If "atheists" don`t believed what God says...?

Question

God said to His chosen people (in the bible)...I will bring you all to the land of milk & honey (promised land.) Isn`t this "true" and well documented? Did anybody knew what`s in store for them?....... except our GOD ?

I just want to prove here something real in connection with the "unseen" & "non-existent" God as you claimed.
To base our talk:
- Moses lead the people to "PL" (Middle east) from Egypt as instructed by God the Father in Heaven.
- Israel is still claiming the land (as we are witnessing now) as proclaimed chosen people.
- Middle east is full of black liquid gold to their pride these days.
- Oil comes from decayed flesh & bones of centuries old dinosaurs which God let it happen for His chosen people to enjoy if...they become loyal to Him until their death.
- that I say is well documented and 1 proof that God did it all.
- to add, prophet Jonah had not much self-confident to do what God had commanded as warning to the people, so reluctant enough. But when Jonah did it (warn the people), the people believed & repented, so, God did not carry the punishment.
- if all of you change your life for the better, accept God & be grateful of His goodness...then it would be easy for God to you

Answer 1

1. There are several mundane ways in which a prediction of the future can be fulfilled:
1. Retrodiction. The "prophecy" can be written or modified after the events fulfilling it have already occurred.
2. Vagueness. The prophecy can be worded in such a way that people can interpret any outcome as a fulfillment. Nostradomus's prophecies are all of this type. Vagueness works particularly well when people are religiously motivated to believe the prophecies.
3. Inevitability. The prophecy can predict something that is almost sure to happen, such as the collapse of a city. Since nothing lasts forever, the city is sure to fall someday. If it has not, it can be said that according to prophecy, it will.
4. Denial. One can claim that the fulfilling events occurred even if they have not. Or, more commonly, one can forget that the prophecy was ever made.
5. Self-fulfillment. A person can act deliberately to satisfy a known prophecy.

There are no prophecies in the Bible that cannot easily fit into one or more of those categories.

2. In biblical times, prophecies were not simply predictions. They were warnings of what could or would happen if things did not change. They were meant to influence people's behavior. If the people heeded the prophecy, the events would not come to pass; Jonah 3 gives an example. A fulfilled prophecy was a failed prophecy, because it meant people did not heed the warning.

3. The Bible also contains failed prophecies, in the sense that things God said would happen did not (Skeptic's Annotated Bible n.d.). For example:
* Joshua said that God would, without fail, drive out the Jebusites and Canaanites, among others (Josh. 3:9-10). But those tribes were not driven out (Josh. 15:63, 17:12-13).
* Ezekiel said Egypt would be made an uninhabited wasteland for forty years (29:10-14), and Nebuchadrezzar would plunder it (29:19-20). Neither happened.

4. Other religions claim many fulfilled prophecies, too (Prophecy Fulfilled n.d.).

5. Divinity is not shown by miracles. The Bible itself says true prophecies may come elsewhere than from God (Deut. 13:1-3), as may other miracles (Exod. 7:22, Matt. 4:8). Some people say that to focus on proofs is to miss the whole point of faith (John 20:29).

Answer 2

I am not certain about what you are asking. In the Bible God did promise the nation of Israel the lands of Canaan and they did take it. If you are using this as evidence against atheists note that saying a god promised you something is great propaganda for a war movement and that it is also good for justifying it as well. As far as did anyone know what was in store for them, probably not, but the Bible was not written before all of this happened, it was written after. It's easy to make prophecy fit if you already know what happened.

Furthermore, God has punished the nation of Israel and the Hebrew people repeatedly. They didn't know what was in store for them and why follow a God that would do those things to you? Heck in Job, God allowed the poor guy to be smited on a bet.

The god of the Bible is not a god I would choose to follow. There are more complex reasons for suffering that I figure (and you can look at my other answers to see them), but I think that the Bible is a book just like any other and it may be time that we got rid of it. Furthermore, the god of the Bible, particularly of the Old Testament, is the god of the ethnic Hebrew people. They are the chosen people of God, not Christians.

Answer 3

Are you asking about Atheists?
Or are you asking about prophecies that were written into the story aften the episodes took place? Most of the Old Testament stories were rewritten by the Maccabees a long time after they happened. They were turned into Politically Correct reminders of what was wanted.

Cows and bees? Yeah, a nice place to go if you only have sheep in the wilderness. But they killed people (what's that commandment they were to live by?) and stole the land and the wells, and ... yes, even the women. Just like any other warfairing tribe of the time. Easy enough to see where and what if you are making military plans to get it.

Answer 4

Dreamstuff Entity makes some beautiful points about the fallability of prophecy-belief, and expresses them very clearly. To address the point myself, it's entirely possible that leaders at the time of the Exodus (Moses, I'm looking at you...) did what leaders do to this day (Yes, Mr Bush) - claim divine inspiration or approval for their secular actions. If you're in a bad place, you'll follow claims of a "god-inspired" quest to a better place, won't you? (many people with addiction problems get "saved" and go on to be the most vociferous Christians, for example). So getting people to join the exodus probably wasn't too hard. And getting them to be grateful at the end of it probably wasn't too tricky either - "Thank God that's over!"
So it's "true" that the trip was made - they were one place before, they were another place after. True and well-documented that God had anything to do with this fact - That's a bit of a stretch...

Answer 5

I know it's hard for you to understand, but an atheist who doesn't believe in God doesn't believe any of the things you say. The fact that a people called Jews arrived in a place later named Israel does not in any way convince them that God exists. It has no bearing on it. For you, the idea of people not believing in God is currently as confusing as believing that the sky is purple and the sun comes up in the west, but God is not something that can be observed, no matter how many things are written about him, so belief in him is a choice, and some people choose not to.

Answer 6

There is no way to truly know the Unknowable. We know that the current version (including translation and typo issues - never mind the fire that destroyed many of the original texts) of the Bible says these things, but after so many years (and so many errors in books of authority in every area of life) how can anyone expect all the people to believe that their version is 100% words out of God's mouth? There is certainly enough room for doubt.

Peace!

Answer 7

No, it's not true and well documented. Circular logic doesn't work in reality, dear.

ADDENDUM:I think Dreamstuff Entity deserves a gold star for their replies to you. I doubt very much it'll have any impact at all upon the asker's mind, given just how closed it is, but it's clearly the best answer here.

Answer 8

It's not that we don't believe what God said. It's that we don't even believe he said it.
God didn't say that, and anyone who says he said that is lying to you. It may have been written in a book, but that book was written in Hebrew, and translated to Greek, then to English. God was fluent in Hebrew apparently, and came down to write a little book telling us about milk and honey to come. Sure, there. I could think of a million better things for an all-powerful deity to be doing in a time rife with disease, premature death, and hate.

Answer 9

Let's assume for the moment that God really did say that and that it really happened.

That "land of milk & honey" was already occupied. The God of the Bible ordered the Israelites to massacre entire cities, keep the virgin women as sex slaves, and steal their land.

That type of behavior is sadistly evil. All humanity should oppose such behavior and refuse to worship any deity who condones it.

Answer 10

It is not true and well documented whatever you are talking about... if you mean coming to America, well it has not been the land of milk and honey for many. This land has known famine - the dustbowl probably being the best known example.