QUESTION 1: Shouldn't we be loyal to the "original autographs" 
            and not a mere translation?

ANSWER: We should put as much value on the "originals" as God 
does.

EXPLANATION: It is impossible to be true to the originals 
because the originals have long been lost. This well established fact 
should be enough to make the sincere student of Scripture realize that 
an affirmative answer to the question is an impossibility.

But it does not explain the above answer. Just how much value 
does God put on the originals?

To get the answer we must explore seveal chapters in the book 
of Jeremiah beginning with the famous passage in chapter 36 concerning 
the roll that Jeremiah had written.

In verse 21 the roll is brought before King Jehoiakim and read 
by his servant Jehudi.

According to verse 23 Jehudi read three or four leaves and 
King Jehoiakim cut it up with a penknife and cast it into the fire on 
the hearth until it was destroyed.

Thus ends ORIGINAL #1!

Then the Lord moved Jeremiah to rewrite the roll adding some 
words to it. (Jeremiah 36:32)

Thus ORIGINAL #2 is born.

We are shown the text of this second original in Jeremiah 45-
51 where it reproduced for our benefit.

Jeremiah told Seraiah to read this roll when he came into 
Babylon (Jeremiah 51:59-61). Then Jeremiah instructed Seraiah, after 
he finished reading the roll, to bind a stone to it and cast it into 
the Euphrates river (Jeremiah 51:63)!

Thus ends ORIGINAL #2!

But wait! We have a copy of the text of the roll in chapters 
45-51. Where did it come from? It came from a copy of original #2 
which we can only call ORIGINAL #3!

So there are two very big problems for those who overemphasize 
the "originals."

(1) Every Bible ever printed with a copy of Jeremiah in it has 
a text in chapters 45-51 which is translated from a copy of the 
"second" original, or ORIGINAL #3.

(2) Secondly, NO ONE can overlook the fact that God didn't 
have the least bit of interest in preserving the "original" once it 
had been copied and its message delivered. So WHY should we put more 
of an emphasis on the originals than God does? An emphasis which is 
plainly unscriptural.

Thus, since we have the text of the "originals" preserved in 
the King James Bible we have no need of the originals, even if they 
were available.

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