John 3:16 – Now what do you say to THAT, you stupid heathen? (Part 7 of Dr. Laurence Brown’s refutation of John 3:16) Okay, you’ve got the format of these articles by now, right? Here’s John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him […]
In the midst of the growing 19th and 20th century awareness of the differences between Trinitarian doctrine and the period of origins, a person might be surprised to find one group who claim to be followers of Christ Jesus reading the following in the Holy Quran: “O People of the Book! Commit no excesses in
They’re old. So what? Yeah, well, I understand. Grandpa’s old, but the only one who’s excited about him is grandma, and even there, the magic wore off twenty years ago. But the key is not the age of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Rather, it’s the bloody, tumultuous period in which they were hidden away. It
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Five More Reasons to Get Excited about the Dead Sea Scrolls Modern discoveries shed light on their importance. The oldest and most authoritative New Testament manuscripts found to date, the Sinaiticus and Vaticanus codices (what’s a codex, plural: codices? A scriptural manuscript in book form, as opposed to scrolls), were discovered in the nineteenth century,
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Not all history is as dry as desert dust. Some is sprinkled with murder, mystery and intrigue. Now, I’m not saying the story of the Dead Sea Scrolls reads like a James Bond novel, but if written correctly, it’s not far off the mark. And if you’re looking for a romp through history with a
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In Part 1, the first article in this series, we introduced the Dead Sea and its environs, the cliff-caves at Qumran (where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found), the ruins of the residential complex (Khirbet Qumran), and the keepers of the scrolls (i.e., presumably the Essene Jews). We also touched on salted microbes, receding shorelines,
In Parts 1 & 2 of this series we touched upon everything from the rhythm method to bat poop. We even managed to discuss the Dead Sea Scrolls. Now, we continue our bipolar trip through the salty waters of Holy History in this, the last article in the series: The Dead Sea Scrolls can be
Khirbet Qumran, meaning ‘ruin of’ Qumran, sits on a plateau at the top of an irregular border of limestone cliffs beside the Dead Sea. Many of these cliffs contain caves which, given their location, are accessible only with difficulty. To the West lies the Judean Desert, and to the North is a mountain that houses the Qumran caves numbered 1, 2, 3, and 11.
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“[The Bible] has noble poetry in it; and some clever fables; and some blood-drenched history; and a wealth of obscenity; and upwards of a thousand lies.” —Mark Twain, Letters from the Earth, Vol. II Let’s begin by putting “two of every sort (of animal) into the ark,” and then … Oh, wait. Was that “two
Both read the Bible day and night, But thou read’st black where I read white. —William Blake, The Everlasting Gospel Of course, Blake’s sentiment in the quote above is nothing new. The New Testament contains enough inconsistencies to have spawned a dizzying variety of interpretations, beliefs and religions, all allegedly Bible-based. And so, we find
