False Prophecy by Paul 1 Thessalonians 4:17

Here's some material from Dr Shabir Ally and Bassam Zawadi in which they posit Paul made a false prophecy in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4.

What I'd like Christians to do is to ponder upon the points made by Dr Shabir Ally and Bassam Zawadi. At the end of the day, if Paul is making false prophecies then how can the average Christian deem him to be reliable?

Look into this and look into Islam. The Islamic view of Jesus (p) makes more sense than the Trinitarian view of Jesus p.

Dr Shabir Ally on the false prophecy attribute to Paul in Thessalonians 4:17



Bassam Zawadi's comments on 1 Thessalonians 4 and the claim of false prophecy is taken from here but is reproduced in full below:

Paul made a false prophecy about the coming of Jesus during his lifetime...

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

    ¹³Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. ¹⁴We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. ¹⁵According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁶For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. ¹⁸Therefore encourage each other with these words.

Lets look at some of the commentaries regarding this passage...

"Prevent" means "having an advantage over." Those who live until the Lord comes won't have any advantage over those who died earlier.

Source: http://www.blueletterbible.org/tmp_dir/c/1139502792-6755.html

a. Paul emphasized the soon return of Jesus, and the Thessalonians believed it earnestly; this was part of the reason that they were the kind of church that Paul would compliment so highly. But after he had left, they wondered about those Christians who died before Jesus' return - did they miss out on that great event? Would they miss the victory and blessing of Jesus' coming?

b. The Thessalonians were afraid that the dead in Christ would miss out, but Paul assures them that those gone on before them won't feel cheated at not being on earth when Jesus comes back to this earth, because the dead in Christ will gain first benefit

a. Those alive and remaining until this coming of Jesus are caught up to meet Jesus in the air, together with the dead in Jesus who have already risen

Source: http://www.blueletterbible.org/tmp_dir/c/1139503168-6235.html

The "we" means whichever of us are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord.
Source: http://www.blueletterbible.org/tmp_dir/c/1139503752-1625.html

Christians may tend to argue back and quote...

Matthew 24:42

"Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.

to show that Christians never knew about when Jesus was coming and therefore should always be expecting it. However, when we look at the way Paul is talking about the coming of Jesus we see that he is confident and sure that Jesus would be coming during his lifetime. He didn't say 'IF Jesus comes now then...". He was talking confidently and emphasized that Jesus was coming for sure during his lifetime in that passage. Obviously he was wrong. Paul wrote something wrong and wrote a failed prophecy. According to Christians all scripture is inspired (2Timothy 3:16). How could the Holy Spirit who was inspiring Paul, inspire Paul to write a false prophecy like that?

Who wrote Hebrews?

Is the Gospel of John Reliable?

The Sicarii

More about the Paraclete

Prophecies of the Messiah - Reza Aslan

Christians having dreams and converting to Islam

Learn about Islam

Email: yahyasnow@yahoo.co.uk