Dead Sea Scrolls

Today, I had the pleasure of being able to go down, with a group of people from a house fellowship I attend, to the ROM to witness the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit. Rev. Tony Costa was our guide and was great in providing us context to understand what we saw. I am not a huge fan of museums as I tend to need to engage in what I learn but the effect of the texts and the finds was a truly great experience. Looking at the parchment and papyri and realizing the meaning behind the dating of these documents (however inexact) and the message that they communicate about the accuracy of the Bible as we have it today is astounding. To see texts written from the collection of Dead Sea Scrolls covering 100 BC to 100 AD serves as a reminder of the weight of the evidence we have in favour of biblical writings.

I encourage you all to take the time to go down and visit the ROM between now and when the exhibit closes. The exhibit runs from June 27 2009 to January 3 2010.

In order to really get the most out of the exhibit, I would suggest that you read about the various scrolls beforehand to understand the context of it all. Although this is not a requirement as the ROM has done a nice job of organizing the information and communicating key facts and translations. To share a bit of background to either entice you to go or to hopefully make it more enjoyable when you do go …

The Lost Tomb of Jesus - Fact or Fiction?

Key verse(s)/quote(s):

“…the documentary should not offend devout Christians, since it does not argue that Jesus did not ascend to heaven, at least spiritually, as told in the Bible.”  –  Simcha (Director, The Lost Tomb of Jesus)

“Let’s suppose for a moment that we could prove there’s a tomb for Jesus somewhere and bones in an ossuary. For some Christians that would be heresy and blasphemy and wrong, and for others I don’t think it’s going to be a big shock. They have a faith that doesn’t necessarily depend on that.” - James Cameron (Executive Producer, The Lost Tomb of Jesus)

“I just think it’s a shame the way this story is being hyped and manipulated. It’s a publicity stunt, and it will make these guys very rich, and it will upset millions of innocent people because they don’t know enough to separate fact from fiction. The fact that it’s been ignored tells you something, It would be amusing if it didn’t mislead so many people.” - William G. Dever, a secular well-credentialed archaeologist who has worked excavating ancient sites in Israel for 50 years and is widely considered the “dean of biblical archaeology among U.S. scholars”

Key takeaway(s):

1. Names in tombs were very common.
2. Why is Matthew in the tomb, he isn’t even part of the family?
3. DNA evidence has been falsely represented and doesn’t show anything but two bodies in the tomb are unrelated in familial way
4. The statistics presented were misrepresented since even the statistician who provided them said so and if we look

…

Validity of the Bible

Key verse(s)/quote(s):

“What we really need, after all, is not to defend the Bible but to understand it.”  –  Millar Burrows

“If he called them ‘gods,’ to whom the word of God came  —  and the Scripture cannot be broken”  –  John 10:35

Key takeaway(s):

1. Understanding the Bible in context and being able to gain and communicate its validity is paramount to the Christian faith.
2. One can easily say they “believe” in the Bible or claim the opposite naming it “myth”, each is without veracity as one must understand “what” the Bible says completely and “why” we can have assurance it is actually the Word of God.
3. Basis for trust is rooted in:
   • Third-Party Verification
   • Historical Reliability
   • Fulfilled Prophecy
   • Archaeological Evidence
4. God can produce both a Person and a Book that are without error.

Overview:
This topic is one that sometimes seems bland and often ignored yet ironically in my view it is arguably the most or second most paramount aspect of the Christian dialogue. As Paul states that Christianity itself stands and falls on the resurrection of Christ, it is of utmost importance that prior to generating thoughts and basing our world views on the teaching of a book we must put to rest the discussion on the validity of such a book. More simply put, how can we live by the word of a book if it’s just a book and yet we think and say it is the word of God yet we don’t know it to be so?

Secondarily, how can we respond to the popular …