Dead Sea Scrolls

I went for the Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibition at the Arts House near Parliament House. its really been a real eye-opener for my friends and i who were there. i decided to blog this 1st ahead of some other due entries coz there're some information that i want to share before i forget. :)

below is the relics used during the historical times where people began to put words into writings. as we know, before paper came along, people already knew how to read and write in various languages. the need to make recordings were definitely important. Therefore people started writing and make records using various methods available and in the early days, they engraved words on these relics that were founded by archeologists in Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls were. Some of the Scrolls found were actually kept in clays and pottery in order to preserve the life-span.

Below are Fragments of the bible that we are reading today. in total, there were approx. 18,000 many fragments found in Qumran and experts and archeologists began work to piece these fragments together and later, in these different readings pieced together, only 200 scrolls consist of religious writings. majority of it recorded interesting and mundane things that included cooking recipes, day-to-day life experiences and events etc.

the archeologists also found out that records and writings were also made on animal skins such as camel skins, lamb skins. majority of them were made on lamb skin. experts had to use various methods in piecing the fragments together and the simplest method was handwritings followed by infra-red and DNA-testings. it is a tedious effort and the group of experts, scholars and archeologists spent 60+ years to piece them together and majority of these scrolls and fragments are housed in Israel. Its really a privilege of us to have some of these priceless artifacts, scrolls and fragments be exhibited here. below, its the Scroll of the first 5 books of the Old Testaments; Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. this was recorded 250 years ago.

the below piece of artifact is something really interesting. this piece of scroll is the 1st bible to leave earth to go to the moon. i cant remember who's the guy who brought this bible to the moon but of u do visit this Exhibition, you'll be able to know this incredible gentlemen. the Curator elaborated to us that the reason why he brought it to the moon instead of other things that was on the space rocket's payload was because," he wanted it to be as close to God as possible than any other things." interesting fact. :)

the next item you see below here is one of the most important bibles written and translated in history. This bible is the 1st bible to be translated into a combination of Latin and Greek by Euramus(i hope i get it right). This gentlemen, known by theologians and archeologists as "The man who knew everything" was a scholar, a scientist and a mathematician. He was really a smart guy who decided why cant the bible co-exist in both language. you gotta pay attention here is that, at the moment of time, Latin was the common language in many countries. This guy is really important because of him, Martin Luther somehow got hold of his book and later translated it into English and most of us know how powerful the man Martin Luther was. Martin Luther later gave away the book to Willian Tyndale.

John Calvin. This guy, you really gotta applaud him. the 1st bible to enter Geneva, Switzerland. This gentlemen here took great pains to bring the work of Euramas, Martin Luther and Tyndale into Geneva during the era of Queen Mary who is commonly known as "Bloody Mary" today. the rest is history. Later, John Bunyan managed to get hold of this book during the pit of his life and he later wrote the "pilgirms progress" which is till today a widely popular book about his life where he went through a broken family, to his life in jail. i'm gonna get hold of that book for sure.

the 1st bible translated into spanish. also another historical fact thats cause worthy of making a exclamation. the gentlemen, (think Corosis) is the man who brought a revolution in this area.

A pic of the famous Martin Luther.

i think its really been an incredible and exasperating experience for me. the curator for this entire exhibit painted a clearer picture how the Dead Sea Scrolls came about, what the writers, scholars, archeologists, theologians and leaders of each era did and went through. till today, the bible is still the best seller worldwide. The Dead Sea Scrolls held the most original works of the book of Isaiah which was totally intact at its discovery together with many fragments of the Psalms, also known as the poetry of the bible.

During 1611, when the 1st King James bible was compacted and sold, on the NY Times, it was an immediate hit and top the charts which till today, this legacy lives on. it took 54 of the best scholars employed and searched by King James to translate the 1st english bible and a "2nd" version ot revised version from its 15kg, 17 inch size to a smaller and more compact size that proved to be a "hit" amongst people.

Amazingly, i began to wonder the incredible factual findings made by various people and even began question how the compilation of the bible came about. it makes you want to find out more and deeper in depth. Scrolls were originally used by historians to make recordings based on their experiences and yet, the bible and its scrolls were actually repeated being recorded and written in its original form till today. i began to wonder the amazing works of God and men that created this beautiful work of a simplified theologic version of "Change of Place" & "Change of Person". The bible consisting of the old testaments and the new testaments comprising of 66 books.

please do visit this exhibition because its really interesting and enriching. it really opened my eyes to want to understand history, theologies and christianity on a higher level.