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Re: orion scroll fakes

At 07:47 AM 12/2/97 -0600, you wrote:
>Mr. Wood,
>
>Too much fuss has been made over a rather insignificant 
>photo. 

Too much fuss?  I dont know what you mean by this.  But I would suggest that
it is not too much fuss to point out an obvious fraud!

>You should see the magazine and photo in context 
>before commenting. As an electrical engineer and 
>scientist for forty years, I too am concerned with 
>correct data! I felt the original criticism was a shotgun 
>blast aimed at the magazine staff in a rather 
>unprofessional way. 

Not at all.  My concern is to keep accuracy for precisely the lay people who
read the magazine.  They have been kept in the dark and given horrid
misinformation for so long that they deserve the truth.  Who is benefitted
by such inaccuracy and patent misrepresentation? By your own admission you
yourself are a layperson in the discipline.  Do you want accurate or
inaccurate information?  Do you not depend and indeed trust those you read
to give you the truth?  I think the readers of Biblical Illustrator deserve
the same.


>The illustration has no effect on the 
>teaching of Christian Gospel - the end purpose of the 
>magazine.
>

What?  Do you mean to suggest that any magazine can offer misinformation but
as long as its purpose is the education of the laity that they can use any
photo they like and call it anything they want?
I would suggest that when a magazine misrepresents the truth, the truth is
itself effected- badly!

>Who of us has not published in a journal and had a figure 
>or equation mis-set or augmented by an overzealous layout 
>artist? - some on this list have claimed that the BYT 
>YHWH frag in the latest issue of BAR was faked!

So you have already decided that it is authentic?  On what basis?  Have you
read the fragment?  Have you examined the photos? The original article in
Semitica?

> I have 
>seen bogus photos on the cover of one major scientific 
>journal twice over the last 20 years... when brought to 
>task, they blame the poor art dept!
>

So, by your own admission they have been brought to task on it- but if it is
a lay magazine for lay folk the issue should be ignored?

>I am surprised at the sophomoric tenor of much of the 
>debate and taunts on this and other similar lists. I 
>think we all get too "enthusiastic" about our "scholarly" 
>interests and forget that they are just a wee part of the 
>mosaic of umwelt. To paraphrase Marlowe - is it worth 
>real-world hurt?

The truth is worth fighting for- to the death!  (Ben Sira).  Concerning your
perception that discussions are often sophomoric:  I totally disagree.  They
are often heated- but never empty (for those who have ears to hear).

>
>Regards,
>
>Elmer Smalling 


Jim

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Jim West
Adjunct Professor of Bible
Quartz Hill School of Theology

jwest@highland.net