I have just watch a docu and been reading about them but I still don't fully get what they were and what they mean! Can someone explain them to me? has anyone read any of them? Are they really proof that the Bible story was not an orginal? Basically what do the dead sea scrolls mean for religion in General?
************* M*W: It means that there were other authors who wrote before, during and after, the NT. Therefore, the bible is not as complete as it could have been nor was any of it inspired by a god. There has to be a good reason they were hidden. Perhaps they concealed more truth than in the NT. Who knows? It depends on who hid them and why.
The early christians were hunted down by various different groups.... They could have hid copies of the New testament so it would remain intact and safe in case of their capture. The fact that they match the books in the bible word for word is a vindication that the bible we have today was protected and preserved by God.
the dead sea scrolls are a group of writings found in a cave in what used to be the ancient Essene Jewish community in Qumran in what is now Jordan. they were found by some desert dwelling people and eventually archaologists were alerted to their presence and they were gethered and studied. from the analysis it was revealed that these scrolls were different accounts of some stories commonly found in the bible as well as other stories not found in the bible. the key thing about the dead sea scrolls is that they prove the existence of a tradition that would identify with christianity, but did not have the same beliefs as were sanctioned by the church, and did not have the same views on the message or life of jesus. thay also stand as evidence that the early church, despite massive effort, was not able to eradicate all of the myriad of early christian writings that did not fully support the ones of the bible. later in the 1940's the Nag Hammadi scriptures were unearthed in Egypt. these documents were similar to the dead sea scrolls except they contained different accounts of bible stories and also some accounts that directly contradict the information set forth in the new testament. in short, the dead sea scrolls show that prior to the church's rise to power, there was a great debate going on among christians about which was the most accurate version of the story of jesus, his message, and his legacy, and that many early believers wrote down their versions of what is now the bible. obviously we all know now who won out at the end of the debate. if youre interested in the dead sea scrolls you should also do some research on the Nag Hammadi scriptures, or maybe look at these books: The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels The dead sea scolls deception by michael baigent
