Free Falling
2008-10-09 14:08:10 UTC
I am amazed to think of how many times it has been attacked and attempted to be destroyed yet it's stronger than ever.
Acting on a decree by the mad tyrant Antiochus Epiphanes in 167 BC, his henchmen tried to destroy all copies of Jewish Scripture. The books of the law (i.e. Jewish Scripture) that they found they tore to pieces and burned with fire. Anyone found possessing the book of the covenant, or anyone who adhered to the law, was condemned to death.
The Roman emperor Diocletian instituted the "Great Persecution" against Christians in the year AD 303. He attempted to exterminate the church and decreed that every manuscript of the Bible was to be seized and destroyed. He had the words extincto nomine Christianorum ("the name of the Christians having been destroyed") put over the ashes of a copy of the Bible
more commonly known is François-Marie Arouet aka Voltaire who made this threat.
One hundred years from my day there will not be a Bible in the earth except one that is looked upon by an antiquarian curiosity seeker.
-Voltaire
In 100 years Voltaire has been dead and if not mistaken I heard that the vey desk he wrote that famous quote upon was later used to compose Bibles :-)