Posted on 01/29/2010 4:41:16 PM PST by NYer
Did Martin Luther save the bible from the Roman Catholic Church? Was John Wycliff the first to translate the Bible into the English language in 1382 so the regular-Joe could read the Bible too?
Many people answer yes to these questions. The same people also commonly accuse the Catholic Church of things like “hiding the Bible from the people.” And not letting the laity read the Bible for themselves in fear that the people would learn how wickedly warped and un-biblical the teachings of the Catholic Church truly were. So, naturally, for these reasons the Catholic Church kept Bibles locked up, hard to find and in languages nobody could understand.
This absolutely ridiculous, academically inept, historically false and blatantly ignorant point of view oozes with irony. Here are just a few reasons why:
1) Throughout much of Church history, if you could read, you could read Latin. The Church translated the Bible into Latin in the first few centuries of its inception so that all who could read would be able to do so.
2) The Church distributed the Bible in every country it was in and in the common language of the people from the 7th down to the 14th century and beyond.
3) “626 editions of the Bible, in which 198 were in the language of the laity, had issued from the press, with the sanction and at the instance of the Church, in the countries where she reigned supreme, before the first Protestant version of the scriptures was sent forth into the world.” (Where We Got The Bible)
4) There were 27 versions of the Bible in the German language before Martin Luther’s version came out.
5) It was almost solely in those countries which have remained most Catholic that popular versions of the Bible had been published; while it was precisely Protestant countries (like England, Scotland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway) that no bible existed when they embraced Protestantism (Dublin Review - Oct 1837). So there is no evidence that access to a Bible in the vernacular caused people to become more protestant. If anything, it made them become more Catholic. It was the spread of such “traditions of men” as private Judgment and Sola Scriptura which caused the spread of Protestantism and further division within the Body of Christ.
The reasons many people still didn’t have access to a Bible was not because of the Catholic Church (The Catholic Church supported access to it). One of the main reasons was the high cost and labor to produce and/or obtain one. That changed drastically with the printing press, of course.
So why then did the Catholic Church reject and forbid the use of protestant “bibles” such as the one published by John Wycliff? It was not because they were in English or another vernacular. It was not because they were being made available to the laity. It was because they were corrupt versions of the Bible. They were bad translations. And were often being used to spread false doctrine. It’s that simple.
If the Catholic Church had wanted to destroy or alter the Bible, it could have done so at just about any time in its long history. The Catholic Church is the reason we even have the Bible today. It is the institution that protected and preserved it. It would have been easy for those in the Church to destroy original documents and come up with something else if they didn’t like what the Bible taught. But they didn’t do that because of their love for Scripture and genuine desire to share it with the entire world.
If you can read, thank a teacher. If you can read a Bible, thank the Catholic Church.
You could have heard the hum of my tires by your driveway 5:00AM yesterday. A pretty slick hill you’ve got there.
People sometimes have the weirdest talents, and sometimes people will even pay them. What is amazing about the hand-written books of the Middle ages, is that two different copyists could produce copies of the same page that are virtually indistinguishable. Picasso could produce painting of the old masters that were indistingushable from the original and even paint new subjects in the same style that baffled all but the most expert critic. When I read this, that’s when I finally took him seriously and really looked at his stuff as serious art.
Very interesting. I did not know that about Picasso.
More delusional thinking promulgated by the cult of Rome. Amazing that the sheeple listen.
pay real close attention, even you could learn something!!
Oh, I learn a great deal. I learn that the Vatican thugs actually think the Catholic public will believe this drivel and feel better about themsleves. I learn that they think the burning of Bibles, the suppression of the Gospel, the execution of Tyndale, et al, was all just a marketing ploy like the Holocaust. This moonbat thinking eclipses the Dems.
Wake up folks. Read the Bible that is now no longer illegal to possess, thanks to the Reformers and notice...there is no pope, there is no sacerdotalism, there is no mariolatry, there are no relics to worship, or Saints to canonize and venerate, there is no separate country, there are no pointy hats and long bathrobes that will grant absolution.
