# Paine's "Examination of the Prophecies"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paines-examination-of-the-prophecies/151203>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [January 27, 2003, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paines-examination-of-the-prophecies/151203 "2003-01-27T08:00:06Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 3

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\
**Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paines-examination-of-the-prophecies/151203/41 "2003-02-03T23:38:44Z")

</div>

> [@](#):
>
> _John Zahn_  
> Any credible historian that has a strict adherence to the philosophy of naturalism, doesn’t believe in prophecies. If they do they shouldn’t be called historians, but theologians. Maybe some think the prophecies were so vague it could be interpreted to mean many things and Mark was just shooting in the dark.

I agree with this completely, but it’s _possible_ at least, that Jesus made a metaphorical reference to “destroying the temple,” and that after the Roman/Judean war, this reference was reinterpreted and literalized by the gospel writers.

I agree that, from a non-supernatural standpoint, Jesus obviously could not have “predicted” the Roman destruction.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paines-examination-of-the-prophecies/151203.md?page=2)