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Computers Decipher Burnt Scroll Found In Ancient Holy Ark (nationalgeographic.com)
bsharma writes: Scientists have formally announced their reconstruction of the Ein Gedi Scroll, the most ancient Hebrew scroll since the Dead Sea Scrolls. This was done by CAT scanning the burnt scrolls and virtually reconstructing the layers of scrolls with ink blobs on them. National Geographic reports: "For decades, the Israel Antiquities Authority guarded the document, known as the Ein Gedi Scroll, careful not to open it for fear that the brittle text would shatter to pieces. But last year, scientists announced that they had scanned, virtually unrolled, and translated the scroll's hidden verses -- a feat now formally described in the scientific literature. Based on preliminary scans, [Brent Seales of the University of Kentucky, who specialized in digitally reconstructing damaged texts,] and his colleagues announced in 2015 that the Ein Gedi Scroll was a biblical text from the sixth century A.D. containing a column of text from the book of Leviticus. But the full CT scan results, published on Wednesday in Science Advances, tell a deeper story. Further analysis revealed an extra column of text, ultimately fleshing out the first two chapters of Leviticus -- ironically, a book that begins with God's instructions for burnt offerings. What's more, radiocarbon dating of the scroll suggests that it may be between 1,700 and 1,800 years old, at least 200 years older than previously thought. In fact, the scroll's distinctive handwriting hearkens back to the first or second century A.D., some five centuries earlier than the date ascribed to the scroll last year." University of Cambridge lecturer James Aitken told Smithsonian's Devin Powell in 2015: "There's little of surprise in finding a Leviticus scroll. We probably have many more copies of it than any other book, as its Hebrew style is so simple and repetitive that it was used for children's writing exercises."
Put on your fedora faggot. Atheists are the laughing stock of the internet - always were, and always will be.
Just ask an atheist: exactly how did the first self-replicating molecule originate? Even Richard Dawkins admits he cannot answer that. And he has the balls to be honest. Most just start calling names when you ask a question they can't answer - just like a lot of religious folks, oddly enough.
Tell that to all the Star Wars misfits around here. Grown men still obsessed with a plaything of their youth.
And how is that any more weird than grown people believing they must modify their behaviour according to the whims of some guy who's set himself up as a priest/prophet/grand-poobah and who says that if they don't obey his imaginary friend (whom only he can see and hear) will destroy them in a rain of fire and brimstone and then send them to spend eternity in an inferno for whose existence there isn't a shred of proof? Say what you will about Lucas hounds, making Jediism the fourth largest 'religion' in the UK was sheer genius and one of the best demonstrations of how nonsensical religion really is other than Pastafarianism which is also pretty cool. In the UK they've actually got prisoners suing the prison system for failing to recognise Jediism as a religion. Some 2.6% of the city of Bristol claimed to be Jedi in a census. In Germany a guy actually got his local council to allow him to hang out an official road sign directing people to his Pastafarian church. The sign also contains information about when Pastafarian services are held. The thing looks awesome next to the church signs: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/f...
Seales says he's working on hundreds of scorched scrolls uncovered from Herculaneum. To me that would be a FAR more interesting project. They might discover lost Greek texts or other works of antiquity. Even if its just tax returns, local ordinances or mundane records related to daily life it would still be interesting.
You make an assertion that there are "dramatic" changes in the text, but is that true?
This is a good point. The Hebrew text of the Bible is remarkably stable in copies dating back almost 2000 years. Anyone who has spent time tracing families of manuscript sources in, for example, medieval Europe will realize how unstable many sources are compared to the Hebrew text. Copyists in most medieval treatises frequently made errors or omissions or even inserted their own variations, corrections, or commentary.
That said, rabbis are pretty aware of the variations in ancient sources --- perhaps most notably, the differences between the Masoretic text (the standard Hebrew edition dating to medieval times) and the Septuagint (an ancient translation of the Hebrew text into Greek), as well as the Samaritan Pentateuch (a rendering in the Samaritan alphabet of the first books of the Bible, which has lots of mostly minor variants). These variants are important to rabbinical commentary and exegesis.
1) There are two words for Hell in the greek language (Hades, Tartarus). Jesus never once said either one of them. He sometimes used the valley of Gehenna (which was right on the edge of the city of Jerusalem, and used as the city dump) in his metaphors, but the translators decided to change that to "hell." This isn't a translation..."Gehenna" does not and never did mean "hell" in any language. This is a changing of what he said, which has become codified as the standard in nearly all English translations of the Bible. When you stay true to the text, it is obvious that Jesus is not establishing a doctrine of literal everlasting torture, but is just using the city dump in a metaphor to say something about morality.
2) The greek word used to refer to God's dwelling place means "sky." Just "sky." It has been translated to "heaven" to make it sound more spiritual.
3) The greek word translated as "spirit" and sometimes "ghost" just means "breath." It is a simple word, common use, nothing technical or mysterious about it. It just means breath. Also, it is gender-neutral, and the pronouns used to refer to it are gender neutral. In English the holy breath (rendered "holy spirit") is referred to as "he", but in greek it really says "it." These changes make it sound like a person, but the greek text absolutely does not.
4) The greek word translated as "savior" (and "save") really just means "heal." Every time you see phrases like "Jesus the savior" or "Jesus saves us all" it would be more accurately translated "Jesus the healer" and "Jesus heals us all." But, in order to better fit the doctrines of the roman church, the rendering is slanted.
5) The greek word translated as "believe" really means "trust." It is a very emotional word, and not an intellectual word. All these passages about "those who believe in him" make it sound like one must take a strict intellectual position in order to be part of the kingdom of heaven, but an honest rendering of the text gives one a whole lot more elbow room to interpret what they are talking about.
6) Jesus said, in the Gospel of Luke, that the Kingom of heaven is not here or there, but is within you. Many translations have twisted this verse to say "among" or other variants, to try and obscure the fact that Jesus simply came clean about the fact that the "kingdom of heaven" is just a metaphor for a state of mind.
Christianity is not based on the Bible. The Bible is full of misleading translations to twist it to fit Christian doctrines, most of which were cooked up by utterly corrupt politicians, centuries after Jerusalem was sacked.