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RE: Existence of Israel is fulfillment of Biblical prophesies
June 27, 2010 at 7:00 pm
theophilus, are you really that naive to history and archeological discoveries, which have been proven factual?
I suggest reading material that you question, instead of simply following the bandwagon of questioners...
Intelligence is the only true moral guide...
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RE: Existence of Israel is fulfillment of Biblical prophesies
June 27, 2010 at 8:34 pm
Annatar, have you ever read Philip R. Davies "In Search of Ancient Israel?"
In essence, his argument is that Judaism was created by the Persians when they sent a bunch of alleged "exiles" back to their new province of Yehud.
In effect, Persia did not conquer Judah (Yehud). Instead they took Babylon by coup d'main and woke up the following morning (after the victory party, I suppose!) with a whole new empire. A group of people presumably loyal to Persia was sent back under the guise of being the exiled former rulers from 50 years earlier. They needed a yarn to explain why they were there to take over.
The Persian army was needed to suppress revolts on their eastern border and Cyrus the Great was killed in battle doing so. In effect, this was a cheap way for Persia to assert control over the less important parts of their new empire (and Judah/Yehud) would have been little more than a shithole) without sending the army.
We have no actual evidence of "Jewish" religious practices prior to the Persian period.
BTW, Israeli archaeologist Israel Finkelstein recently wrote a paper which argued that the size of post-Persian Jerusalem was about 400 people...including children.
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RE: Existence of Israel is fulfillment of Biblical prophesies
June 28, 2010 at 11:05 am
(June 28, 2010 at 10:50 am)Minimalist Wrote: Quote:It should be true becouse persian's religion is similar to judaism in so many aspects.
Bingo. Davies notes at one point that the Persians would have had no trouble recognizing their god, Ahura Mazda, in the newly-minted Yahweh that the "Exiles" took back to Jerusalem.
But didn't Ahura Mazda have an evil opponent, a devil who's name escapes me right now? Satan wasn't an opponent of Yahweh until the NT, when heaven and hell were invented. It also seems like the Persians had a concept of the afterlife, which the Jews lacked until later in the OT. The Jewish faith also seemed to have Egyptian influences as well.
I don't deny that the Persians influenced what later became Christianity. In fact, that's obvious looking at the similarities with Zoroasterianism. I'm just asking if Davies has any account for the differences.
Atheist Forums Hall of Shame:
"The trinity can be equated to having your cake and eating it too."
... -Lucent, trying to defend the Trinity concept
"(Yahweh's) actions are good because (Yahweh) is the ultimate standard of goodness. That’s not begging the question"
... -Statler Waldorf, Christian apologist
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