The Nugget:
1Th 4:15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. (KJV)
1Th 4:15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. (ESV)
The Muslim Challenge:
Paul made a false prophecy about the coming of Jesus during his lifetime…
My Answer:
For those who know how to read, are willing to read, and who actually do read with care, I post the following refutation of the Opening Post. I take this information from my digital Bible study resource, The Ultimate Cross Reference Treasury, the note on “that we” in 1 Thessalonians 4:15,
1Th 4:15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
that we. FS39, Acts 17:27. Some have mistakenly drawn the inference that Paul here asserts he expected the return of Jesus in his own lifetime. This, of course, is an unwarranted inference which fails to take into account Paul’s own inspired prediction regarding the great apostasy and the coming of Antichrist given in 2 Thessalonians 2, events which Paul certainly did not suppose were to be compressed into his own lifespan. The fact that Christ revealed to Peter certain events which would transpire in his life (Joh 21:18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23), as well as to Paul (Acts 9:15; Act 20:23, 24; Act 27:24), must not be understood to deny the doctrine of the imminency of the return of Christ. Robertson notes Paul “was alive, not dead, when he wrote” (Word Pictures, vol. 4, p. 32). Paul sometimes associates himself with the living (as here, and Php 3:20, Tit 2:12, 13), and sometimes with the dead, (as **1Co 6:14, **2Co 4:14; 2Co 5:8, Php 1:21, 22, 23, 24; Php 2:17, 2Ti 4:6, 7, 8). By such words Paul simply associates himself with the class of the living to which he then belonged, as opposed to the dead, and was not making a statement about how soon Jesus would return, a secret which God has kept in his own counsel (+*Deut 29:29, Mat 24:36, +*Mark 13:32, +*Acts 1:7), as Hogg and Vine well observe (Comm. on 1 Thessalonians, p. 138). 1Th 4:17, 1Th 5:10, Psa 66:6, Hos 12:4, Mat 16:28 note. Mar 9:1, Luk 9:27, Rom 13:11; Rom 13:13, +1Co 6:14; 1Co 15:51, Php 3:20, Tit 2:12, 13.