Biblical Prophecies Atheists Love Part 2

Anti-Mormons love to quote Deuteronomy 18:20-21 as a preliminary to attacking the alleged false prophecies of Joseph Smith.

21 And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken?

22 When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.

Michael T. Griffith writes "Using a strictly literal interpretation of these verses as their guide, most if not all anti-Mormons insist that if a prophecy does not come to pass, it is automatically false, period. These critics don't seem to realize they are stepping into quicksand when they use this criterion to attack Joseph Smith."

One of the problems this creates is found in 2 Samuel 7:5-17, where we read that the prophet Nathan unequivocally prophesied to David that through his son Solomon the Davidic empire would be established "forever;' that the children of Israel would dwell in the promised land "and move no more," and that the "children of wickedness" would no longer afflict them. These things are clearly stated. No conditions are attached to these promises.

Any student of the scriptures knows that none of these things came to pass! So is Nathan a false prophet? If we continue to insist on interpreting prophecy literally there is only one conclusion - Nathan is a false prophet. But by applying the rules for interpreting prophecy that we covered in this post, Nathan can be validated. And that is exactly what Latter-day Saints do; we accept Nathan and all of the Biblical prophets as true emissaries from on high.

Naturally we insist Joseph Smith and his successors are judged by the same standard.