Here is my response...

I have been reading this post for a while now and have been trying to measure my reply. Here is my attempt.

“I went to biblequery.org and looked up the 2 Kings 19 and Isaah 37 question. As usual, no satisfactory answers are provided:”

Well, satisfactory is a bit in the eye of the beholder. The problem is that you are criticizing a single website that puts itself out as an expert. That’s the problem with the internet, who knows who this website belongs to. Have you ever asked a professor of Old Testament at a seminary about this, or do you just ask various laymen? That would be akin to me asking my mother about the mating rituals of elephants and if she came with something that I did not agree with saying, “well, that is just not satisfactory, there must be no good answer.”

”"Q: In 2 Ki 19, why is this almost identical with Isa 37?
A: Ignoring verse numbers, the two are identical except that 2 Kings 19:35 says "that night the angel" while Isaiah 27:36 says "then the angel".
These passages relate the prayer of Hezekiah and the Lord sending an angel to destroy the Assyrian army (probably through the agency of a plague of rats). If the writer of 2 Kings simply copied wrote exactly what Isaiah related, what would be wrong with that?
These verses being the same shows one was copied from the other. For whatever reason this passage was put in two places, I am glad it was. This is a good "validation test" to see how little the passages have changes over the years."”

I love how Christians turn into politicians when faced with the really tough questions. It's the old Bill Clinton "that depends on what the definition of "is" is" tactic. It never ceases to amaze me how many times a religious person will beat around a bush until they come up with something - anything - I mean ANY kind of way around a difficult question, even a simple one, that will allow them to keep convincing themselves their religion is the one and only truth.”

I agree, the “validation test” answer is a bit of a sidestep, but would you have accepted a general “I don’t know”? Some things are beyond people’s understanding. Does that invalidate it? Or just make it part of the overall mystery?

The way I see it, this writer from Biblequery is doing some serious spin here; turning something that could discredit his religion into, "No, this is actually a good thing!" - a classic move politicians and priests have used for centuries. I don't see how these two passages being the same is any kind of "validation test". There's nothing wrong if one writer copied the other, but the whole point is that this entire chapter is in the Bible TWICE. IF the Bible was written by God there must be a really good reason for that, right? But the only explanation offered by this writer is that God did it "for whatever reason" - and this from a website that claims to have answers to all the contradictions and inconsistancies in the Bible, and in fact exists only to supposedly shoot down all the questions guys like me have about it. One of the problems with websites like this is they are preaching to the choir, so to speak. When you really look at all their digital dogma with an open mind it doesn't hold up to critical or logical thinking. I believe this is because all organized religions - not just Christianity - are based on fabrications but cultivate followers desperate to believe.

What you are speaking of in general is a matter of faith. Your problem is that you don’t share the same faith so when you ask others about their faith, you are put off by their “unsatisfactory” answers. That’s fine, but the reverse is hopefully true. I believe a lot of what my science teachers have taught me. But if you asked me a pointed question about an aspect of science that I could not give a thoughtful answer, does that make all of science questionable? No. When you say “I believe” you are invoking a type of “faith” that is made up of your observations, filtered through your life experiences, and formulated into an opinion that is formed and spoken in a manner that is indicative of your education. Welcome to the rest of the world. Its just that nobody is willing to chalk up their beliefs as a question of faith like religious people are. Economists have faith in a certain model of economics, Smithian, Keynesian, etc… Scientists have a faith in atomic theory. Never seen an atom, but they are pretty sure how they work so they believe. Astronomers have faith in certain hypothesis about the Universe, but they haven’t seen it, they believe. That my friend, is faith.

Next time, ask an expert. Then, formulate your opinion.

Call Danny Carroll at Denver Seminary (303)762-6905. I don’t know him, nor do I have an affiliation with Denver Seminary. He was just the first professor of Old Testament that I found.

Let us know what you find out.

Dave