Do the Dead Sea Scroll prove the accuracy of the Bible?

Answer 1

To expand upon the original answer below, I thought it important to give a much more objective answer to this question then the misleading answer given below.

The simple answer is still, "no". The Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS) do not strengthen the idea of The Bible being accurately translated throughout the centuries. The Wikipedia article on the DSS (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_sea_scrolls) gives a very precise and objective history and overview of what the DSS say. Also included is all the various and conflicting conclusions by scholars on the origin of the scrolls. It is anything but cut and dry, as the gloss-over answer below would suggest.

Regarding translation accuracy, from the scholars that studied the DSS, it would seem that some books of the Bible in the DSS match up very well with what is currently read, while others match up terribly, illustrating the Bible was anything but set in stone at that time. The books that match up well might have been copied to the DSS after they were canonized, thus explaining why they are very nearly the same as they are today.

(Original) Answer

Of course, not.

To those who are opposed to the scripture absolutely nothing can ever prove the accuracy of the Bible.

What the Dead Sea Scrolls do is to clearly demonstrate to be false a number of contentions regarding the copying of the sacred scriptures by hand. Even though they are around a 1000 years earlier than the earliest copies in possession before their discovery, they were found to be almost identical with very few differences from the copies which were known until that time. Even further, the differences which do exist are quite minor and have no bearing on the meaning of the text. This means that copying carefully by hand does not result in thousands of 'copying mistakes' as is alleged. It can therefore be shown that there is good reason to have confidence in the sacred text as being an accurate reflection of what the original authors wrote.

The Dead Sea Scrolls prove that the copying of the sacred text was accurate. It cannot prove that the content of the scripture itself is accurate as this is determined by other means, such as Archaeology, which shows the accuracy of the historic contentions in the scriptures in literally thousands of places. Around 4000 of these have been documented by archaeologist Dr. Clifford Wilson.

The Dead Sea scrolls themselves however, are used in discussions regarding the integrity of both Daniel and Isaiah. The scrolls have a complete copy of Isaiah, further adding to data which suggests the unity of the book rather than the multiple author theory which has no evidence. In the same way Daniel is regarded as more likely belonging in the period it was set. These are thus arguments which support the overall integrity of the Bible record as handed down.