Dead Sea Scrolls

Since it was Spring Break for me, and I was starting to go stir crazy staying around my apartment most of the time, I decided to drive over to Kansas City and visit the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit at Union Station. Surprisingly, getting to Union Station and parking weren't as much of a hassle as I expected. The route to Union Station is easy, and parking in the garage on the west side was free (unless I had stayed longer than 3 hours, which I didn't).
The exhibit itself wasn't as well attended as I expected: I was one of 4 people in the 2:30 group. The majority of the exhibit focused on the background of the scrolls, the community at Qumran (where the scrolls were found), and the political situation in Judea at that time. For the majority of Americans, this background is helpful for them, since their knowledge of Old Testament history is, at best, limited. The scrolls themselves were fascinating to view. There were several different fragments (or replicas, depending) on display. The most interesting part for me was how small the writing was. I can only imagine the amount of care and detail that went into writing the scrolls.
The exhibit was not perfect, though. <rant>Instead of using B.C. and A.D. to designate the appropriate era for a year, the exhibit used the modern, politically-correct (and intellectually disingenuous) labels of B.C.E. and C.E. B.C.E. means "Before Common Era" and C.E. means "Common Era", and A.D. 1 is the same as 1 C.E. In other words, the systems are identical, but someone was bothered by the references to Jesus Christ in the traditional system. So, instead I had to endure a minor slap in the face that denied the importance of the Lord in history. (Besides, there is no such thing as a "common era." The Jews, Arabs, Hindus, and Chinese all use or have used different calendar systems. It is only in the West that B.C. and A.D. are common. Thus, the system is not really about removing religious bias but instead instilling an anti-Christian bias.) </rant>
In spite of this one minor flaw, I enjoyed the exhibit. It was certainly better than sitting around home bored for another day.