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On Faith
Marcus H. Martins
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Scrolls might symbolize religious unity
For centuries, religion in general has been blamed for some of what today we see as unacceptable acts of violence, pillage, mass persecutions and wars. However, the more we learn about the history of the world, the more we discover that the conflicts of old need not be perpetuated in modern times. One example has to do with the so-called Dead Sea Scrolls.
The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in 1947 in caves around the area known as Qumran near the Dead Sea. They were written in Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic, mostly on leather parchment or papyrus. Archeologists have found a number of scrolls and scroll fragments representing more than 800 different works. Among the scrolls, scholars found the texts of all the books in the Old Testament of the Bible except the Book of Esther, and also many commentaries on biblical texts. Although the evidence is still not conclusive, these scrolls may have been prepared between 250 B.C. and 70 A.D., most likely by a small Jewish group known as the Essenes. Scholars from many modern religions have been working side by side to unlock the secrets of these ancient scrolls.
Recently we had in Hawaii a traveling exhibit on the Dead Sea Scrolls, co-sponsored by Brigham Young University-Hawaii's Department of Religious Education, the Hawaii Honolulu Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the Laie Hawaii Temple Visitors Center. The exhibit featured certified museum-quality replicas of the scrolls (the originals are in Israel) and some authentic pottery and artifacts of the period. At first many were puzzled by the idea: Why bring an exhibit on an archeological discovery from the Dead Sea to an island in the Pacific?
Hawaii is a melting-pot of races, ethnicities, cultures and religions, and many spots in the Hawaiian islands are considered or respected as sacred by many religions. Here religions co-exist in peace. Since in recent years the Dead Sea Scrolls have been uniting researchers of so many religious orientations, it seemed quite appropriate to bring to Hawaii an archeological discovery that, in an excellent way, exemplifies peaceful co-existence among religions.
The main sacred text of Christianity is the Bible, which came from the ancient Jews. Jesus Christ himself lived as a Jew and his apostles, the first flag-bearers of Christianity, were to our knowledge mostly Jews. Christians also revere the biblical prophet Abraham as the father of the faithful, and Latter-day Saints go one step further in considering it a privilege to see themselves as adopted into the family of Abraham. Muslims also have Abraham as their father, and the Quran contains many stories featuring biblical prophets.
The Dead Sea Scrolls show that these beliefs are not vain; they indeed have a history that predates the rise of Christianity. Today we begin to see that the wars and persecutions of ancient times were not really caused by religion, but rather throughout history religion has been perverted to give expression to hatreds and prejudices that ancient prophets and sages proscribed.
There is a lot to unite us, and the Dead Sea Scrolls serve as a reminder that we can sit together in peace and learn from one another insights that will make our lives more full of peace and our religions more meaningful.
Marcus Helvécio Martins is the chairman of the Department of Religious Education at Brigham Young University-Hawaii.