I am learning so much about this great collection of ancient "literature."
The book of Job was a poem. I already knew from JW's that it's authorship and
time period were always disputed. I have really learned more how it depicts
"the adversary" as an employee of YHVH whose job is to inspect the earth and
accuse man of shortcomings.
I have been learning about the Dead Sea scrolls. WTS told us they gave a wonderful
proof that the scriptures we have today are accurate. In reality, information was
suppressed (until it recently became popular to criticize the accuracy thanks to
THE DA VINCI CODE and other books). WTS told us that "Jehovah" was indeed in
the Greek of the scriptural writings. I don't have their exact quote, but the truth is
that a Greek version of the Tetragrammaton is in a Greek version of Deuteronomy.
That's still the Hebrew scriptures, just translated.
The Dead Sea Scrolls contain many of the Apocryphal scriptures that did not make
the final Bible canon. Even included are 3 chapters of Daniel that didn't make the final
cut. In those 3 chapters, Daniel is a proactive worshipper of his God, and it has better
flow and explanations of things. I don't remember the exact Daniel story, but you should
look it up.
The information found at Nag Hammadi and other sources of "lost Gospels" have helped
modern people beyond compare. It was clear that 1st Century Christians were "all over
the map" in their beliefs about the Christ. "He was just a man." "He was a God." "He was
a man-God." "He took Mary Magdeline as his wife, or maybe just as his close Apostle."
"Judas was in on his plan and helped him ditch the human shell." The Gnostics lost the
battle of belief, and by the time after The Nicean Council, all the scriptures
that should go into the Christian Canon had to be finalized to solidify the beliefs.
Not chosen was a different Apocalypse credited to Peter. The Revelation credited to John
almost was rejected. Somewhere in there, the Infant Gospel of Thomas (?) was ditched.
It discussed Jesus being a brat until he grew out of it, turning clay birds to life and resurrecting
another boy to prove that he didn't push him off a roof and kill him. The Koran includes much
of the rejected information about Jesus, making him appear to be just another prophet with
abilities from God.
The Books of Enoch, 2 Enoch, and 3 Enoch- some was quoted as prophetic scripture in the
book of Jude and speculated to be referred to by others in the Bible. Tertullian thinks Jews
rejected the Book of Enoch because it points to the Christ. WTS basically teaches that these
writings are unavailable today, and unknown. Between the Dead Sea Scrolls and Ethiopians,
virtually all of this is available. It would fill in the story of the Nephilim, describing "The Watchers"
as fallen angels who asked Enoch to mediate with God for them, but were instead cast to the
depths of the earth.
I won't ramble on. Basically, any unanswered questions in today's Bible seem to have a book
or a chapter answering the questions, but the writings didn't get chosen by the Jews or the early
Christians. Joseph Smith certainly wasn't the first person to write something beyond the
known scriptures and claim it was "inspired." It is a popular trend right now to examine these
alternate scriptures, and Christianity would have to be radically different if some of these books
were included in the "inspired" canon.
I used to think that David and Solomon would be flattered by a reading of modern scriptures and
all that is accredited to them, small-time Kings of a small-time kingdom. I now also believe that
Jesus would be quite upset by what was ultimately chosen as his story.