"The book your church doesn't want you to read" banned book Excerpt: Page 73 The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947 generated a flurry of excitement both in scholarly circles and among the general public. But by 1954 that excitement had been skillfully defused. The scrolls, it was assumed had revealed everything they were going to reveal, and this was made to seem less dramatic than had been expected. In tracing the progress of the Dead sea Scrolls fro their discovery in the Judean desert to the various institutions that hold them today, we found ourselves confronting a contradiction we had faced before, the contradiction between the Jesus of history and the Christ of faith. Our investigation began in Israel. It was to extend to the corridors of the Vatican, and even more ominously, into the offices of the Inquisition. We also encountered a rigidly maintained "consensus" of interpretation towards the content and dating of the scrolls, and came to understand how explosive a non-partisan examination might be for the whole of Christ tradition. And we discovered how fiercely the world of orthodox biblical scholarship was prepared to fight to retain its monopoly of available information. Consider this book as a kind of consumer protection guide to religion, a big step forward toward religious literacy. Readers will explore myths, origins, fundamentalism, television ministries, the identical stories of Stellar/Pagan/Christian beliefs, unfounded doctrines, child abuse, the Year 200, and women's rights. It's entertaining and readable, with a sense of humor reflecting the absurdities of fundamental religion -- while being inoffensive. The approach is one of not hitting the reader over the head with "you're wrong", but rather "consider this". The Book Your Church Doesn't Want You To Read contains many interesting, unknown facts such as there being no mention of Jesus Christ is the Dead Sea Scrolls; the oldest story in the world (predating Christianity by millennia) being that of a virgin mother bearing a newborn baby; God finding out about the Trinity from the Catholic Church in 325 A. D. ; and Christmas being a pagan holiday with December 25th shared as a birthdate by many other crucified saviors. CONTRIBUTORS: Steve Allen Dan Barker Edd Doerr Dr. Robert Eisenman Dr. Rocco Errico Annie Gaylor Dr. Stephan Hoeller Thomas Jefferson Dr. Gerald Larue Jordan Maxwell Arthur Melville Austin Miles Alan Snow Sherwin Wine
You mean to tell me that a man walking on water and bodily ascending to heaven has no basis in historical fact but was just a story to convey propaganda? Oh Noes! I did not Knoes that!
It's called "The Book Your Church Doesn't Want You To Read" I think it's very healthy to be re-examining the basic doctrines of Christianity. May the authors make as much $$$ as Dan Brown. However.... If this is the best, most shocking revelations they can come up with - it will be a great disappointment! Tell us something we don't know! 1) The Essenes (who buried the DSS) are not likely to have books on Jesus. Do the Hare Krishna sect harbour many books about Sai Baba? I doubt it. Besides, the Essenes were a desert community, who had abandoned Jerusalem - so they weren't going to be interested in one more obscure 'prophet' preaching there. We tend to think Jesus was a major celebrity of his time - but to most people, I'm sure he was a complete unknown. 2) We all know about the Mithraism and other religions with similar archetypal themes (virgin birth, ressurection from the dead etc.). It doesn't devalue or falsify the Christian story. It does help to explain why it remains so powerful. 3) We know the Trinity is not a biblical concept. It was evolved in retrospect as a piece of theology to explain Jesus's position in the hierarchy, and ratified at Nicea in the 4thC. So what? 4) Shock news!? So Christmas had nothing to do with the Winter Solstice, Saturnalia and other pagan festivals? I always thought Jesus appeared under the first Christmas tree on Dec25th after he was brought down the chimney by a jewish Santa Claus? Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! I hoped for a book that challenged us with something genuinely shocking or new. This is recycled old rope!
