Professor Arrested for Stealing Ancient Papyrus and Selling It to Bible Museum

I’m seriously starting to wonder if the Museum of the Bible is just some long-term scheme dreamt up by an atheist to discredit the Christian holy book.

Between once owning over 5,500 artifacts that were smuggled via a black market that may fund ISIS — which they returned while paying a $3 million fine — and returning a “lunar” Bible taken to the moon in 1971 after finding out it was never taken to the moon, and admitting last month that all 16 of their fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls were forgeries, ethics and honesty are at a premium in this place.

It’s only getting worse now.

According to The Guardian, ancient papyrus biblical fragments on display at the museum were in fact stolen from Oxford University by one of its own professors, and that man has now been arrested.

Dr Dirk Obbink, an associate professor in papyrology and Greek literature at the university, was detained by officers from Thames Valley police.

…

Obbink, 63, has denied any wrongdoing, and has said the claims are a “malicious attempt” to harm his reputation and damage his career.

It is alleged that materials held at the Sackler Library [at Oxford] had ended up in the US, in a collection belonging to the Museum of the Bible in Washington DC.

Museum owner Steve Green (whose family also owns Hobby Lobby) said he bought the relics from Obbink between 2010 and 2013. Obbink apparently says that’s a lie. Either way, the Museum has since returned all 13 fragments.

[Egypt Exploration Society director Dr. Carl] Graves said: “These are early fragments of the gospels or biblical fragments. They are testament to Egypt’s early Christian heritage and are early evidence of biblical scripture. We don’t value them monetarily but they are priceless and irreplaceable.”

Another report from last month says the Green family has returned “an additional 5,000 ancient papyrus scraps and 6,500 ancient clay pieces because their provenance cannot be verified, prompting concerns that they could be looted or stolen.”

Green is doing a fabulous job reminding everyone why Christians can’t be counted on to do the ethical thing, all in an attempt to get people to believe a book of myths.

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