Here is the central argument and counter argument. The blog is essentially defending the counter.
Argument:
Premise 1: People can not predict or know the future supernaturally
Premise 2: Jesus makes a prediction of the Jewish Temples destruction in Luke 21:5-38.
Conclusion: Therefore the gospel writer must have known about its destruction when writing the gospel. Since the temple was destroyed in 70 a.d., therefore the gospels must be dated after since Jesus could not have predicted the future.
Counter argument
Premise 1: You don’t need to invoke the supernatural to predict the future.
Premise 2: People have predicted the future without supernatural means (Nikola Tesla etc.)
Premise 3: Since people have predicted the future successfully without super natural means, Jesus could have easily done this as well
Conclusion: Therefore Jesus could have analyzed the current political tensions and made a prediction that came true just as Tesla and others. Therefore since it is possible that Jesus could have predicted the future without supernatural means, the gospel writer could have recorded an eye witness account before 70 A.D. Therefore the argument for a later date for the gospels based on supernatural prediction being impossible is invalid and has no effect on the dating of the gospels.
“Miracles don’t happen and people can not predict the future!
Under this assumption we would have no choice but to give a later date to the gospels as if we assume that Jesus could not have predicted the future, then there would be no way that He would be able to foretell the destruction of the Jewish temple… therefore it is not hard to argue since the gospel writer knew of it’s destruction it must have already happened since people can not supernaturally predict future outcomes of events. Is this a good assumption though? When someone makes a prediction must it always be supernatural? Lets do an exercise in logic and see if we can predict a future outcome.
Say that your phone is at 100 percent full power and loses 2 percent battery power every 5 minutes (assume these numbers for the sake of the concept, this phone battery sucks). Lets say you take your charger off of the wall at 7 a.m. What time will your phone be dead?
5 minutes = 2 percent loss of power
10 minutes = 4 percent loss of power
15 minutes = 6 percent loss of power
20 minutes = 8 percent loss of power
25 minutes = 10 percent loss of power
30 minutes = 12 percent loss of power
and so forth to 24 percent loss of power ever 1 hour
2 hours = 48 percent loss of power
4 hours – 92 percent loss of power
4 hours 20 minutes = fully drained phone
- From this information how much battery power do you predict you will have at 9:20 a.m.? Should be exactly 44 percent right? In a sense, based off of the information we predicted the state of your phones battery at 9:20 a.m. but lets take it a step further.
Suppose that listening to music on your phone drains the battery life an additional 1 percent every five minutes. What do you predict your phones battery life will be assuming that you listened to music exactly from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. start to finish at 9:20 a.m.? 32 percent correct?
7 a.m. to 8 a.m. + 1 additional percentage of power lost with 2 percent making 3 percent battery loss every 5 minutes
7:05 a.m. = 3 percent
7:10 a.m. = 6 percent
7:15 a.m. = 9 percent
7:20 a.m. = 12 percent
7:25 a.m. = 15 percent
7:30 a.m. = 18 percent
times 2 to get to 8 a.m. = 36 percent battery life lost.
8:05 a.m. = 2 percent
8:10 a.m. = 4 percent
8:15 a.m. = 6 percent
8:20 a.m. = 8 percent
8:25 a.m. = 10 percent
8:30 a.m. = 12 percent
times 2 to get to 9 a.m. = 24 percent battery life lost
36 + 24 = 60 percent total loss totaling 40 percent battery life at 9 a.m.
9:05 a.m. = 2 percent
9:10 a.m. = 4 percent
9:15 a.m. = 6 percent
9:20 a.m. = 8 percent
40 – 8 = 32 percent total battery life at 9:20 a.m.
Now that this concept is explained, lets take a step back and add another factor into the equation.
Suppose this phone belongs to a gentleman named Johnny with the same amount of power loss when idle and when listening music who is married to a woman named Sue (names were picked arbitrarily, so no offense to the Johnny’s and the Sues out there… Or those who are actually name Johnny and Sue… and are together… and married… What are the odds of you even seeing this? Well if you are here… all the best to your marriage! This is awkward… moving on… to more awkwardness!). Suppose that Johnny and Sue are having marriage problems and that Sue has reconnected with her old high school sweetheart behind Johnny’s back and that they have been talking for several months. Their relationship is going well and she is redeveloping her old feelings for him. We’ll call him Steve (if you guys know a Steve I swear this is just a weird stroke of coincidence and if it helps in any way, I have a friend named Stephen who is pretty cool, but lets face it you need to watch that Steve guy. Anyone without the phen in their name… Gotta keep an eye on them… We love ya Steve, thanks for joining us on this free flow soap opera to prove why the gospels should be dated early! What a sentence right?)
SELF NARRATIVE BREAK
Good job brain!
*your welcome Tim*
You know I love you, now let’s keep focused and on track!