There is just the freedom of Jesus Christ, alone. And we call on Rome to repent, if it can.
Oh, I learn a great deal. I learn that the Vatican thugs actually think the Catholic public will believe this drivel and feel better about themsleves. I learn that they think the burning of Bibles, the suppression of the Gospel, the execution of Tyndale, et al, was all just a marketing ploy like the Holocaust. This moonbat thinking eclipses the Dems.
Wake up folks. Read the Bible that is now no longer illegal to possess, thanks to the Reformers and notice...there is no pope, there is no sacerdotalism, there is no mariolatry, there are no relics to worship, or Saints to canonize and venerate, there is no separate country, there are no pointy hats and long bathrobes that will grant absolution.
There is just the freedom of Jesus Christ, alone. And we call on Rome to repent, if it can.
WOW!!! calm down if you can....you have written more jibberish in a couple of lines than I can refute in an hour, and it is now 11:50 P.M.....the Catholic people, in fact the entire Christian community believed this “drivel” for over 1,500 years...until uncle Martin came along and cleared all those minds..The only bibles ever burned were those which contained misinterpretations, lies, omissions, and other “remakings” of what the bible really said.....A marketing ploy like the Holocaust.....well O.K., that puts you on the same intellectual level as abmandinijad (sp) and Hitler....good company, enjoy their intellectual companionship. The church never, ever, ever, made the bible illegal to possess.....but pay real good attention now....before toe 1500’s or so, virtually no one, except the elite could read. Bibles, which had been protected and painstakingly recopied by the Catholic church (there were no others you know) were prohibitively expensive and were therefore pretty much available in monastaries, libraries and churches....gee what a surprise.....Catholics don’t worship relics, we honor them in remembrance of those whom they represent......Pointy hats and bathrobes entitle someone perhaps respect for their office on earth, but otherwise nothing.....kind of like a military, law enforcement, fire fighter.....and I’m pretty sure that you are am expert on pointy hats....you had to be the champion DUNCE of all times.....please don’t read the Bible, have someone who knows how to read do it for you.....maybe mommy
This is typical of the Catholic community. Rather than face the truth, they resort to ad hominem arguments. This has been the struggle they have faced for hundreds of years. They need the props, they need the power, they need...everything but Jesus, Himself.
Reread your own post and you will not find the Name which is above all names in it once. Go read the kooky thread on the Catholic caucus about Mary. Again, props and substitutes. Telling. But, the name calling of those that point the way out of the darkness is everywhere. This is Rome’s legacy.
The spirit of Julius Streicher lives on in your posts.
Another steaming heap of false information about the Catholic Church from Dutchboy88. As per usual.
BipolarBobs need to lay off the strawmen.
The Catholic Church is not a denomination.
Romans 3:28 was altered by Luther, and that was his lie.
Some Catholic versions of the New Testament also translated Romans 3:28 using “only”: The Nuremberg Bible (1483), “allein durch den glauben” and both the Italian Bibles of Geneva (1476) and of Venice (1538) say “per sola fede.”
Luther used what today would be called ‘dynamic equivalence’ in translating. Both the NEB & NIV took the same approach. This makes it less useful for verse-by-verse study, but sometimes improves a translation for reading large chunks of scripture and setting things in context.
Spin spin spin.
It always takes about two posts for you to vent your spleen, doesn’t it? Try thinking more comprehensively next time.
It takes as many posts to point out your hatred of the Catholic Church as you make posts voicing your hatred of the Catholic Church.
Is this rebuttal authorized by the Vatican? Or is this YOPIOMP?
My post #136 is a statement of fact.
Well, it is a fact that many of your posts claim to know what people think. And that post is no different.
"...your hatred..."
But, that is because you cannot read for content. Work on it and get back to us.
Work on it and get back to us.
Us?
Do you have a gerbil in your pants?
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