The Dead Sea Scrolls are a bit older than any other hebrew manuscript. In fact sections of the dead sea scrolls were held secret and hidden by the Vatican for many years. Hmmmm why would they want to do that? There are many scriptures that are still not released to the public, and there is a gospel written in Aramaic (the language Yeshua and his followers would have spoke at the time) that the Catholic Church translated still will not release to this day (unless my understanding on the matter is wrong).
Anyway, the Dead Sea Scrolls do provide SOME consistency for certain chunks of the OT and NT. However, because some chunks are proven accurate should not prove everything inbetween! Half-truths are the most believable kind of lies.
As far as biblical corruption goes, go do some homework on how the Bible was canonized, and also, do some research into the models of the pagan religions at the time when Christianity was adopted by Rome as the official religion of the government. Do some research of where modern Christian doctrine comes from. Things like "original sin" and dogma against reincarnation do not enter the scene until Rome takes over. The Jewish tradition never held a concept of original sin when discussing Adam and Eve. In fact, they didn't interpret it LITERALLY AT ALL! *Gasp!* So we are to assume all of a sudden people who came along centuries later would have a better understanding of scriptures from a different time, culture and language? And Jewish tradition holds in a concept of reincarnation called the "transmigration of souls."
Get an RSV or NRSV Bible. A good one, with footnotes and a concordance and stuff. Look up Luke 3:22 and there should be a footnote saying, instead of "in him I am well pleased" which reads
"today I have begotten thee."
At first glance this may seem inconsequential, a mere difference in translation, but seriously stop and think about that means.
If Yeshua/Joshua (or Jesus as the Greeks bastardized the name to) was begotten as the Son of God on that day, then who was he before that point? At what point did Yeshua become the Christ/Messiah (which means THE ANOINTED ONE it is not his last name and it does not mean "savior" or "redeemer" or anything else anyone tells you) creates a huge gap in the theology of the modern Christian church.
Ask yourself why the trinity is not mentioned as a concept, save for once, in the entire thing, yet it "coincidentally" matches with every other pagan religious model that came before Christianity in the western world. There are always Three main deity figures, and often the are a masculine quality (God the Father) a Feminine Quality (Holy Spirit) and an offspring (Jesus). This is even true for older religious models outside of western tradition, dating back all the way to Egyptian mythology.
Also, have any Christians here actually read any scholastic research on the outlook of biblical corruption? Go do some homework. Even Christian Biblical Scholars accept that Moses parted the REED SEA not the RED SEA, but strangely it continues to be misprinted in Bibles across the country.
Why does the Christian community in general rail so violently against homosexuality, when YESHUA SAID NOTHING ON THE MATTER THAT IS ON RECORD (even non-canonical stuff) and it is found only in the OT, yet no one is bothered that we are not stoning children who misbehave to death (it's in there) or going a mile or so outside the city to take a dump (also in there).
Ask yourself if modern Western Christianity as an institution (which was an EASTERN religion to start with based off another EASTERN religion) really purports the values that should be instilled by the Message of Yeshua. "Just say you love Jesus and God will do the rest." That's a great model for the values of personal responsibility and self-control that he spoke of.
IMO, modern Christian theology is the furthest thing from what Yeshua intended in his words. Biblical infallibility is a straw man argument used to indoctrinate.
I'm not looking to fight about these things, so please don't lecture me on "faith" or this or that or the other. I've been down the path your on, so don't feel you have to take the time and effort to explain yourself. I mostly wanted to make the Christians around aware of some this information to go challenge your faith and do some research from multiple viewpoints.
Question for you Josh, were you aware that most of the NT books were written at least 40 years after Jesus was purportedly crucified and ressurected? I can't say I'd trust words written down that much later especially when the culture was highly one of oral tradition (apart from the TaNaK).
I do however, Josh, agree with you that God can use ANYTHING to draw people closer. However, I boldly ask you, do you believe God can use abortion? Homosexuality? Atheism? Paganism? Witchcraft? If you truly believe what you said, then the answer must be an emphatic and resounding "YES!"
Yet what does modern Christianity do? Shun. Blame. Judge. Condemn. Christian leaders go on tv blaming 9/11 on homosexuals and feminists. Watch the movie "Jesus Camp." It's on youtube in 9 parts. I won't clutter the thread posting it here.
That last bit is offtopic, so Josh, please feel free to PM me if you want to discuss that in depth at all.
Lastly, I don't mean anything I just wrote to be offensive, bashing, or whatever. I'm just sharing my viewpoint on the Bible and how from my perspective it has been misused and abused over the years by people.
Religion was corrupted in england when the church was the government, why would it have happened any differently in Rome? Look at other theocratic states throughout history. It's not a very successful track record. Even states that remain theocratic over long periods of time are neither stable nor scrupulous.
I personally find it extremely difficult to believe something as massive as God (that which literally is all in all in all in all in all etc....) can be contained in one very small cross section of writings.
Truth is found everywhere, hidden amongst the lies.
I'm sorry for this whole rant *puts soapbox away*