Original Manuscripts Lost ?

Bulletin

Dan Peters
10/20/24 - Evidence-Based Faith

    Before I wrote this article on some of the key reasons we don’t have the original manuscripts of the Bible, I asked AI, (Artificial Intelligence) to answer the question. I was impressed with the results. “Lack of Preservation: The original manuscripts of the Bible were written on perishable materials such as papyrus, parchment, or vellum, which are prone to deterioration over time. As a result, many of these early manuscripts have been lost or destroyed due to natural decay, intentional destruction, or accidental damage.” AI went on to give me a paragraph on the following headings, “Passage of Time: No Centralized Storage: Transmission and Copying, etc.”, but AI failed to cover one aspect that I want you to consider.
Have you considered that if we had the actual copies of Moses, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, that people would worship the manuscripts? They kept the original serpent that Moses made (see Numbers 21), but 700 years later they were worshiping that very “original” bronze snake! “… He also crushed to pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the sons of Israel had been burning incense to it; and it was called Nehushtan.” (2Kings 18:4). Hezekiah, a good king of Judah, saw the abuse of that historical artifact and destroyed it.
Recently re-reading a wonderful book by Christopher De Hamel,, MEETINGS WITH REMARKABLE MANUSCRIPTS , he recalls another such moment.
This manuscript (MS 286) is from about the year 600AD, containing the four gospels, in Latin. But because this particular manuscript was the personal copy of “Saint Augustine of Canterbury” (597-604AD Missionary to Great Britain), look at the reaction when it went on public display. “When the manuscript was exhibited in the Fitzwilliam Museum in 2005, a visitor was seen by Stella Panayotova, curator of manuscripts there, weeping and kissing the ground in front of its glass case.” (p. 24).
The Bible contains the very thoughts of God throughout human history.
    “How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
    How vast is the sum of them!” (Psa. 139:17)
But we would rather worship a Bible manuscript as if it had some kind of “power” if we kiss it, bow down to it! Maybe, just maybe, God would want us to open it up and read it and obey Him!   “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life.” (John 5:39-40). We don’t worship a book, but a person… Jesus Christ the Son of God. Dan Peters