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Pope Advised Hawking Not to Study Origin of Universe
BlueCup submits a link to an Associated Press article running in the Northwest Florida Daily News which begins "Famous astrophysicist Stephen Hawking said Thursday that the late Pope John Paul II once told scientists they should not study the beginning of the universe because it was the work of God. The British author, who wrote the best-seller 'A Brief History of Time,' said that the pope made the comments at a cosmology conference at the Vatican."
According to the article, "The scientist then joked during a lecture in Hong Kong, 'I was glad he didn't realize I had presented a paper at the conference suggesting how the universe began. I didn't fancy the thought of being handed over to the Inquisition like Galileo.'"
You're confusing self-consistant with accurate. Just because the Dead Sea scrolls' version of Isaiah is similar to current version simply means they were careful copiests. While there is much archaological evidence indicating that places and peoples mentioned in the Bible really existed, that doesn't make it accurate. Instead of reading books by preachers, try reading books by real archaeologists. In all of Egypt, for example, one of the most studied civilizations of all time, there is no corroborating evidence for the events described in Exodus.
A well-received modern book is The Bible Unearthed.
You also seem to think that because people died for their beliefs it must be true. I guess that implies that all those Islamic suicide bombers are going to get their 72 virgins after all.