Christianity Pt 2
Daniel's Prophecy
In the book of Daniel, chapter 2 Daniel is faced with the task of not only Interpreting Nebuchadnezzar's Dream, but with also telling what the dream was. In his dream he saw a statue with a head of gold, chest and arms of silver, a belly of brass, legs of iron and feet of iron and clay. A stone destroys the statue and grows into a mountain.
I'll use the most commonly accepted meanings for the statue.
the gold head, as stated in the verse itself, undisputedly represents the Babylonian Empire under Nebuchadnezzar. There's no discrepancy there.
Second is the chest and arms of silver, usually said to represent the Persian Empire, the successor to Babylonia. Again, no discrepancy
Third is the belly of brass accepted to be the Greek empire starting with Alexander. Here we run into the first problem.
In Daniel 2:39: "And after you there will rise another kingdom inferior to you; and another kingdom, a third one, of copper, that will rule over the whole earth."
It very clearly states that this empire will rule over the whole earth. No empire in history has accomplished this. The closest was the British Empire much later, but even that failed to control the entire Earth.
Fourth is the legs of iron, accepted to be the Roman empire. The roman empire split into its eastern and western halves is represented in the transition from body to legs.
In Daniel 2:40: "And as for the fourth kingdom, it will prove to be strong like iron. Forasmuch as iron is crushing and grinding everything else, so, like iron that shatters, it will crush and shatter even all these." Indeed the Roman empire surpasses the previous ones mentioned, but it certainly could not be said to "crush" the world-encompassing empire depicted.
Finally the feet of iron and clay. This one is believed to be in the future, often considered to be the European Union. This would be a logical successor to the Roman Empire and consists of several nations (iron) united only loosely (the clay). The failure of the EU constitution however has put a damper on this notion for the time being.
While most of this prophecy seems fine, the part about the world-encompassing empire is clearly wrong. Even if you consider it to be referring to the Greek culture, which certainly spread throughout the western world, it has not reached the entire planet. The influence of the Greek empire never reached the far east or sub-Saharan Africa, nor the Australian aborigines or the Americas until their conquest by the European powers. Even today parts of South America, Africa, Asia and the Pacific have not been influenced by Helenistic ideas. No empire in history has had this reach, and if we are supposed to be passed this stage (as all scholars and believers agree) This prophecy is false.
In the book of Daniel, chapter 2 Daniel is faced with the task of not only Interpreting Nebuchadnezzar's Dream, but with also telling what the dream was. In his dream he saw a statue with a head of gold, chest and arms of silver, a belly of brass, legs of iron and feet of iron and clay. A stone destroys the statue and grows into a mountain.
I'll use the most commonly accepted meanings for the statue.
the gold head, as stated in the verse itself, undisputedly represents the Babylonian Empire under Nebuchadnezzar. There's no discrepancy there.
Second is the chest and arms of silver, usually said to represent the Persian Empire, the successor to Babylonia. Again, no discrepancy
Third is the belly of brass accepted to be the Greek empire starting with Alexander. Here we run into the first problem.
In Daniel 2:39: "And after you there will rise another kingdom inferior to you; and another kingdom, a third one, of copper, that will rule over the whole earth."
It very clearly states that this empire will rule over the whole earth. No empire in history has accomplished this. The closest was the British Empire much later, but even that failed to control the entire Earth.
Fourth is the legs of iron, accepted to be the Roman empire. The roman empire split into its eastern and western halves is represented in the transition from body to legs.
In Daniel 2:40: "And as for the fourth kingdom, it will prove to be strong like iron. Forasmuch as iron is crushing and grinding everything else, so, like iron that shatters, it will crush and shatter even all these." Indeed the Roman empire surpasses the previous ones mentioned, but it certainly could not be said to "crush" the world-encompassing empire depicted.
Finally the feet of iron and clay. This one is believed to be in the future, often considered to be the European Union. This would be a logical successor to the Roman Empire and consists of several nations (iron) united only loosely (the clay). The failure of the EU constitution however has put a damper on this notion for the time being.
While most of this prophecy seems fine, the part about the world-encompassing empire is clearly wrong. Even if you consider it to be referring to the Greek culture, which certainly spread throughout the western world, it has not reached the entire planet. The influence of the Greek empire never reached the far east or sub-Saharan Africa, nor the Australian aborigines or the Americas until their conquest by the European powers. Even today parts of South America, Africa, Asia and the Pacific have not been influenced by Helenistic ideas. No empire in history has had this reach, and if we are supposed to be passed this stage (as all scholars and believers agree) This prophecy is false.
posted by cyber-mountain guru at 11:01 AM
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