So can someone tell us what IS the correct origin and history of these Dead Sea Scrolls?
It’s common knowledge:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_sea_scrolls
The Dead Sea Scrolls were portions of the Old Testament written down by a Jewish sect called the Essenes (Sp?) in the first century AD, probably during the time of Masada, or the Roman destruction of the Jewish Temple at Jerusalem...
They were found hidden in a cave in the late 1940’s.
They contained the book of Isaiah, the Psalms, and I can't recall what other books of the Bible...
They are vastly important because they confirm our modern translations of the Bible down to a single word.
Meaning, there were no mistakes made in our modern translations of these books! Especially when one considers how much of the New Testament story is contained in Isaiah and the Psalms, the Dead Sea Scrolls take on an even more important place in history. (Isaiah 53 is a prophecy about the birth of Christ, Psalms is filled with messianic prophecies fulfilled in the coming of Jesus...)
Since the Bible was always a hand copied text until the advent of the printing press in the 11 century, the evidence that the Bible we have is reliable, (at least those books of the OT that were in the Dead Sea Scrolls) the discovery of the Scrolls is a wonderful find for Jews and Christians alike.
I could be remembering some of the above incorrectly, but this is I believe a good overview.