I'm going to ask you a question. But first, I'm going to set the question up properly.
The original Christianity became officially established when the Catholic Church found Constantine as its protector and defender in the mid 4th century.
That Church grew mighty, powerful and exerted an influence over vast reaches of the earth.
The Church had an absolute fetish for anything of nature deemed "holy" that might be a relic of Jesus or his Apostles or (as time went by) any Saint.
This took the form of conserving the True Cross, splinters from the true cross (one in the Pope's ring!) the bones of martyrs, robes, chalices, knuckles, fingers, etc. of apostles......the list is vast and endless.
Helena, Constantine's wife, spent a lot of time and money in search of the True Cross and a market started that continued for centuries trading in relics and other connections with Jesus and the Apostles. Most famous among them was the search for the Holy Grail.
Now that is the setup to my actual question. Ready for it?
Doesn't it seem very odd to you, strange and mysterious---in fact, passing all understanding that in view of the Church's passion for such items THE BIBLE itself was NOT PRESERVED??
Is that not AMAZING?
Or.......
Is amazing the wrong word?
Maybe we should ask: Isn't it SUSPICIOUS?
Out of all the physical artifacts that have ever existed on Planet Earth wouldn't you think the very most valuable one to preserve for all manking for all time would be the COMMUNICATION BETWEEN THE TRUE GOD AND MAN???
Or, should we conclude there is something more sinister at work?
Your thoughts?
Terry