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Originally Posted by larryjf  I wonder...is it proper to ask questions that pull in the "original" manuscripts...since they don't exist?
To ask if such and such is the same as the original, while that original doesn't exist doesn't seem like a legitimate question the more i think about it. |
Which is why I didn't answer the questions.
It appears to me that Pastor Truelove is beginning upon the speculative assertion of an "inerrant original autograph" which I perceive within the scope of his questioning. (i.e., "...absolutely identical with the original autographs). Of course, it is entirely possible that of the many books of the New Testament that there are more than one "original" of each and they may not have been identical to each other. Further, it is entirely possible that certain passages were deleted in times of conflict, then added back in during times of theological progress - just as the Comma Johanneum was canonical for centuries and is now rejected. So, centuries from now people will look back to the 20th century and see a hole in the textual record of the Comma Johanneum, just as we look back and see a hole.
This "inerrant original autograph" hypothesis seems to be the presuppositional framework in which the questions are asked and it is this presupposition that we reject. Instead of your unicorn analogy, Dr. Letis' rhetorical question would be better: "So, Larry, have you quit beating your wife? I don't have time for anything but a yes or no answer, but I would like to understand where you are coming from."
The words such as "inerrancy," "infallible," the doctrines (e.g., Sola Scriptura, Providential Preservation) and the approach to Scripture are redefined contrary to the historic Protestant position, but then men don't want to hear about that, just "yes" and "no" answers to the errant presuppositions in order to "understand where some of you guys are coming from."
One cannot begin, however, to understand either the pre-critical or post-critical defense of the Received Text upon such grounds. That is because we don't begin with mythology, nor do we attempt to reconstruct an original text, but simply receive the extant inspired and infallible canonical apographa.