"Greatest Archeological find ever made"

Had to check your post V, as I thought for a second they have dug up the bones of Jesus! No such luck, but I look forward to hearing about these scrolls.

RP

Here we go. I'm giving the link but haven't read it yet. Will do now....

V

Thanks so much for posting this V - it's really exciting!

Funny though that the article only mentions the Dead Sea Scrolls. The finds at Nag Hamaadi were, according to most religious historians, far more significant as they produced new material, while the Dead Sea Scrolls were mainly parts of the Hebrew Scriptures we already had.

I can't wait to hear about what will be discovered now!

Love and peace,

Judy

Hi Judy,

I thought this would interest you.

I think it's very early days, and it's just a media bite that it's more important "than the Dead Sea scrolls". I guess they mean, more important than anything else too.

But I can imagine we might as usual have a long wait to get the whole texts, so let's not hold our breaths. The ownership situation is a problem for a start.

But in the end it may be fascinating. A few years back I studied Christian early history as part of a post-grad diploma in RE. I was astonished, and it was wonderful to read, the earliest documents not included in the Bible. I don't mean unchosen gospels for the Bible, but memoirs and narratives. The Christian community was up and running (though in secret) within a few decades. I don't think modern 'Christians' would recognise it. If I understood the very earliest account right of how baptism was done circa 150 AD, men and women together (so it seemed) shed their clothes, submerged themselves, and then put on fresh white garments on the other side of the water to indicate they were "born anew". LOL, I don't know what the C of E would make of that today! :eek::D

But that's the kind of insight we can expect - well, not smutty stuff but the real theology of the time - which we can expect from this new find. Of course, it'll take a while, and probably come out in dribs and drabs?

V

Interesting finds, but it's odd how two 'experts' do a very unacademic thing and jump to conclusions before they examine the evidence. Even the Menorah indicates that it could be a document from the Jewish Mystery religion, rather than the much later Christianity.

Whatever their provenance, it will be interesting to see what they contain.

Wow, that is fascinating - although I agree, as Catrin says, that it's a bit early to jump to conclusions. But it makes for a more exciting article... even if it is one filled with "mights" and "maybes" and "coulds" and "possiblys".

I'm really looking forward too to finding out what's in these writings, although I suspect we'll definitely have to wait. Apart from the ownership issue, these things take a lot of time and work to be examined thoroughly and translated accurately. Having done both Biblical Hebrew and New Testament Greek at uni, I can tell you they're not the world's simplest languages!! And even then, there's only so much we can infer (or outright guess) from them about what these texts and ideas actually meant to the people who wrote or followed them...

Interesting that they're in Hebrew - as far as I know, there aren't any early Christian texts in Hebrew. Most were in Greek, the common language of the time, or else in Aramaic, the everyday language of the Jews in that era. Hebrew was reserved only for Jewish religious texts and services. It somehow seems unlikely that followers of Jesus would have used it to write their own texts. (Or maybe these texts are actually in Aramaic, which I gather is also written in the Hebrew alphabet - but in that case, you'd think this report would have said so.) So they could indeed be from a Jewish mystery religion rather than Christianity. The only way to know is when we find out what they actually say!

I guess we'll just have to wait for all to be revealed... 😉

I just saw this in the daily mail website

very interesting.....it does make me wonder (as briefly mentioned in the artical) about the ref. to locked or was it lost books in revelations....and with everything else thats going on....and of course the date....sorry..had to say it
:hidesbehindsofa:
(AJ hides from all the HP'ers who are sick of talking about 2012 lol)

xx

Actually, the Book of Revelation refers to only one book with seven seals, whereas these are several dozen books, many of which are sealed (we're not told how many times). So whatever's in them, it doesn't look likely to hurt anyone.

Don't forget, there have been so many "end times" prophecies floating around ever since humans invented ways to reckon time, all with only one thing in common: none of them have come true. 😉

All love, Charis

Actually, the Book of Revelation refers to only one book with seven seals,

...And the 'book' is the human body, and the seals are the seven chakras that open at the time of enlightenment or 'revelation'. The four horsemen of the Apocalypse are symbolic of the changes brought about when the individual sheds material attachments.

I read about the discovery of the Jordan book the other day, and I'm looking forward to hearing what can be found out about it.

no word of a lie but after posting that I had to go out and on the car radio the song by morrissey started 'everyday is like sunday' which repeats the words 'come armageddon' ha ha:D xx

From the report in yesterday's newspaper it seems they may be forgeries. Apparently the person who supposedly found them has 'found' things before and is not considered a reliable source of genuine goods. It reminded me of my time living in Jordan over twenty years ago, we were often offered 'genuine' Nabatean artefacts by Bedouin children at tourist spots.

From the report in yesterday's newspaper it seems they may be forgeries. Apparently the person who supposedly found them has 'found' things before and is not considered a reliable source of genuine goods. It reminded me of my time living in Jordan over twenty years ago, we were often offered 'genuine' Nabatean artefacts by Bedouin children at tourist spots.

mmmmmmmm you wouldn't know what to believe.....:cool: x

btw catrin...whbat paper did you read it ib or have you got a link...just done a v quick google and can't find anything, thanks xx

Now I think about it more, the thing that surprises me (and may be a bit suspicious) is that these books are made out of lead. While I'm no expert, I've done a fair bit of study and reading about the early Christian era and the writings we have from that time, and I have never once heard of texts being made out of stamped lead. The standard materials for writing on in those days, whether in codices or scrolls, were papyrus and vellum. Even clay tablets, surely, would be much easier to produce than lead plates, when you think about it.

Ah, Catrin's link to the article has just been posted while I'm still typing this - thanks! Yes, especially from what this article says, I'm getting the feeling there's something at least slightly suss about all this. But time will tell.

Actual books were first produced by early Christians. Let's keep an open mind? We can be sure the truth will come out. From all I've read, these are ancient, not modern. But it''ll all come out. It's certainly a subject of interest. 🙂

V

More news on the books, could this be the first portrait of Jesus??

xx

Now I think about it more, the thing that surprises me (and may be a bit suspicious) is that these books are made out of lead. While I'm no expert, I've done a fair bit of study and reading about the early Christian era and the writings we have from that time, and I have never once heard of texts being made out of stamped lead. The standard materials for writing on in those days, whether in codices or scrolls, were papyrus and vellum. Even clay tablets, surely, would be much easier to produce than lead plates, when you think about it.

There was the copper scroll with the Dead Sea scrolls. I agree though, not heard of lead ones before, but it doesn't preclude their existence. Going on past experiences (Dead Sea scrolls and Nag Hammadi tractates) it will be a long time before we get to read the contents for ourselves.