Do the Original books of the Bible still exist?

by Gill 26 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  Gill

  I was talking about a Born Again neighbour of ours on my topic on 'Is J K Rowling a Witch?' today.

  One thing, during our discussion that she brought out was that she had actually SEEN first hand the original books of the Bible. I told her that the whole, unconditional, originally written scrolls books as first put down, 'pen to paper' as it was no longer existed.

  She said she had seen them herself in Israel and hence 'knew for certain that these Bible books are from God!'

  So, do the original books of the Bible, as they existed when first 'put down' actually still exist?
• 

  Oroborus21

  no they don't and she doesn't know what she is talking about. not only are there no original manuscripts there aren't even early generation copies of the original manuscripts.........

  -Eduardo
• 

  lovelylil

  No books, only scrolls. Don't know what she is talking about. And there is very little original scrolls at all. Most are copies.
• 

  Elsewhere

  So, do the original books of the Bible, as they existed when first 'put down' actually still exist?

  No.

  The originals turned to dust a very long time ago. What she saw were copies of copies of copies that were written about 150 to 300 years after the most recent books were written. Keep in mind many of the very first books were written about 1600 years before the last were written. She saw the very tail end of the writing process and even those were just copies.

  If she is impressed by crusty old sheets of paper with writing, she can just make her own like I did when I was a kid. We loved to go on "treasure hunts and I would make "treasure maps" by drawing a cryptic map on a paper shopping bag. I would use a candle to burn the edges and then I'd bunch it up and make it very loose and wrinkled. Walla! An "authentic" old pirate treasure map! Arrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!
• 

  Gill

  Thanks All!

  This proves that she was/is sadly deluded. I feel quite sorry for her then. Though I must confess, I did know that the 'originals' were long gone, she threw me by insisting she had 'seen them' in Israel.
• 

  Leolaia

  No. The closest a manuscript comes to a presumed original autograph is 30-40 years for a scrap of John (the Rylands MS) and a copy of Daniel in the Dead Sea Scrolls.
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  Leolaia

  She probably saw a Dead Sea Scrolls MS labelled as the "first known manuscript of XX" and misinterpreted it as referring to the "first" manuscript of XX.
• 

  gaiagirl

  The May 2006 National Geographic has an article about the "Gospel of Judas", and how it relates to other scriptural works used by early Christians. On page 89, there is a photograph with the caption "part of the Codex Sinaiticus, a Greek Bible from around A.D. 350 that contains the oldest surviving full New Testament."
• 

  Hondo

  If she is talking about a copy of the "bible" the answer is yes, copies do still exist. The first true bible, the VULGATE, handscribed entirely in latin, was written ~400AD. All bibles

  thereafter (until Gutenberg invented the printing press) were handscribed, rare, and there are many copies of these around as well.
• 

  Nathan Natas

  
  Isn't it fun to talk to morons?

  You're right - the so-called "original books of the Bible" don't exist, for two good reasons:

  1. they're imaginary

  2. they're imaginary.