cva66snipe wrote:
“These were men of minimal schooling likely except for possibly Matthew.”
Really? Let’s see, which of them was illiterate? Which of them did not understand Biblical Hebrew better than anyone on this thread? Which of them did not speak as his native language Aramaic? Which of them was not well able to converse and write in Greek? That makes them all trilingual. And then -then! - they did three years of seminary training with, shall we say, a rather respected professor.
You are not reading the Scriptures for what they say, you are reading your presumptions and prejudices back into the Scriptures. But in this you are quite correct, the church was built in plain sight. So, open your eyes.
As far as your arguments against Peter being appointed pope, I have no idea why you are directing that at me.
My theory was that all or most of them were illiterates during the early years for a purpose. Jesus brought a message intended for the poor, the uneducated and the disenfranchised. The last thing he needed or wanted were biblical scholars, legalists and theologians. What we do know is that He was not followed around by scribes and secretaries capturing His every word.
What was taught to them by in large was taught by Christ and later The Holy Spirit. This included corrections among themselves. Of the ones of higher education Matthew and later Luke by their trade and Paul by his before his conversion. How many lettters did Paul actually write by his own hand BTW? John likely could write toward the end of his life. But fishermen were laborers and it was a very demandiing and dangerous job. If a trade had been there easier for them as more educated I'd say they would have taken it. It doesn't mean they were ignorant or stupid it means they weren't Scribes.
Christ called four fishermen. In modern day He could have called four steel workers on a high rise or four farmers plowing a field with a mule and made preachers of them without college. BTW who taught John The Baptist? The answer is in scripture. John The Baptist was born with knowledge of Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians ch 1 I think pretty much says it all.