[boatbums]

Oral tradition, one would suppose, comes with risks. Last year, however, I was quite surprised to factually discover that an oral history of my great, great grandparents was indeed true. Since it had been passed down from one generation to another, with no written record, I had only that tradition to begin an ancestral search. Much to my amazement, everything I had been told proved to be true.

Yes, oral tradition does indeed come with risks. Tell me, without the written records turning up in your ancestral search, would you have had the same confidence in your family history that you did before you researched it? Didn't the fact that there WAS a written record confirm that what you had been told all your life was accurate? The written word of God is no different. That is why we can base the rule of our faith upon the Bible, because it IS Divinely-inspired sacred writings spelling out the basis of our faith.

[stonehouse01]

NYer’s point was even a “secular” oral tradition can be accurate.

The epic Greek poems that had been passed down orally proved to be correct. Three thousand years ago these epic poems were passed down through the bards. Troy exists confirmed by recent archeology.

The written word of God was followed by incompete attempts to write about it.