comments:
The cherry picking of Bible verses to justify a European settler colonial state is deeply disturbing and intellectually dishonest. It's not a "European settler colonial state", and in a discussion with good faith, we should be avoiding statements like this that are non-factual and appeal to the emotions. Scripture is very clear that the Jews were scattered worldwide from their homeland and persecuted because of their disobedience (Lev. 26:31-33, 39; Dt. 28:64). Yet Scripture is also clear about a regathering of the Jews back to their homeland, the land of their forefathers. All these and more have been prophesied and fulfilled from as recently as 1882 until today, in our time: * the first organised mass return of the Jews to Palestine in 1882 (Schneider, Jan (June 2008). "Israel". Focus Migration. 13. Hamburg Institute of International Economics. ISSN 1864-6220; see also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Aliyah), with more following (Jer. 3:19; 23:7-8; 31:8; Ezk. 11:17; 36:24; 37:21); * the purchase of much land at inflated prices in Israel (Jer. 32:43-44); * resettlement of Jews in very specific areas foretold in the Bible, although there were various other options availed by the United Nations, e.g. in Uganda or Argentina (Jer. 32:43-44); * the founding of the state of Israel in one literal day on 14 May 1948 (and no, we are not saying that a day is 1,000 years here, considering that there was a long time between the first mass return since 1882 to 14 May 1948 during which time the Jews did not yet have statehood), in the midst of painful military conflict ("woes...when Zion was in labour", Is. 66:8), when nine Arab armies gathered to destroy it; * the incredible military success and divine preservation of a tiny country surrounded by hostile nations determined to obliterate it from the map (Ps. 126:2b, 3); * the founding of the Arab League whose sole objective was to destroy Israel (Ps. 83:1-5); * the identities of the seven founding members of the Arab League known by their ancient tribal names in 1000 BC (Ps. 83:5-8) -- to that level of detail! Observe: (1) [Edom, Moab, Ammon]=Jordan; (2&3) [Ishmaelites] = Saudi Arabia and North Yemen; (4) [Hagrites]=Syria; (5) [Gebal, Tyre]=Lebanon; (6) [Amalek]=Egypt; (7) [Assyria]=Iraq. * the Arab-Israeli Six-Day-War in June 1967, when Israel stunned the world and defied all odds to win the war and even enlarge its territory further, taking control of the old city of Jerusalem including the Temple Mount, along with the rest of East Jerusalem (Ps. 126:1); * the conquest and recovery of old "Zion" (i.e., the Temple Mount, not "Israel"!) on 7 June 1967 (Ps. 126); * the re-cultivation of vineyards and exotic fruits in a wasteland decimated by centuries of Muslim rule (the Muslims were teetotallers and had destroyed all vines) (Am. 9:14-15); * desert blooms a la Garden of Eden transformed from the desert (Ezk. 36:34-35; Ps. 107:35-38); * the revival of Hebrew which had become a dead language after more than a thousand years since the loss of Jewish statehood in AD135 (by comparison, no other dead language e.g. Sanskrit, Latin, etc. has ever been revived in like manner) (Is. 19:18); and so on. It is far easier to spiritualise all these prophecies away and hold the position that the church is Israel, but there is no way many, many of the verses I have listed above can be fulfilled other than literally. These are prophecies foretold in Scripture and correlated to real-world historical events -- literal fulfilment of Bible prophecy. And I am only scratching the surface here. I would encourage you to watch this lecture by Dr Roger Liebi, conservative archaeologist and Bible scholar who in this video gives a flavour of what you can read in more breadth and depth in his book of the same title. https://sg.video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?fr=yfp-t&ei=UTF-8&p=roger+liebi+are+we+really+living+in+the+end+times#id=1&vid=ec58b6ed4c48b4d7a482c1a46f937b68&action=click And here's the book: https://www.amazon.com/Really-Living-Last-Fulfilled-Prophecies/dp/3943175081/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2V5EI1Z5WCFC6&keywords=are+we+really+living+in+the+last+days&qid=1649611852&sprefix=are+we+really+livi%2Caps%2C2469&sr=8-1 Prophecy fulfilled largely by people and peoples who don't know God, don't care about God, and obviously had no vested interest in making Bible prophecy come true. When the Arab nations formed the Arab League to obliterate Israel as prophesied in Psalm 83, I can assure you that it was not done with "Bismillah! Allahu akbar! ☪️ 🕌 Let us come together to make Bible prophecy come true!" Sheer coincidence? What's the mathematical probability? You be the judge.