What if all copies of the bible were destroyed?

Both the Old Testament and the New Testament began as oral traditions and managed to survive that way before there were writings.

 

Even the eyewitness gospel accounts? Or Paul who claimed infused knowledge? That doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

 

I'll concede that last part to you my good sir, even though Darwin never said anything about retention of acquired characteristics.

Whether you can see God in the things 'created' is not something I can comment on. You may be either a genius or biological freak, but I'm pretty sure if what you say is true, it isn't for the other 99% of people. I'd have more sympathy if your argument was of a more Berkeleyan slant - that it is the perception itself and not the things perceived that provides evidence for God.

 

I assume when the OP says this things they mean the King James Bible. As the bible has been destroyed and altered many times by the catholic church...

 

Okay, thanks.

I believe if one has an open mind, one can learn not only that God exists but much more about God from creation.

I agree with what Romans 1:20 says; "For his invisible [qualities] are clearly seen from the world’s creation onward, because they are perceived by the things made, even his eternal power and Godship".

I am unsure what a "Berkeleyan slant" is but I have had the discussion of perception versus reality before. I do not believe, as some seem to, that because there are differences in perception between people that means there is no common reality to be seen.

The idea that perception over rules reality, leads to the idea that there is nothing that is wrong or right and that it is all just a matter of perception. Then the genocide that took place in Nazi Germany, could be defended as just a matter of perception. I do not believe that many would want to go down that road.

I also believe that God has the ability to overcome these, in most cases small, differences in perception and did so when authoring the Bible.

PS I didn't intend the phrase "open mind" as an insult, I hope you won't take it that way.

 

I have two different versions for you.

One; the Believer's version; The Bible is the word of God, and if destroyed, heaven and earth would pass away. The Bible itself says so. If I remember my lesson correctly, a jot is like the cross on a t and the tittle is like the dot of an i. Granted, the Bible has been interpreted a few times and may have lost some in interpretation, but the original word of God still stands and we can understand the gist of it by what we have today.

Matthew 5:18
For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.

One of the largest pieces of evidence we have today that there is a God, besides creation, is the Bible. The fact that people have been trying to eliminate the Bible and Jews & Christians for 4000 years without being able to accomplish it is astounding when carefully examined.

Two; the Unbelievers version. The Bible is totally destroyed, never rewritten, and the people who remembered it died off. Since the Bible is the basis for most of our morals, those would be destroyed as well. We would arrive at anarchy in short order, where the toughest, meanest members of society run as much area as they are capable of controlling. Weaker members of society, like women and children, would be sold as slaves. The theory of eveolution would be passed from all parents down to their children, and it would only take about 2 generations for people to realize they are in fact no different from animals, and they would act as such. Cannibalism would be rampant, and since there is no longer any government, it wouldn't be illegal. People would be free to do anything they pleased, and that is exactly what they would do.

 

That was one of the most ignorant things I've ever read.

 

I could rewrite the bible. I'd call it "The murder of Jesus the Jew" because it's important to recognize that he was just a Jew and nothing more.