\n
\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n 1)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Khirbet<\/em> Qumran, meaning \u2018ruin of\u2019 Qumran, sits on a plateau at the top of an irregular border of limestone cliffs beside the Dead Sea. Many of these cliffs contain caves which, given their location, are accessible only with difficulty. To the West lies the Judean Desert, and to the North is a mountain that houses the Qumran caves numbered 1, 2, 3, and 11.<\/p>\n 2)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Khirbet Qumran was occupied until 68 CE by the Essene Jews, one of the major schools of Jewish philosophy at that time. The complex was destroyed in 68 CE. Ashes from the burned reed\u2011rooftops and Roman arrowheads found at the site suggest a battle. The simple fact that nobody returned to recover the scrolls suggests a massacre. The timing fits, because the Jewish rebellion against the Roman Empire put the two at war from 66 to 73 CE.<\/p>\n 3)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cut to recent history. In 1947, a Bedouin shepherd discovered seven scrolls in what is now known as Cave 1. After that, the race was on. Archaeologists tried to excavate the caves scientifically, while Bedouins plundered them for whatever they could sell. In 1952, a French Dominican named Roland de Vaux located Cave 4. That cave contained over 15,000 fragments of over 800 manuscripts. A year later, an international team of eight scholars was assembled, with De Vaux as project director. Thirteen years after that, in 1966, De Vaux\u2019s team was publicly accused of obstructing release of the scrolls because the content\u2019s contrary to Trinitarian Christianity.<\/p>\n 4)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 After the Six-Day War in 1967, Israel expanded its border to the Jordan River. The Qumran complex was in that territory, so became property of Israel. And so did the scrolls. In 1972, a Spanish scholar named Jos\u00e9 O\u2019Callaghan claimed that papyrus fragments from Cave 7 represent some of the New Testament books. Other scholars disagreed, and claimed the fragments from Cave 7 are too small to know what<\/em> they represent. But O\u2019Callaghan\u2019s assertion excited a lot of imaginations. Here\u2019s why: The Essenes occupied the Qumran complex for over thirty years following Jesus\u2019 ministry, and their complex was less than a day\u2019s walk from Jerusalem. Yet none of the Qumran Scrolls (i.e., the Dead Sea Scrolls) was New Testament material. They represent all of the Old Testament books except Esther, but to date, nothing has been found that\u2019s provably<\/em> New Testament.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 5)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 So questions arose. Did the Essenes store New Testament scrolls in a separate place? And if so, why? They were, after all, orthodox Jews. Unless, of course, some of them were closet Christians.<\/p>\n 6)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In 1984, one of the Scrolls\u2019 scholars suggested that the \u2018Teacher of Righteousness\u2019 described in the Dead Sea scrolls refers to either Jesus or James, and his opponent, \u2018the Man of the Lie,\u2019 a.k.a. \u2018the Wicked Priest\u2019 is . . . drumroll, please . . . Paul! This implies that the Dead Sea scrolls both validate Jesus as a prophet and<\/em> expose Paul as a corrupter of his teachings.<\/p>\n 7)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The first concept threatens Judaism, and the second, Trinitarian Christianity. Why? Because a Jewish gospel that confirms the prophethood of Jesus would threaten Judaism, and therefore Israel\u2019s national identity. Similarly, a gospel that exposes Paul as a corrupter of the teachings of Jesus could shake Trinitarian Christianity: Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant churches alike. Again, why? Because, contrary to what many believe, Paul wasn\u2019t Jesus\u2019 \u2018second-in-command.\u2019 In fact, they never even met, yet after he was gone, Paul claimed to speak in Jesus\u2019 name, and the people in power took what he said and canonized it. But that doesn\u2019t make it true. Every tenet of Trinitarian Christianity is based on the teachings of Paul, even though Jesus never said he was God, partner with God, or even God\u2019s son. Nowhere did Jesus teach the doctrines of the Trinity, Crucifixion, Resurrection and Atonement. All of these tenets came from Paul, or from the Pauline theologians who followed in lockstep. The teachings of Paul, in fact, contradict the teachings of Jesus, much in the same way that the New Testament informs us of Paul\u2019s conflict with James, Peter and Barnabas.<\/p>\n 8)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 For example, Jesus taught Old Testament Law. Paul negated it. Jesus declared himself the \u2018son of man.\u2019 Eighty-eight times. Pauline theologians labeled him the \u2018son of God.\u2019 Jesus taught the oneness of God, and prayer to him alone. Paul suggested the Trinity and elevated Jesus to the level of intercessor. Jesus said he was \u201cnot sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.\u201d Paul proclaimed him a universal prophet. And the list goes on.<\/p>\n 9)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Hence the excitement over the Dead Sea Scrolls. These scrolls describe a Wicked Priest who opposes the Teacher of Righteousness. Many scholars believe this \u201cWicked Priest\u201d was Paul, and the \u201cTeacher of Righteousness\u201d was either Jesus Christ or his brother and disciple, James. In fact, some scholars believe the Dead Sea Scrolls document Paul\u2019s excommunication from the early Christian church.<\/p>\n 10) So this was the excitement over the Dead Sea Scrolls: If the Gospel of the \u201cTeacher\u201d validated Jesus Christ\u2019s prophethood, it could destroy Judaism. At the same time, Trinitarian Christianity and all concerned interests would be threatened, because Trinitarian Christianity is based more on the teachings of Paul than of Jesus. A gospel that differentiates between the two and condemns Paul in the process would upset Trinitarian canon. Israel, the Vatican, the Anglican Church, and even the American government would be shaken to the roots, since Trinitarian Christianity is the majority religion and a dominant political force. This makes us wonder: To what lengths would these great world powers go in order to conceal the truths that are not to their liking? Only history, and an honest appraisal of the Dead Sea Scrolls, can answer this question.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0 1)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Khirbet Qumran, meaning \u2018ruin of\u2019 Qumran, sits on a plateau at the top of an irregular border of limestone cliffs beside the Dead Sea. Many of these cliffs contain caves which, given...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[119],"tags":[102,131],"class_list":["post-924","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comparative-religion","tag-christianity","tag-dead-sea-scrolls"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=924"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/924\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":926,"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/924\/revisions\/926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}