11 Sep 08
Originally posted by whodeyOnly if being impressed is what you want. At face value it is not impressive at all.
Pretty impressive so far even without calculating the dates, no?
What surprises me is why you would be impressed. Even if it gave the exact date and times in plain English and every other written language past and present, you should still not be impressed since as far as you are concerned it is the word of God. If I was in your positions I would be extremely worried by the lack of clarity.
Do you at least admit that there is a significant amount of 'interpretation' in your calculation? Do you realize that once even the slightest variation is allowed, the possible range of facts that would fit the prophesy suddenly become enormous.
For example, I very much doubt that you can show conclusively that "cut off" can only be interpreted as "an idiom for rejected or killed". If Jesus had lost a finger as a child, you would have quite happily fitted the prophesy to that event.
It is quite obvious that whoever calculated the dates, simply played around with the figures available till he found one that appeared to fit. I can guarantee, that if you kept the date that Daniels prophesy was supposedly made a secret, you could not find one single person who would make the same interpretation as you have given in your post. In other words, the interpretation is only possible with fore knowledge of the desired results. I can also guarantee that if an archeological discovery is made that proves that the prophesy of Daniel was in fact made at a different time, then you and others will quite readily change your interpretation of the prophesy to fit the new facts.