The Dead Sea Scrolls

[Vaccine]

Greetings everyone! I wanted to discuss the Dead Sea Scrolls and their relevance to Christianity. More than 100,000 fragments, 1350 complete scrolls, some date as far back as 250 BC, but most were dated 50-100 AD (some even had a date written on them). The Qumran disbanded in 68 AD so I'm not sure why they date them as far out as 100 AD. Every book of the OT (except Ester) was found among these scrolls. 9 NT fragments dated 50-100 AD, and 8 other scroll fragments that appear to be quoting the NT. Still being debated is the oldest, a small fragment of what could be Mark 6:52-53, dating back to 50 AD. Obviously Wiki says that view is rejected, but with no explanation whatsoever. Here is a site that goes into the details: http://www.preteristarchive.com/BibleStudies/DeadSeaScrolls/7Q5_mark.html


The major reason I started this thread is a book called "Zealot", which asserts there are 2 versions of Jesus. The historical one, who was just a regular guy who was crucified, and the Christian Jesus, who 1st and 2nd century Christians made up the resurrection and son of God doctrine. Which sounds like another version of the Jesus seminar. The book aslo asserts the idea of a God-man is not Jewish but Roman, and so the 1st/2nd century Christians wrote the NT from that perspective attributing miracles to Jesus.

Among the dead sea scrolls (50-100AD) is scroll 4Q246 - The Son of God.

"He shall be called the son of God,
and they shall designate [call] him son of the Most High.
Like the appearance of comets, so shall be their kingdom.
For brief years they shall reign over the earth and shall trample on all;
one people shall trample on another and
one province on another until the people of God shall rise and all shall rest from the sword."

It could also be argued that's a paraphrasing/quote of Luke 1:32. Even if it isn't, it seems to me this flies in the face of the assertions made in the book 'Zealot'.

 

[Helm]

Well the Jesus of history may well have been a little different from the Jesus of the gospels but don't worry about this stuff about Jesus being a rehash of the pagan dying gods as there is no real similarity there at all when actually you look into them.

[video=youtube;o5-zG3UCA50]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5-zG3UCA50[/video]

Also note the myths where a dying god is torn apart and then reassembled again. This was symbolic for the restoration of the soul after death and was a big theme in the pagan Mysteries. Though of course nothing like this happens to Jesus therefore you can't really compare him to Osiris.

Going to hell for three days is possibly a slightly reminiscent of a dying gods journey to the underworld but this was typically linked with the months of the year of winter the god coming back for the spring. So that still doesn't really fit.

[video=youtube;KTUvFxnELps]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTUvFxnELps[/video]

 

[Vaccine]

@Helm Thanks for sharing that info! It seem historians and scholars from previous generations knew those were arguments from the fringes. When people say Christianity is based on those myths and other religions, I prefer to think the people from the 1st century, being closer to Jesus, know better than people, who are biased against Jesus, from the 21st. I think the dead sea scrolls offer insight to the religious practices of people who lived at the same time as Jesus and the apostles