” In fact, however, the prophetic books are only partly about the future–it is often correctly said they are more about forthtelling rather than foretelling. The message of the prophets is primarily that of telling God’s wayward children to return to His ways, and this message is just as true for us as it was for the original hearers.

Here’s a series of articles that may help give you a clearer picture.

catholic.com/thisrock/1992/9210otg.asp
catholic.com/thisrock/1994/9406otg.asp
catholic.com/thisrock/1992/9208otg.asp
catholic.com/thisrock/1993/9305otg.asp
catholic.com/thisrock/1994/9402otg.asp

 

[T.A.Stobie_SFO]

The prophetic books of the Old Testament help us better understand Jesus as the Messiah, the Good Shepard, and his many other identifications as well as better understanding the workings of God.

 

[TOME]

richbansha,
First from our understanding of our Christian Faith and because of this our understanding of the meaning of Christ Jesus the prophets are extremely important. The Church from Apostolic Times and especially during the times of the Church Fathers, this concept of the importance of the works of the prophets in understanding Jesus was proclaimed.

But I have to agree with you. For many, if you just pick up the Bible and start reading a Book of one of the Prophets it may very well make no sense and have no meaning.

So my advise instead of trying to read and understanding the Books of the Prophets directly perhaps you can pick up their significance by reading other Christian authors whose works may help make sense of it all.

And in this same light, you may not find any value in the Church Fathers’ works right now so I would suggest that you find more contemporary authors whose theology is sound but whose writing style is more to our 21st thought (I am talking about grammer, syntex things like that).

The if you find an author or authors that celp make sense of the Church Fathers and through them the prophets you may want to study the writings of the prophets themselves but then it will more sense for you.

 

[spauline]

richbansha:

Do the prophetic books of the Bible really matter? It has been ages since I read any of them. I do not hold them in disdain. I just don’t see any real applicability. What is going to happen is going to happen. If I am on Christ’s side who really cares what is to come?

.

they matter in some sense, for the Church will be able to recognize that the world is coming to an end when it is. That is, it will not be a complete and total surprise to the elect who are then living when Christ comes, for by then, the Church will have issued the final dogma, the mystery of iniquity, in which it will recognize that the
Great Apostasy has come along with fullness of Jews, and that Christ’s return is hence absolutely imminent. However, the NT prophecy is more concerning spiritual conditions of the world, and not the temporal “Russia will do this, and China will do that” nonsense of the Left Behind.

 

[spauline]

oh, and one more thing. It’s not just simply a question of “knowing” the future for the sake of knowing the future. It’s also about understanding why human history comes to an end and that, at that time, man is irrevocably and irredeemably rejecting God and His Redemption. That, then, would seem to imply that the above aforementioned “mystery of inquity” is not just simply a recognition that the world will be ending, but also a spiritually psychological understanding of why God’s Plan for the Redemption is reaching completion. Hence, the real debate between amillers and postmillers is not useless or distracting when properly undertaken, for there are psychological and spiritual implications for each ideology. Amill is a denial that the world can recover from a major apostasy, whereas postmill implies that a “learning lesson” apostasy/tribulation can and will occur before the unforgivable, irredeemable apostasy.