Originally posted by =CreepingShadow=
No, I am well versed in the Bible...GO! Ask away.
so where's your answer ? His list of 120+ questions was somewhere at the start of this thread ...
As to the 'Dead Sea Scrolls' :
have you seen what they have to use and in what state they are in ?
They can't touch the 'original scrolls' as they're too valuable, so they rely on image manipulation programs ...
And that would be fine ... if it wasn't for the fact it allows people to 'misinterpret' the texts as they see fit because unless you note all the changes you did no one can verify it with the original text.
In a German(?) tv-show someone showed exactly how easy this stuff was. Simply by 'enhancing' the image (as the inkt had leaked and faded) you could change letters. Make the mistake that one blob was a letter and a faded blob was an inkspot (the original script is not laserprinter-like ...)
By copying & pasting you could connect words ... and no one but the 'editor' would know it was not the original ...
This is no puzzle with pieces that fit perfectly so there always is some room for 'mistakes'/interpretation.
Add to this that the people working on these translations have a background in religion, so they are more likely to choose the variants that would fit their idea of what the text should read ...
There are enough mis-understandings on these forums ... so how will you know you've got the *correct* translation & meaning ? How do you know that 'your' translation still carries the exact same meaning ... if you can't ask the original author ???
Even one of Jezus apostles' doubted until he saw the evidence for real. So why can't we doubt that whatever the 'bible' says is real or not ?
Why should we care about going to a place we don't even think exists ?
What makes you so sure you've found the ultimate answer to life, the universe and everything ?
Isn't that foolish even according to your own bible ? [/i](besides as we all know that answer is 42
)[/i]
What if according to our paradigm you are the one who is wrong and on his way to our equivalent of 'hell' ?
I'm sure I can't convince you either unless I provide more evidence than 'have faith' ...