Determinism and Predestination in the Dead Sea Scrolls

​Are our lives already written, or do we have the power to choose? Dive into the Dead Sea Scrolls to uncover how ancient Jewish texts wrestled with determinism and predestination—ideas that still challenge us today.

Dr. Miryam Brand is a scholar specializing in Second Temple Judaism and the Dead Sea Scrolls, holding a Ph.D. in Bible and Late Antiquity from New York University . She has taught at institutions including Brown University, NYU, and Stern College, and is an Associate Fellow at the W.F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem . Dr. Brand is the author of Evil Within and Without: The Source of Sin and Its Nature as Portrayed in Second Temple Literature and contributes to the podcast and website "Understanding Sin and Evil," where she explores ancient Jewish texts and theology .

Dr. Miryam Brand's channel: @miryambrand

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11:45 the watchers keep popping up on this channel!

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Freaking Dr. Tracy Paino is the famous US professor who fell here and shattered his Knee... He was my prof.. they still tease him to this day lol!

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Awesome! Dr. Archie Wright also talks about the source of Lucifier, Demons, etc.

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In Islam, it is stated that all actions are recorded by Allah, as mentioned in the Qur'an (Al-Qamar 54:52–53). This can be interpreted to suggest that the universe is precomputed—meaning that all actions, across all possible parallel universes, have already been "written down" or computed in advance.

Such a model aligns with one of the simplest theoretical methods for creating a simulation of reality. Rather than computing every detail in real time—a process that would be extremely computationally intensive—it would be more efficient to precompute all events using advanced optimizations to minimize computational cost. The results could then be stored and played back, forming what we perceive as reality.

The primary drawback of this model is the requirement for an immense amount of storage, even with advanced compression techniques. However, within Islamic belief, it is accepted that this has already been accomplished by Allah.