Saturday, July 11, 2020

Catholic Answers on the Conditional Nature of Prophecy

In an article that appeared in This Rock magazine from 1995, we read the following from Catholic Answers wherein they affirmed the conditional nature of prophecy, both biblical and otherwise:

 

Timothy Kauffman is employed as an engineer with NASA, is the director of a Protestant ministry called White Horse Publications, and describes himself as “a former devotee of the apparitions of Mary [who] now invests [sic] himself in exposing the deceptive spirit behind them.” He has written two anti-Catholic books.  

In its winter 1995 newsletter, Spiritual Counterfeits Project, an Evangelical organization to which Catholics sometimes refer people who are concerned about relatives who are involved with cults, published an article by Kauffman: “Another Mary, Another Jesus, Another Gospel.” The article gives Catholics a good reason to cease cooperating with SCP, which has shown itself to be at root an anti-Catholic organization.  

After referring to some admittedly false apparitions, Kauffman writes, “The apparitions of Mary at Fatima (1917), Paris (1830), and Guadalupe (1531), among several others, could be trusted because the Church had assured the faithful that these were the authentic Mary of the Bible. But what did these approved apparitions have to offer? The same deception as any of the others.  

“Even the most devout followers of the Paris apparition acknowledge that the visionary, Catherine Laboure, was known to have received pro-phecies that did not come true, a clear indication to us that ‘the prophet hath spoken presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him’ (Deut. 18:22). The Guadalupe apparition asserted bold ly that ‘she’ was our ‘fountain of life,’ and the Fatima apparition had denied the sufficiency of the Cross by stating that we should ‘make sacrifices for sinners, for many souls go to hell because they have no one to sacrifice themselves and to pray for them.'”  

Kauffman makes elementary errors here. One can find in Scripture conditional prophecies “that did not come true.” The gist of a conditional prophecy is that something will happen if something else doesn’t occur. If that other thing doesn’t occur, the event prophesied doesn’t come to pass –but this doesn’t mean the prophecy is false. It means only that a required condition did not occur. And this consideration applies to unfulfilled prophecies given in true apparitions.  

 

Interestingly, the conditional nature of prophecy is rarely, if ever, discussed by Catholic apologists when they attempt to critique Joseph Smith’s claim to being a prophet. On the issue of Joseph Smith’s prophecies (both fulfilled and purportedly false), see the listing of articles at:

 

Resources on Joseph Smith’s Prophecies