Would the Christian Church have immediately destroyed the Dead Sea Scrolls if given the opportunity?

Question

I mean, talk about a smoking gun...

Good discussion. I ask this for a number of reasons. And yes, I do understand and have read the translated scrolls, both the DSS and the RHS. It seems there has been much effort on the part of Christianity to separate the Christian and Jewish faiths, yet these scrolls provide interesting insight that the two are far more closely related than ever documented. Also, given the time period between their discovery and the Vatican releasing the documents, it's clear they were cautious about their content. When has Christianity ever allowed scripture to be presented without their proofreading and approval of content? Never. The RHS (specifically the Gospel of Thomas) is interesting in that it may be most direct account of Jesus and his word. His word and life according to Thomas are starkly different than any modern day interpretation. Had the Church stumbled upon these first, would they have ever become accessable to the masses?

Typo'd RHS, Meant NHS

Answer 1

They tried. Pope Gregory ordered them destroyed. I believe we have them now only because God wanted us to have them.

Answer 2

Do you even know what the Dead Sea Scrolls are?

If you do, why are you calling them a smoking gun?

My guess is that you really don't know what they are but only heard someone say something about them.

There are the Dead Sea scrolls (or Qumran) which were the scrolls of the Essene community (a pharisaic Jewish group that started before and was contemporary to John the Baptist and Jesus. They disagreed with the temple authorities and were expecting the Teacher of Righteousness, a messianic figure). Their library was mostly Old Testament with some intertestamental apocalyptica.

Then there are the scrolls of Nag Hammadi, Egypt. Perhaps you meant to reference these. These scrolls were from a Gnostic community and included things like the Gospel of Thomas. However, with some debate as to precisely when, scholars date gnostic literature as being significantly later than the four canonical gospels.

So, why would these be a smoking gun when they are ou of touch with the life of Jesus and corrupted by dualistic philosophy? Did you know that Gnostics thought that the God of the Old Testament was not the same as the God of the New Testament? They rejected the former, not the latter.

To answer the question. No, the Church wouldn't want to destroy them, especially since scripture scholars and historians can learn so much from them.

Answer 3

No. The DSS have nothing to do with Christianity, outside of their verification of the Jewish scriptures. The Qumran community was made up of dissident, ascetic Jews. There were no "Christians" there, ever. The non-canonical writings include discipline manuals and apocalyptic material specific to their sect. The most "controversial" item is perhaps the Copper Scroll, which puportedly describes the inventory of the Jerusalem Temple and where the treasures were hidden, but it could be metaphorical. The main threat to the community was the Romans, not Christians or Jews.

Still, the inter-faith organization overseeing the analysis of the DSS managed to sit on them for fifty years, carefully determining that there was no "dangerous" material in it before releasing the complete facsimile only a few years ago. The smoke was not from a "gun" but from an obscuring ecclesiastical "cigar".

Answer 4

As a Christian i stumble on the records interior the ineffective Sea Scrolls attractive. The texts from the Prophets are remarkable and do help the accuracy of the texts we already had. i don't be attentive to why Christian could deny those texts. besides the fact that the ineffective Sea Scrolls are no longer limited to the Jewish regulation, Writings and Prophets, there are various scrolls. the persons of Qumran saved many manifold texts. a number of them have been regulations for his or her particular sect of Judaism. some have been pre-gnostic recommendations that could have inspired later gnostic doctrine. like the books in my learn, some are books i think of are stable, some are books that have some helpful textile, and a few basically look stable on the shelf. a number of the DSScr fall into comparable categories.

Answer 5

Um youre an idiot. The dead sea scrolls are some of the most important evidence for the inerrancy of the scriptural texts. It has some of the oldest writings of the old testament and proved that the texts written 5 thousand years ago are still accurate when compared to the new manuscripts. So, 1. the dead sea scrolls are very important and the Christian church wouldn't want them destroyed and 2. you're still an idiot.

Answer 6

Darling? The Christian church (both protestant and catholic) have been using the dead sea scrolls extensively to update their bibles.

Some of the oldest biblical scrolls, such as Isaiah, came out of that find.

Sounds to me like someone has told you a pack of lies.

Kinda like Fr. Guido's answer below me. Poor sad man. That complex was destroyed by the Romans - NOT the Roman Catholics - LONG before the Christian Church was legalized. Long before there was a Roman Catholic Church.

Read a book dude.

Star Guy? What in the world? There are several different copies of the Dead Sea Scrolls available for purchase. You might also find the Nag Hamadi Library (a book) interesting.

You conspiracy people just crack me up. Go to Amazon.com and type in Dead Sea Scrolls. Take your pick of the translations that pop up. I know my favorites.

Discovery did an excellent program on them called Haunted Desert. Highly recommend it.

Answer 7

No, absolutely not. For what reason could you possibly ask this question???

What "smoking gun"?

The DSS gave us an older reference to the Old Testament by over a thousand years. It has proved to be an invaluable find. Why on earth would the Christians want it destroyed?

You must elaborate.

Answer 8

The dead sea scrolls were a fantastic find and backs the Bible, not contradicts it.

Christians dont destroy documents, we keep everything including variants. But ask the Muslims where the variant copies are of the Koran??? (burned, gone)

Answer 9

To make the story short: The Vatican is fighting Israel on the property of the Dead Sea Scrolls, needless to say more!

Answer 10

Why should we?

And what "smoking gun"?

The Dead Sea scrolls seem to confirm that the old Testament part of the Bible has changed very little over the past 2000 years, in spite all of the skeptics who claim that it has been altered.

You would think that the atheists would have burned them if they could.

Answer 11

What about the Nag Hammadi scrolls? The "Gnostic Gospels"? Talk about damaging.

And in fact these discoveries ARE always met with suspicion if not open hostility by religious authorities who have a huge stake in maintaining the popular ignorance.

Note that "Zeno" below says you're a thousand years out of date, that no Christians feel threatened by this type of thing anymore - and yet "Midge" dismisses it as "garbage" and insists that people rely on the "Holy Spirit" to "guide" them to everything they need to know.