No News Today...well maybe

After a bit of reading this morning of my usual sources I decided there was just nothing worth talking about today. Same old bull of politicians telling fibs or skewing information for the edification of no one. Oh, how I long for honest open debate in this country on important issues. Oh well. But I continue to be inspired the Federalists Papers I'm currently reading. Perhaps there is hope.


Wait...on the Good News blog site I found out that they are going to put all of the Dead Sea Scrolls, plus translations on the internet in the near future. Now that may not seem like exciting news to most of you, whoever you are that reads this blog. But, it makes chills run up and down my spine. 


A little background; in the 40's and 50's scrolls were found in the Qumran area near the Dead Sea. The story has it a little shepherd boy was flinging rocks up into caves when he heard something break. Upon further inspection there were found lots of old pottery jugs filled with old manuscripts. The bits and pieces contained the oldest writings we have of part of the Old Testament, plus the manual of discipline for the Qumran community. From then on it reads like a mystery story with folk absconding with portions of the scrolls and selling them on the black market. There are books on this that I've read and loved.


For years I have been interested in the Qumran community and the folk who lived there who were called the Essenes. You may know of the Pharisees, the Sadduces and the Zealots, sects during Jesus' time which whom Jesus argues with a good deal. But you don't read in scripture about the Essenes. I think that both Jesus and John the Baptist had close associations with these communities. And the manual of discipline for the community, which is hard to come by, often reflects teaching Jesus gave in his earthly lifetime.


But there were these big arguments going on in the academic community as to whether just ordinary folk should even be able to read them for themselves. It might upset their beliefs systems. But I have always been dying to get a hold of more of these writings to see what they contain. Finally, after many promises in the past it looks like it is going to happen. I'm delighted. Others of you may be saying, "He was right to begin with, there is no news today."


Have a good day, newsworthy or not.