For centuries, many Christians have read the Bible as a book of predictions. Isaiah 53, Psalm 22, Micah 5:2: these passages are presented as prophecies fulfilled in Jesus, proof that his life was mapped out centuries before he was born.

Meanwhile, skeptics offer the mirror-image argument: the New Testament writers manufactured their case by cherry-picking verses from Hebrew scripture and twisting them beyond recognition. To critics, “fulfilled prophecy” isn’t divine proof but evidence of creative fiction.

Both sides are fighting over the wrong question.

This project explores what prophecy actually was in the ancient world, and why that reality disrupts both sides' assumptions. Rather than choose between “divine prediction” and “later fabrication,” we will trace how ancient communities took words born of one struggle and applied them afresh to challenges generations later.

This was not deception or supernatural foresight. It was how sacred texts stayed alive across generations.

Follow this exploration at misreadingprophecy.com.