Christians and Jews: why are there no original bible manuscripts (autographa)?

Such texts would have been passed around and copied over and over again by scribes, and eventually they would have fallen apart. Scholars are frankly lucky to have manuscripts as old as the oldest examples that DO survive.

Surely you grasp that?

By the way, do you have any idea how little survives of NON-religious documents?

I'm an atheist, by the way, but I'm also a trained historian. I don't think you're one.

Edit: I think you are referring to the high value placed on relics, not manuscripts, and even relics were valued later, not in the context of "early" Christianity. It wasn't until the 4th century or so that relics and sites and supposed "artifacts" really acquired value, once they could be moneymakers. Prior to that time, anything valuable in the context of Christianity would have had to be hidden, passed secretly from hand to hand, and the chances of survival for ancient Christian codices and documents would not have been at all high.

We do not have any original texts because:

1. Documents written on animal skins and papyrus do not last when they are used. The Bible manuscripts were used. Many of the DSS has to be cut apart with incredibly thin saws just to be unrolled. These materials simply don't last.

2. No importance was placed on preserving original manuscripts because copies were made. That's a modern bias. In antiquity it was expected that scrolls and codices would be used until they fell apart.

3. War. Repeated invasions of Israel and persecutions of Christians destroyed much.

4. If someone did claim to have an original manuscript no one would believe them, so what's the difference?

There are no original Bible manuscripts because, just at the right moment in time, conniving alien atheists landed in their space ships with the sole purpose of destroying all such records. And, they were apparently successful. What other explanation could there be?

God's word was passed by the mouths of believers for long periods of time. It is what the word is, not the text that is important. Also, in addition to the above statement concerning deterioration, God's people and relics have long been the victims of wars that destroyed such items. Yet, though the text were destroyed, the word has lived on.

How is that not accurate enough for you. You know that all of the bibliographies of Alexander the Great come 500 years after his death and yet all scholars and books agree those facts are true.

I don't think anyone realized the Historical magnitude of what was happening at the time in their lives. There was no mass media, and there were very few who may have believed that Jesus was the son of God born of a virgin.

you are dead wrong , Christianity have roots from 6 years before Christ and is documentation. later we have 4 original bibles` nothing ells is god ,originality of Christian bibles are john, Mathieu ,peter and luck everything ells are a scrap and B S , other cult religious mad a dozens crap books but we do not recognize them at all like Jehovah all are trash

Because they were written on papyrus and animal skins. These materials deteriorate. They did not have the means to preserve these materials as we do today. As you pointed out they were written thousands of years ago.

They are out their. they have their secret hiding places. even the oldest are kept with God in the Ark in heaven.

Shhh! Christianity is a hoax, don't deflate their bubble!