Today, I read a reprint of a 1927 Catholic apologetics volume, Defense of the Catholic Church by the Jesuit priest, Francis X. Doyle. In this book, he has the following discussions concerning the prophecies attributed to Jesus:
Prophecies are unambiguous predictions of a future event
specially of a free-will action not foreseen from natural causes and based upon
sure knowledge of the future. We may know of the future by studying present
causes. We may foresee the effect that will develop from a definite cause. But
man’s free actions cannot be predicted with certainty by any finite being. One
act of the will does not come from a previous act as an effect from the cause.
Man determines himself. We can only guess at what a person will do,
knowing his character and habits, but the person is free to do just the
opposite of what we have conjectured. Neither can the evil spirits foresee our
free actions with certainty, although they may surmise them much
better than a human being could.
For only God is all-knowing; He alone
knows with certainty all the future, all the free actions of man, and if His
messenger foretells accurately what the free actions of God or man will be,
then God is marking that messenger with His approval.
Thus, a prophecy can be known as true
if it can be proved that the event foretold is a free action that could not be
foreseen with certainty by the human mind, and that the foreknowledge of the
event is based on a sure knowledge of the future; i.e., it is not mere
conjecture. (Francis X. Doyle, Defense of the Catholic Church: Combined with
a Study of the Life of Christ Based on the Gospels [1927; repr., Pekin,
Ind.: Refuse of Sinners Publishing, Inc., 2022], 21-22)
Prophecy is a certain and definite prediction
of the future, specially of the future which depends on the free will. The prediction
must be certain to exclude vivid imagination and guesswork; it should be spoken
unhesitatingly; and it is verified or will be verified in the event. The prediction
is definite when it is unambiguous. (Ibid., 21 n. 4)
IN
PROOF OF HIS MISSION CHRIST UTTERED TRUE PROPHECIES
97. many times Jesus prophesied concerning earthly
happenings, spiritual things, the universe, and even the secrets of God. Among
other prophecies, He foretold His death and resurrection, the fate of the
Apostles and the Jews, signs of the times to come in the earth and heavens, the
spread of the Gospel, the descent of the Holy Spirit. Here we shall consider
only those prophecies which were fulfilled, and of these, only the ones
which speak in greatest detail of the future happenings. Our reason for
choosing these prophecies is to exclude vivid imagination, or clever
conjecture or diabolic knowledge as the cause of the prophetic utterance.
98. Jesus Prophesied Concerning Himself. (N.B.
Italicized words show the minute details.)
In Matthew XX, 18, 19, we read:
“Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and
the Son of man shall be betrayed to the chief priests and the scribes,
and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him
to the Gentiles to be mocked, and scourged, and crucified,
and the third day he shall rise again.”
Read also, Mark X, 33, 34; Matthew
XXVI, 2.
99. Jesus
Prophesied Concerning the Disciples.
In Matthew XXVI, 24, 25, we read:
“’The Son of man indeed goeth, as it
is written of him; but woe to that man, by whom the Son of man shall be betrayed:
it were better for him if that man had not been born.’ And Judas that betrayed
him, answering said: ‘Is it I, Rabbi?’ He saith to him: ‘Thou hast said it.’”
Read also John XIII, 27; Mark XIV, 42.
In Mark XIV, 27, we read:
“And Jesus saith to them: ‘You will
all be scandalized in my regard this night; for it is
written, “I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep shall be
dispersed.” But after I shall be risen again, I will go before you
into Galilee.’ But Peter saith to him: ‘Although all shall be
scandalized in thee, yet not I.’ And Jesus saith to him; ‘Amen, I say to thee,
today even in this night before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny
me thrice.’”
In Matthew X, 17, 18, we read:
“But beware of men. For they will deliver
you up in councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues,
and you shall be brought before governors, and before kings for my
sake, for a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. But
when they shall deliver you up, take no thought how or what to speak; for it
shall be given you in that same hour what to speak.’”
100. Jesus Prophesied
concerning the Fate of the Jews.
In Luke XXI, 24, we read:
“’And they shall fall by the edge
of the sword; and shall be led away captives into all nations;
and Jerusalem shall be trodden down by the Gentiles . . .’”
In Matthew XXIV, 1, 2, we read:
“And Jesus, being come out of the
temple, went away. And his disciples came to show him the building of the temple.
And he, answering, said to them: ‘Do you see all these things? Amen, I say to
you, there shall not be left here a stone upon a stone that shall not be
destroyed.’”
In Matthew XXIV, 34, we read:
“’Amen, I say to you, that this generation
shall not pass till all these things be done.’”
101. These
Prophecies Were Fulfilled.
(a) Concerning Himself: Read
Matthew XXVI, XXVII.
(b) Concerning His disciples:
Read Mark XIV; Matthew XXVI; Luke XXII; John XVIII; Acts passim.
(c) Concerning the fate of the Jews:
The Jews were led into captivity, and in the year 70 A.D. the Temple and the
Holy City were totally ruined. Read Josephus, The Jewish War, V, xii;
VI, iv, v, x; VII, I, ii; also The Chronicles of Sulpicius Severus, Bk.
2, c. 30.
102. Jesus
Uttered These Prophecies in Proof of His Mission.
In John XIII, 19, we read:
“’At present I tell you before it come
to pass; that when it shall come to pass, you may believe that I am he.’” In
John V, 36, we have the general statement that “the works themselves which I
do, give testimony of men, that the Father hath sent me.”
103. That These
Predictions Were True Prophecies
may be seen from the fact that Jesus, the wisest and holiest of men, was
certainly not merely imagining things, nor guessing, for in John
XII, 49, 50, He says: “For I have not spoken of myself, but the Father who sent
me, he gave me commandment what I should say, and what I should speak . . . The
things, therefore, that I speak, even as the Father said unto me, so do I
speak.’”
Besides, even without His own
testimony, it was impossible to predict the minute details of the
occurrences from mere guess-work.
Again, to suppose that Jesus
deliberately prophesied future events without knowing them, is to make Him an arch-deceiver,
an imposter and a fraud conscious all the time of his deceit. Beside, the accurate
fulfillment of His prophesies is certainly an incredible coincidence if His
predictions were due to mere guess-work or tricks of the imagination. (Ibid,
100-3)
It
struck me that many of the prophecies of Joseph Smith are frankly better than
those adduced for Jesus by the author; if one thinks the above prophecies are
compelling, one cannot, being consistent, dismiss Joseph’s prophecies as
“chance” and the like. On this, see:
