no they don't...the Jews basically wrote the old testament (including the dead sea scrolls) And, no they were not SOLELY responsible for preserving and protecting it and making it available to YOU.
Yes, they were solely responsible for preserving the bible, old and new testament, in the form of the bible, so that you could read it......had it not been for the Catholics, you might have been able to find a copy of the old testament somewhere....but you'd know nothing of the new testament. PERIOD. All anyone needs is one example to disprove that claim and it's *Dead Sea Scrolls*
OLD TESTAMENT And the Catholic church did it's darndest to keep the Bible OUT of the hands of the laity.
97+ % of the people at that time were illiterate....the bibles, at that time were hand printed and VERY EXPENSIVE, all were in the hands of royalty, wealthy families and libraries (mostly Monastaries).....no need for Amazon at that time...By the time that the middle ages arrived, the church NEVER attempted to keep the true bible out of the hands of the people, just contaminated versions (maybe the book of mormon) from the public. Until the printing press was invented, the bible couldn't possibly have been in the hands of the public....not a chance. There isn't a person in the world who thinks that another group could have possibly brought you the bible. The Catholic church was in physical possession of whatever writings that there were at the time and they alone were in a position to transcribe them and copy them by hand 1 copy at a time.....noone else could have possibly done it.
Continuing to deny the 7,000.
Sad...
Nobody knows that for sure because nobody was there to see it. It's pure speculation on the part of those making the claim.
Not only that, *illiterate* does not mean *stupid*. Those people had minds they could use and anyone who has to exercise their memory as much as someone who could read does, is going to have an awesome memory. Ever hear of MEMORIZING Scripture?
By the time that the middle ages arrived, the church NEVER attempted to keep the true bible out of the hands of the people, just contaminated versions (maybe the book of mormon) from the public.
Baloney.
The Catholic church's prohibiting Scripture from being in the hands of the laity was not about stuff like the BoM which did not exist at the time. The edicts the RCC issued dealt with the books of the Bible and they were clear about that.
COUNCIL OF TOULOUSE - 1229 A.D Canon 14. We prohibit also that the laity should be permitted to have the books of the Old or New Testament; unless anyone from motive of devotion should wish to have the Psalter or the Breviary for divine offices or the hours of the blessed Virgin; but we most strictly forbid their having any translation of these books.
Source: Heresy and Authority in Medieval Europe, Edited with an introduction by Edward Peters, Scolar Press, London, copyright 1980 by Edward Peters, ISBN 0-85967-621-8, pp. 194-195, citing S. R. Maitland, Facts and Documents [illustrative of the history, doctrine and rites, of the ancient Albigenses & Waldenses], London, Rivington, 1832, pp. 192-194.
The Council of Tarragona of 1234, in its second canon:
“No one may possess the books of the Old and New Testaments in the Romance language, and if anyone possesses them he must turn them over to the local bishop within eight days after promulgation of this decree, so that they may be burned lest, be he a cleric or a layman, he be suspected until he is cleared of all suspicion.” (-D. Lortsch, Historie de la Bible en France, 1910, p.14.)
The Book of Mormon was much later, but as regards what Rome did do, see here .