Love me or else (Part Two) (Where is it now?)

by Balance_Maintained , U.S.A., Saturday, December 22, 2012, 21:11 (4136 days ago) @ David Turell

BM: Ok, as you wish. :)
> > 
> > Two prophecies, one from Isaiah, one from Daniel, because they are tied together. Isaiah 44-45 tells that the Israelite nation would be led into captivity, and that Jerusalem would be destroyed. It names Babylon as the one to destroy them. It also names Cyrus, King of Persia, (in 45:1) as the one that would free them from captivity and rebuild the temple. This would happen some 200 years later.
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> David: In my bible, a Masaretic text, it is Isaiah 39. Cyrus is not mentioned there but the captivity is. Cyrus does free them later. My problem is that these are ancient documents. Isaiah dates to about 735-720 B.C., but our earliest scroll is written about the time of Jesus, written by the Essenes. Was it word of mouth before. How accurate is the description. This has always been my problem. You accept these writngs verbatim. Don't you really think the admonition in my Bible is correct?: "The books of the bible are ancient documents. As in all such cases, time has blurred the clear meaning os some of its original words, phrases and allusions."
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Believe it or not, I don't take them on faith, not entirely at any rate. I take them as accurate based on a accumulation of outside data that supports to accuracy of the information that predates the Christian Greek Scriptures. I.E. If what archaeology can gather about the surrounding time frames matches what is found in the text to the Nth degree, then we can assume that the parts that archaeology can not yet confirm could, at a later date, be confirmed. -There was a stone found in Egypt, written in Egyptian, that mirrors the biblical story of Joseph almost word for word. Imhotep is the name on the Egyptian engraving(notice that even the name is similar and the differences between them are most likely due to the fact that Ancient Hebrew did not have written vowels).-The discovery of the five early Hittite Temples, complete with texts that verify the early biblical writings of the Pentateuch. -The discovery of Bab edh-Drha, and surrounding cities that match the date, location, and method of destruction to the Biblical 'cities of the plains'(i.e. Sodom, Gohmorrah, etc).-The evidence that the city walls of Jericho fell outward, as opposed to inwards as is normal during a city seige, and that the residential area matched the descriptions in Jeremiah. -I could go on and on with various other discoveries that have time and again confirmed the accounts given in the Bible. -So, no, I don't take it on faith. The evidence I continue to find strengthens my faith, however.

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What is the purpose of living? How about, 'to reduce needless suffering. It seems to me to be a worthy purpose.