While discussing the latter half of J.T. Waldman's "Megillat Esther" in class this week, someone mentioned that they read that there is a theory that Esther and Mordecai are Ishtar and Marduk in a retelling of the ancient Babylonian myth (they weren't saying they believed it, just that they had read about it). I was interested to hear that because I'm always fascinated by such ideas. The reason why I am fascinated is because people will come up with all sorts of excuses not to believe something. The people coming up with these theories would rather create these ideas instead of examining the truth of the Bible on its own merits. As a born again Christian, I believe the Bible to be God's Word. I find such theories as the Esther/Isthtar one to be offensive to people who believe in the truth of the Hebrew Bible as well as people that believe in the truth of the New Testament. The reason I find these ideas offensive is because they are attempts to deny the truth of the Bible by grasping at straws.

My comments are not meant to offend anyone in anyway. I've just noticed that there are many ways in which some people avoid examining the truth of the Bible, whether talking about the Hebrew Bible or the New Testament or both.