Have the Dead Sea Scrolls changed Christianity?
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James 4
4:8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse [your] hands, [ye] sinners; and purify [your] hearts, [ye] double minded.
4:9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and [your] joy to heaviness.
4:10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
4:8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse [your] hands, [ye] sinners; and purify [your] hearts, [ye] double minded.
4:9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and [your] joy to heaviness.
4:10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
S
I understand, and I do agree that the DSS added to our bank of knowledge. I am not an expert on these matters either. I also depend on those who are experts and write about these things. As I understand it these textual critics have always known that some OLDER manuscript differences are not considered authoritative over the majority manuscripts automatically based on antiquity alone. One of the reasons is the SOURCE of the manuscript. If the DSS owners were Jewish cults, false messaihs, and rebel rousers, or those who thought nothing of trying to pass off a book to be written by Enoch written in 200 BC then we have reason to question differences in texts in copies of manuscripts. All I am saying is that a difference in a DSS manuscript, even if it is older than other copies we had in extant does BY NO MEANS trump the majority copies. Especially considering the source behind the DSS.
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The Dead Sea Scrolls are getting a bad rap right now. I would probably not use them in apologetics right now when talking with non-Christians. There is some renewed doubt in their authenticity (I say "renewed" because Jews have always renounced it. They contain Isaiah 53, foretelling of Jesus, which to them "proves" that the Dead Sea Scrolls could never have pre-dated Jesus).
Man wants to make God fit their ideas, they don't try to fit themselves into God's. so over the years they have added to and changed scripture. They say Mary changed the day the Lord blessed as the Sabbath because she wasn't there when Jesus rose from His tomb but discovered that He rose on Sunday as an example. For this reason, the closer we get scripture to the beginning the more accurate it is. That is how you determine which is most authentic. It is scripture before changes.
The more we learn of history so we understand better what the words meant to the ones who wrote God's counsel the better we understand what how they wrote it. For example, they carried a small sack of salt with them, that salt had a special meaning to them. Scripture speaks of salt. It helps to know what that salt meant at different times in our history. People who read Shakespeare understand that it helps to know what the words he used meant to him, but deny that the same applies top reading scripture. Strange how people think.
The more we learn of history so we understand better what the words meant to the ones who wrote God's counsel the better we understand what how they wrote it. For example, they carried a small sack of salt with them, that salt had a special meaning to them. Scripture speaks of salt. It helps to know what that salt meant at different times in our history. People who read Shakespeare understand that it helps to know what the words he used meant to him, but deny that the same applies top reading scripture. Strange how people think.