Why believe in the Bible? Is it only because of Fulfilled prophecies?

[Sunsetclouds]

I need help thinking straight because i am quite depressed, my mind is foggy and I cannot think straight.

I was apart of a cult, and I often had this question as they would time and time again emphasise that their teachings were according to the Bible.

When i asked, why believe in the Bible - and how do we know the Bible is the Word of God - they would say that Jesus fulfilled the prophecies of the Old Testament Scripture.

They would then say that the leader of the cult fulfilled the New Testament prophecies. The cult is called Shincheonji.

Sometimes I worry that i made the mistake leaving the cult, as if what if it is true. I have mental illnesses, so this is something I’m really struggling with as I cannot think straight.

Thank you to all who reply.

 

[Fati]

When i asked, why believe in the Bible - and how do we know the Bible is the Word of God -

I would recommend the catholic formed dot org. ( it was free during the pandemic) your catholic church probably has access to it.

and the teaching of dr. Timothy Gray on the book of Mark.

It is a 15 sessions .
that is the best I have ever seen.

It will open your understanding of the gospel and why the deciples didn’t understand the teaching of Jesus. As in Isaiah said the disciples Have eyes and cant see and ears and cant hear.
So when Jesus told them prophecy of himself they didn’t understand. Just like today when people don’t understand

 

[Tis_Bearself]

When i asked, why believe in the Bible - and how do we know the Bible is the Word of God - they would say that Jesus fulfilled the prophecies of the Old Testament Scripture.

This is true - Jesus did.

They would then say that the leader of the cult fulfilled the New Testament prophecies.

This is false. The cult contradicted the Bible they claimed to believe in, by saying this.

Matthew 24:4-5:

Jesus said to them in reply, “See that no one deceives you.
5 For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and they will deceive many.

Anybody who’s walking around on earth now claiming they fulfill Biblical prophecy is an example of the deception predicted by Jesus. One should avoid and ignore them.

 

[BartholomewB]

There are some people, and not only in fringe cults like the one you name here, who say they would lose all faith in God if they could find no evidence in the Bible for prophecies that have been fulfilled. But most people don’t demand evidence of that kind.

The Catholic view of the relationship between the Old and New Testaments is set out very clearly in The Jewish People and their Sacred Scriptures in the Christian Bible, a book-length document published by the Pontifical Biblical Commission in 2001, over the signature of the Commission’s president, the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.

http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/pcb_documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20020212_popolo-ebraico_en.html

Here is a key excerpt:

1. The basic theological presupposition is that God’s salvific plan which culminates in Christ (cf. Ep 1:3-14) is a unity, but that it is realised progressively over the course of time. … Christian faith recognises the fulfilment, in Christ, of the Scriptures and the hopes of Israel, but it does not understand this fulfilment as a literal one. Such a conception would be reductionist. In reality, in the mystery of Christ crucified and risen, fulfilment is brought about in a manner unforeseen. It includes transcendence. Jesus is not confined to playing an already fixed role — that of Messiah — but he confers, on the notions of Messiah and salvation, a fullness which could not have been imagined in advance; he fills them with a new reality; one can even speak in this connection of a “new creation”. It would be wrong to consider the prophecies of the Old Testament as some kind of photographic anticipations of future events. All the texts, including those which later were read as messianic prophecies, already had an immediate import and meaning for their contemporaries before attaining a fuller meaning for future hearers. The messiahship of Jesus has a meaning that is new and original.

 

[po18guy]

Not everyone believes the prophesies. Not everyone believes all of the prophesies. If you believe in love (Huey Lewis), if you believe in relationship, now that is why you revere the scriptures. It’s all about relationship, containing lessons both large and small.

 

[OddBird]

Sometimes I worry that i made the mistake leaving the cult, as if what if it is true.

Lee Manhee doesn’t fulfill any New Testament prophecies. He isn’t an incarnation of the Holy Spirit. He is just an old man who probably once was very power-hungry and who now seems increasingly controlled by the people around him. His cult uses well established manipulation techniques to recruit and keep members.

God does not manipulate. God does not use brainwashing or constraint. God does not get on His knees in front of tv cameras to apologize for having been a Covid-19 super-spreader and having deliberately deceived sanitary authorities.

God wants us to be free, and He gives out His life to us freely, in sheer love.

All mainstream Christian denominations rightly believe that Jesus, fully God and fully man, in his life freely given up in love for our redemption, is God’s ultimate revelation to mankind. And as Tis pointed out, Jesus himself warned us against people like Lee Manhee.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

Lee Manhee doesn’t fulfill any New Testament prophecies. He isn’t an incarnation of the Holy Spirit. He is just an old man who probably once was very power-hungry and who now seems increasingly controlled by the people around him. His cult uses well established manipulation techniques to recruit and keep members.

Yes, I’ve read about a number of cults because I find the subject interesting, and it’s not like we don’t have many of these self-styled prophets in USA. Many of them have either an Evangelical background or an LDS background. The striking thing about them is how alike they are, even though they come from all different parts of the country and generally are not reading up on each other or trying to imitate each other. They’re all just oriented towards manipulating people who are vulnerable. They use very standard manipulation/ control techniques that are similar to those used by secular control freaks, such as men who control their wives and families, or people who start some kind of a secular self-help organization and get other people to join and contribute money to them, often just living off the proceeds of what they force their “followers” to go earn or cadge.

There is absolutely nothing special about any of these “leaders”. As I said, Jesus warned us about all of them. He was the real deal. No one else is or ever will be.

 

[Diaconia]

Hers an easy way to boil this all down:

Jesus fulfilled all of the prophesies of the Old Testament.

Jesus is the Son of God, whose resurrection from the dead was seen by multitudes of people.

Jesus Himself taught us that John the Baptist was both the greatest and the last Prophet. There will be no more, as all revelation was completed by the Apostles.

Every cult always says THEIR prophet / leader is different, unique, etc. Its just hogwash.

No further prophesy, no amending the Scriptures, everything needed has already been given to us.
Deacon Christopher