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To: Pyro7480

"The "ordinary man," that you refer to, even up until 19th century, couldn't read. Literacy did not become widespread until then. Also, before this time, if you were literate, there was a good chance that you could read Latin as well. Up until the Protestant "Reformation," the Bible was available for anyone to read in Latin, since it was the intellectual language of the time. The problem the Church had with vernacular translations wasn't with the translations themselves, it was the fact that most were bad translations."

Good point.
And I'll add some more.
Up until the invention of the printing press, churches needed to guard their copies of the scriptures from theft so they could be read to the faithful at mass.
Scriptures were copied by hand and generally were only available to churches and those wealthy enough to purchase copies.
So...it is a lie that the Catholic Church denied access to scriptures.
Like you pointed out - the Church had to root out BAD copies that contained error - and the faithful listened to the Word at mass.
That's beside the point that the original manuscripts were preserved, translated, and declared divinely inspired by the Catholic Church to begin with.


27 posted on 09/27/2005 8:50:01 AM PDT by Scotswife
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To: Scotswife
Hoot man - it is all well and good that you agree with your church's extra biblical traditions - but there are quite a few dead Anabaptist who might disagree with your rosy review of church history and their martyrdom
35 posted on 09/27/2005 9:32:27 AM PDT by reflecting (Orange Beach - the most eastern beach in Alabama)
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