Bible Scripture from Mark Found Hidden in a Mummy Mask and Could End Up Being the Oldest Gospel Ever [Video]

21 Jan, 2015 by Terresa Monroe-Hamilton

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What a fantastic discovery! With all the evidence out there on the life of Christ and recovered writings that have been deemed authentic, you still have the deniers and those who just won’t stand for Christianity being real. I pity them. I have no doubt of Christ’s life and the Bible. I have no doubt that He is the Son of God and died for our sins. I don’t have to see blatant proof to believe – I just do. I have believed since I was a small child, without knowing of the Bible or going to church. Finding original writings such as these is a thrill to me personally, because the writers were disciples of Jesus and were close to him. You can’t help but feel even closer to God envisioning this find.

Photo credit: Shutterstock.com

From TheBlaze:

The discovery of a small papyrus fragment containing words from the Book of Mark could end up being the earliest copy of a Christian gospel on record, according to experts.

The biblical text, which came from Egypt, was reportedly placed on a sheet of papyrus before the document was recycled and used to create a mummy mask.

Centuries later, researchers found it after carefully dismantling that mask. They used carbon-14 dating, studied the handwriting and analyzed related documents, dating the text to the first century, according to LiveScience (some, though, have questioned the accuracy of the outlet’s dating description).

Perhaps most interestingly, scientists found a way to undo the glue on the mask without damaging the centuries-old ink, allowing the text to be read, though the masks that go through this process are essentially destroyed — a fact that leaves some experts more than uncomfortable with the tactic.

But supporters say the masks aren’t museum-worthy, though they hold valuable text within them.

“We’re recovering ancient documents from the first, second and third centuries,” New Testament professor Craig Evans told LiveScience. “Not just Christian documents, not just biblical documents, but classical Greek texts, business papers, various mundane papers, personal letters.”

Evans, a professor at Acadia Divinity College in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, told the outlet that one mask could yield up to 12 possible texts, offering up a fascinating lens into the past.

The document, which experts believe was potentially written before the year 90, is certainly going to spark a fair share of controversy, especially considering the dearth of surviving documents from the first century; there are currently only documents dated between the years 100 and 200.

When I was in high school, before the world slipped a bearing, I had the honor and great joy of traveling to Seattle to see the King Tut exhibit. I have never forgotten being enchanted by the masks, gold, statues, jewelry and art I saw that day. It was one of the highlights of my life. But it dims in comparison to finds such as this. I considered archaeology at one time in my life as a career… then I decided I would rather eat and went into computers and accounting. This find, for me, is a great and momentous one and adds one more piece to the ancient puzzle of the Bible and the life and times of our Savior. I find the method of retrieval and the find fascinating.