*impossible Tim*
Just do it!
END SELF NARRATIVE
Depressed on what to do with the feeling of love for two men she holds dear to her heart she decides to try and give Johnny one more chance. The problem is however, he has been neglecting to pick up the phone and answer her calls (Johnny is oblivious that his wife is suffering so much and doesn’t think to answer the phone at work). From Sue’s perspective, she feels that Johnny doesn’t care about her anymore and she craves the emotional and physical expressions of love that are now absent from their marriage. Johnny is always either watching t.v. reading a book or talking with his buddies at the bar and when he doesn’t answer the phone, lonely and depressed Sue can’t help but think that he is ignoring her calls (when really he is just an air head and has no idea how much pain his wife is in… ladies tell us, sometimes we need a little nudge in the right direction).
Let’s now create a scenario and see if we can “predict” the future outcome.
Johnny is at work (shift started at 7 a.m.) and it is now 8:20 a.m. Suppose he was listening to music the entire time. What do you predict the percentage of battery power loss will be?
44 percent loss of battery life leaving the phone life at 56 percent battery power.
Can you predict what time his phone will die should he not listen to any music for the rest of the work day?
Did you predict given these conditions 10:40 a.m.?
Suppose that Sue has been thinking about Johnny and Steve all day. Suppose the night before Sue talked with Johnny and laid out her heart to him letting him know how hurt she is when he ignores her calls. He apologizes and promises her that he will answer the next call. She decides to call at 11 a.m. What are some possible predictions you can come up with? I’ll list a few that I am thinking.
1. Johnny freaks out and realizes that he is an air head and that his phone sucks, kicks himself in the head for ever thinking a phone that loses 2 percent battery life every five minutes was a good idea, finds a charger and plugs his phone in and gets her call (or maybe he even took a charger for once, good ol responsible Johnny! Same result.)
2. Johnny remembered she was going to call, forgot his charger and finds a way to call his wife to let her know it is dead.
3. Johnny completely spaces out yet again and doesn’t even realize his phone is dead (he didn’t factor in the phone losing 3 percent while listening to music… typical Johnny… any Johnny’s reading this I am sure you are an awesome and responsible person, so just say it’s Steve! And Steve… Totally Johnny man. We’ll keep it between us and the brain.)
SELF NARRATIVE AGAIN (because Tim likes to argue with himself too much for the resurrection of His Lord Jesus)
Right brain?
*I will never forget it and you are creating chaos by telling one its the other*
Ssshh! I am trying to avoid a drama brain!
*there is always drama*
If you keep talking there will be! Now let me handle these social stuffs!
*this is going to be disastrous*
Yeah, but at least I realize its never the first thing we think up! At least I know that people rarely mean you are sheep literally and that its metaphor but you seem to imagine they mean we go bbaaa!
*how would you figure it out without me?*
SHUT UP BRAIN!!!
END SELF NARRATIVE
4. Sue grows some compassion and understanding, realizing that Johnny was sincere and isn’t trying to ignore her, he is doing his best and she forgives him based on the prior conversation the night before where Johnny expressed remorse and asked forgiveness.
5. Sue gets frustrated and believes that Johnny really is just ignoring her and not taking things seriously.
Given everything you know about the situation, what do you predict will happen when she calls at 11 a.m.?
I predict that Sue, from past experiences of heartbreak from Johnny will feel like she just can’t anymore. It’s more than just the phone calls, it’s everything. The football games, hanging out with friends, not showing any signs of affections… it is just too much for her and she is overwhelmed. I predict that since Johnny has been unreliable in the past that he probably did not even think to bring a charger and since he never paid much mind to his wife in the first place, it is doubtful that she will occupy a place long enough in his mind for him to even consider bringing a charger in case his phone did happen to die. I also predict that when Johnny’s phone goes straight to voicemail that Sue full of hurt emotion will confide in Steve. I then predict that at the end Sue and Steve will have an affair and their marriage will be in shambles. Is any of this certain? No. Anything could happen in the middle of it. Johnny’s phone could die and a coworker could lend him a charger and he talks with Sue who decides to stay. Johnny’s phone could still die, Sue calls, becomes upset but Steve does the morally right thing and decides to end the relationship for the sake of her marriage. This same thing could happen and Steve could die in a car wreck on the way to work, saving their marriage as she breaks and pours out all of it to Johnny who repents with her. It could be that even Sue does the morally right thing and ends the relationship giving Johnny mercy. It also could play out where Johnny realizes his phone is about to die, turns it off and powers it back on before Sue calls him and the ideas go on. You couldn’t predict the future with absolutely certainty with just human logic alone (only decide on the most probable outcome and go from there), the problem is however, sometimes people actually get it right!
In the next blog we will provide some examples of people who predicted the future using the same type of reasoning we did.
See you next time!
- your fellow laborer of the harvest