I have no complaints against the Septuagint; quite the opposite. It was one of several key consequences of Hellenization that set the stage for Christianity by making Judaism accessible to Gentiles. Had Christ not been born when He was, another religion of global scope would likely have spread throughout the Roman Empire (indeed, Gnosticism made a strenuous effort to do so anyway. )

Imagine how much more difficult Pauls missionary work would have been without a Greek text of the Tanakh ready to hand. Yet to hear Josephus tell it the Septuagint would never have existed if Alexander had not been so impressed with Daniels prophecy of him that he sent thousands of Jerusalem Jews to Alexandria to administrate his empire. That, and Christianity itself, is why I have a hard time accepting the prevalent view of the Book of Daniel as a Second Century BC pseudepigrah, but perhaps that is a topic for another thread.


Well, without "judgement" it could simply mean Daniel prophesied the Messiah would suffer complete ignominy, degradation and deprivation in death. However, that would be difficult to reconcile with Judaisms view of Messiah, though it would well summarize Christs Passion. Your interpretation with "judgement" is every bit as logical, and more so for Jewish scholars. It certainly makes sense in the context of unmerited Grace and the vicarious sacrifice, yes.

Speaking of Grace, while there is much to be said for the common heritage comparative religion reveals, differences are often just as critical, and Christianity is, to my knowledge, unique in positing man as fallen rather than inherently good. Personally, I find Grace far more fair than various "balance scale" views of judgement condemning the 51% evil and exalting the 51% good. We could have a whole thread on that, too (I believe I even tried once back at wotmania.) It is hard to place any faith or respect in deities who prompt questions like "how many orphanages must I endow to earn a free rape?" Perfection is Boolean, so a perfect deity can no more remain perfect in communion with those who abuse the Take-a-Penny/Leave-a-Penny dish than with mass murderers: Sin is sin, and does not come in grades.