Liberating the Oppressed

Dexter Sinister

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Luke has Jesus misquoting Isaiah. The passage in Isaiah 61 is (KJV):
1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; 2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;

The passage in Luke 4 is (also KJV):
18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

Note there's nothing in Isaiah about restoring sight to the blind or liberating those that are bruised. Moreover, analysis of the style and content of Isaiah by biblical scholars indicates it was written by three people over the space of several centuries, and the passage cited was written by the third of them. He's not talking about Jesus, that's about seven centuries in the future, he's talking about himself, and the apocalyptic bits in Isaiah are about the Babylonian and Assyrian threats to the nations of Israel and Judah at the time, not the Roman overlordship of Jesus' time. The passage in Luke is simply an insertion--one of many in the New Testament--to make Jesus appear to be fulfilling certain Old Testament prophecies. Luke's gospel was written some time around 70-80 C.E. Whoever Luke was (he nowhere names himself in this gospel) he could not possibly have met Jesus, so that's certainly not an eye witness account, at best he's just recounting an oral tradition, at worst he just made it up.

In other words, what you're assuming in making your didactic argument in this thread is not true. For what it's worth though, that passage in Luke is the only indication in the Bible that Jesus could read.
 

Motar

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Why in God’s design is there a lengthier time of favor (one year) and a shorter period of judgment (one day)?
The lengthier time of the Lord’s favor takes into account the truth that all are oppressed and Christ came to liberate all.

“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9, NIV).
 

Jinentonix

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Which prophet? Depends on which religion is being pushed, doesn’t it? If it’s Jesus you’re referring to as a prophet then your bias is being ‘back door enforced’ just by someone trying to answer your question, isn’t it?

I’m on the outside looking in, & I don’t have a dog in this hunt, but don’t Christians & their related sects consider Christ not as a prophet but something else? What do they consider this guy?
The son of god. While In Islam he was a prophet, second in importance only to Mohammed. And the Hebrews considered him to be a heretic.
 

Motar

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He’s not talking about Jesus, that's about seven centuries in the future, he's talking about himself, and the apocalyptic bits in Isaiah are about the Babylonian and Assyrian threats to the nations of Israel and Judah at the time, not the Roman overlordship of Jesus' time.
I appreciate your citation of Scripture, DS. Luke commended the Berean Jews for their biblical research: “Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true” (Acts 17:11, New International Version). That, along with your consultation of scholarship demonstrates your earnest search for truth.

Biblical prophecy is a two-sided coin. There is forth-telling, which applies to the here and now. Isaiah’s forth-telling was indeed set in the context of ancient Assyrian and Babylonian hostility towards the southern kingdom of ancient Judah. Foretelling is the other aspect of biblical prophecy which applies to the future. Isaiah’s foretelling of Messiah was looking ahead to the Roman occupation of first-century Palestine during Jesus’ earthly day. We can describe this dual nature of biblical prophecy as microscopic (immediate context) and telescopic (future fulfillment).

In both Isaiah’s and Jesus’ times, the real target of Christ’s liberation mission was spiritual oppression which underlies all other forms (political, social, ethnic) and applies to everyone.
 

Motar

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In both Isaiah’s and Jesus’ times, the real target of Christ’s liberation mission was spiritual oppression which underlies all other forms (political, social, ethnic) and applies to everyone.
Spiritual oppression is an universal human phenomenon. It’s DNA-embedded and environmental. There is a solution. Have you been liberated?
 

Dexter Sinister

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Biblical prophecy is a two-sided coin.
I don't accept that there's any such thing as biblical prophecy. All the tales in the Bible claimed to be prophetic are in fact about current events at the time they were written, what you called forth-telling, a term I've never encountered before. There is no foretelling, there are just interpretations and inventions of later events to make older passages appear to have predicted them. Anybody can claim an event was predicted after it happens, it's called postdiction, and that's all that's going on with biblical prophecy.
 

Tecumsehsbones

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I don't accept that there's any such thing as biblical prophecy. All the tales in the Bible claimed to be prophetic are in fact about current events at the time they were written, what you called forth-telling, a term I've never encountered before. There is no foretelling, there are just interpretations and inventions of later events to make older passages appear to have predicted them. Anybody can claim an event was predicted after it happens, it's called postdiction, and that's all that's going on with biblical prophecy.
And Nostradamus. Make it vague enough, it'll come true pretty directly.
 
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Motar

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In Christ, there is liberation from all oppression.

“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Corinthians 3:17, NIV).