IMO, the Dead Sea Scrolls describe in vivid reality the Old Testament and what is going on. I don't think they are controversial; it is the reality. Just some don't won't to hear the truth, or worse, they hide and destroy it.

Probably becaus the writings that weren't selected are considered heresy.

One of my best friends, worked in UD's library back in the late 80's and early 90's, when we were in college together. He got ahold of and made copies of the keys to UD's library's restricted section. After the library closed, he would go in and read the restricted documents. Most were religious in nature.

He got caught. They took the keys and changed the multiple locks to the restricted section. He lost his job over it temporarily. Soon after he was hired by TASC.

Keith

Patently untrue. All of the dead seas scrolls that can be translated, some were just fragments of text, have been and are available to all online. Not all were canonical books of the bible.

For the life of me where do y'all get all of this hidden stuff from. Ain't nobody trying to hide anything. Truth be told many collections of ancient texts are just that old stacks of dusty books that no one has looked at in years. It's only in the modern age of digitization that much is being dusted off photographed and disseminated.

I do wish that any claim of hidden whatever came with a reference to exactly which texts in which collection.

Only about 24% of the scrolls found and pieced together were used to make the Bible. The rest didn't make the cut. Much of the material in the 230 of the around 950 scrolls, that did get used, was only used in small part. We have a very edited Bible.

Keith

Please post a link where they can be read in their remaining entirety then.

I have heard and read that many scrolls, that were considered to heretical, were destroyed long ago and didn't even make it into any restricted collection.

Keith

If our country was founded on Christian principles, those principles came from the KJV of the Bible. Why do you look further?

Do you know anything of the "gnostic gospels"? Those were rejected by the early church as fast as they were inked.

Wolfdog,
Get you a copy of the Septuagint. Get the Apocrophya as well with the Books of Jubilees and Jasher.

Get you a good Catholic Bible to read as well. Also, get you the best Baptist protestant version of the the Bible, such as the King James. Me personally, I like the Living Bible, cause it don't have all that hath and thou stuff. Read and compare all of them. When you find contradictions in them, search the other Books for references and answers. For example, Genesis in the KJV is full of unanswered situations. The OT alone tells us many times....."Is it not written in the Book of ??????" Many of these Books are lost to history for one reason or another. Sometimes, the diligent mind has to go to these other documents to get the picture on the details. The story of Dinah in the Book of Genesis is a good example.

These things alone will answer most of any ones questions, but will require studying. Other than learning Hebrew and Aramaic as earlier suggested, that is the best we English speakers can do. But it is enough, and it is plenty to steel coat your belief.

How so? While some were indeed old testament texts the actual time period in which the scrolls themselves were stored in their clay jars and hidden away was mid to late 1st century by a group well known to history as the essenes. The essenes were a Jewish fundamentalist sect, kind of a let's get back to basics of the faith group. As such they led a separatist lifestyle out in the desert away from urban centers. The Jewish Amish if you will.

The most plausible explanation for the hiding of the scrolls and the reason they remained hidden with the essenes apparently not returning for them is the events of the mid to late 1st century, namely the Jewish revolt against Rome and Rome's retaking of Judea and Jerusalem.

Also there could not have been any not making the cut for the dead sea scrolls which were not discovered until the 1940s. The biblical canon was set in 382.

The Vatican has the largest restricted library in the world. Many, maybe all Catholic universities have restricted sections. Many of the religious documents in them are considered to controversial to let untrained people read.

I know the Southern Baptist religion, which is relatively new as religions go, was started in 1845. Did they not get any copies of the older religious documents?

Did they just discard the documents they didn't agree with?

Keith

Luke was a Greek physician and he wrote two books in the Bible, The Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles. I don't know if he wrote it originally in Greek or if he use another language, but it does read differently then many other books even through all the translations. Greek is a more academic type language and the basis for our language and learning systems. Hebrew is a more figurative language and translates quite differently.

Bryce

I agree with Keith 100% on this. The KJV is certainly enough for redemption and salvation, but it don't answer all the other questions the Bible proposes.

The Book of Giants was found in the Dead Sea Scrolls. All I have found is highly fragmented; perhaps intentionally. I don't know.

How many Christians here have heard of the Book of Giants?

It is my opinion, that Satan has been in our household for a long time, to deceive, to cast doubt, to divide, us all from what is written.

Sorry, I did somewhat screw up. I confused the codices with the scrolls. Not all the codices were used either.

It's been around 37 years since I studied this.

Keith

First, Southern Baptist is not a religion. At best it is a denomination though that would also be technically incorrect.

It is instead a convention of like minded INDEPENDENT local church bodies. So there is a basic shared doctrine though not on all things.

Our government has a huge restricted collection as well. Your point being?

We can speculate till kingdom comes on what may or may not be in those restricted areas but that in no way disproves what we have in the Bible. On the contrary all of recorded history corroborates scripture.

There is possibly much missing in the dead sea scrolls. The initial find was by a shepherd boy tossing rocks into some caves he found. It was the sound of breaking clay jars the prompted him to investigate further. Before the find could be preserved for science quite a bit of damage occurred. Some were sold off by locals and some even used to start fires.

And they were not just a religious text library, though mostly religious or related subjects.

Yep. My reason isn't about salvation or getting into heaven. And don't really trust anything the Catholic Church has messed with .Personally don't wanna get into it more then that.

"How so? While some were indeed old testament texts the actual time period in which the scrolls themselves were stored in their clay jars and hidden away was mid to late 1st century by a group well known to history as the essenes. The essenes were a Jewish fundamentalist sect, kind of a let's get back to basics of the faith group. As such they led a separatist lifestyle out in the desert away from urban centers. The Jewish Amish if you will.

The most plausible explanation for the hiding of the scrolls and the reason they remained hidden with the essenes apparently not returning for them is the events of the mid to late 1st century, namely the Jewish revolt against Rome and Rome's retaking of Judea and Jerusalem.

Also there could not have been any not making the cut for the dead sea scrolls which were not discovered until the 1940s. The biblical canon was set in 382."

Warrior, the way I interpret things, the OT makes absolutely zero sense for a a rational being......except in the angelic view of Genesis 6. The Dead Sea Scrolls confirm it. The Ethiopian Church confirms it as well. Perhaps, we are the ones misguided.....deceitfully, from the beginning.

I would love to have full access to those restricted sections. I wanted my friend to sneak me in back when he was.

Keith

BTW, the SBC was indeed established in 1845 following their break away from the Baptist Convention. But the Baptist tradition goes much further back as part of the reformation movement out of the Church of England that gave us the Puritans and the Methodists as well. There are also theological ties and similarities to similar movements on the continent that would give us Mennonites and the Amish.