I don:t think the article was very factual tho, as they called the calendar "Lunar" and it definitely is a Solar-Lunar calendar, as God said the evening and the morning were the first day (actually before EITHER the sun or moon were yet created!) But later he said the sun was to rule the day, and the moon to rule the night.
There are some people who say they we should use only the Lunar calendar to determine when the Sabbath is - so they say it is every 8th, 15th, 22, and 29th of each month. They are, of course, totally against Scripture and Spirit of Prophecy that shows it is every 7th day.
This quote was incorrect too: "Shavuot is one of the Jewish harvest festivals, also known as the festival or feast of 'Weeks'. There is no set date for the two-day festival, but it takes place seven weeks (50 days) after the first day of the spring festival of Passover"
As you probably are aware of, I accepted the continuance of the holy convocations of God a few years ago. The Bible clearly shows that what we now call "Pentecost" is a festival that is on the day after counting 7 Sabbaths from the first Sabbath during Unleavened Bread. So it always falls on a Sunday. It has to.
The article said there is still one scroll left to decipher. I wonder what is in it.
Some 10 days back I had the chance to visit the Shrine of the Book in Jerusalem, the place where 1/1 size facsimiles of the Dead Sea scrolls are sheltered. Now it is more clear in my mind that this sect of the Essenes was a very mystic one, with very strict ascetic rules. And, while they were making copies of the true Hebrew Bible, they were not committed to it, but they also had corrupt versions such as the Samaritan Pentateuch or the LXX, plus all kinds of literature and apocryphal writings. No wonder that they were not committed to the Jewish lunar calendar either, but came up with a "smarter" one. But still, in calculating the prophetic periods, we will continue to take the year as having 360 days and not 364, isn't it?
That sounds really interesting about the Dead Sea Scrolls.
While those Essenes may have had many weird problems, it is reassuring to see that the Bible we have today is practically the same as what they had nearly 2000 years ago!
Did you see any other interesting things in Israel while you were there?
I:d love to go someday, but instead, spend the money on printing 1858gc books etc.
While those Essenes may have had many weird problems, it is reassuring to see that the Bible we have today is practically the same as what they had nearly 2000 years ago!
Did you see any other interesting things in Israel while you were there?
I:d love to go someday, but instead, spend the money on printing 1858gc books etc.
Yes, the Isaiah scroll in a good evidence for the preservation of the Bible. Still, that was not enough to silence the textual critics with their theories regarding the sacred text. If the clear and simple promises of God regarding the preservation of His words are not believed, there is nothing in the world that is going to convince the skeptic.
Regarding my trip in Israel: it was a very short one (four days, from Monday till Friday), and with few objectives that I had in my mind. I might say that it also had to do with a project: the Romanian documentary on the history of the Bible. For this purpose we took some pictures, video footages, and I did a little bit of research. The weather was not very good, but the first of the two rainy days I spent mainly in the museum, and the last one we went away from the storm to the Dead Sea. There my wife remembered about the archaeological discoveries of Ron Wyatt. And, indeed, we were very close to the cities of the plain (Sodom and Gomorrah) but, because we were not prepared to spend time looking for that, it was left to explore these places maybe some other time (though the prospects are not very near). Also, after arriving home I realized that we were so close to "the place of the skull" and "the garden tomb", but we were in a hurry to reach the Mount of Olives that day.
Otherwise, what to say? ... Many women soldiers there! A thought crossed my mind as I saw that: if the people of Israel had the faith to enter into the new covenant, they could have conquered Palestine without wearing one gun. But now their old covenant type of relation with God is even more obvious than in those times.
Of course, no need to spend money in going to Israel to see how the old covenant works. It is very well exemplified among as, the sda people. So, better spend the money in 1858gc.
And just to back up some of the things said from min. 28 till min. 34 on the video at the link above, here is an article informing us that it was discovered that the ink on some of the scraps from Qumran is not old at all:
Some 10 days back I had the chance to visit the Shrine of the Book in Jerusalem, the place where 1/1 size facsimiles of the Dead Sea scrolls are sheltered. Now it is more clear in my mind that this sect of the Essenes was a very mystic one, with very strict ascetic rules. And, while they were making copies of the true Hebrew Bible, they were not committed to it, but they also had corrupt versions such as the Samaritan Pentateuch or the LXX, plus all kinds of literature and apocryphal writings. No wonder that they were not committed to the Jewish lunar calendar either, but came up with a "smarter" one. But still, in calculating the prophetic periods, we will continue to take the year as having 360 days and not 364, isn't it?
I really need to back off on this ...
The link in the opening post of this thread refers to the "Qumran sect" as the writers / custodians of Dead Sea scrolls (or, at least, part of them). Scholars used to identify this sect as that of the Essenes, based on the description made by Josephus Flavius, Philo of Alexandria and Pliny the Elder. Though at the Shrine of the Book in Jerusalem you will see it presented as a fact, this theory is now increasingly debated. Probably the main argument of the scholars was that they saw a connection between what the said authors told about the Essenes and the Community Rules found at Qumran. I've read Josephus account on them, but I was not convinced about this argument. He talks about some religious literature used by the Essenes, but I haven't seen him mentioning the Hebrew Scriptures as part of that literature.
The vast majority of manuscripts found in the 11 caves next to the Dead Sea were in Hebrew. Than there was a good number written in Aramaic. In Greek were found only a few tiny fragments. Some of them were identified as biblical fragments of OT translation in Greek, but still, they don't necessarily confirm the textual variants of LXX. Also, the few biblical mss. written in Paleo-Hebrew do not have those problematic variants of the Samaritan Pentateuch. Overall, the Dead Sea Scrolls are a great vindication of the Masoretic text. Though they are considered the product of a different scribal tradition, the text of the Dead Sea biblical mss. is in harmony with the Masoretic text of the OT.
Zafer and Webmaster, I'm struggling to understand this whole thread. Please summarize in layman's language that enables the reader to walk away with their faith affirmed. Many thanks. (I don't have time for links to articles and videos).
