Did we make a mistake by mass printing the Bible?

[Grateful4mercy]

I’m kind of new around here, so forgive me if I make a miss step or two.

This question came to mind after reading the 1000th attempt from a Protestant to beat us to death with our own Bible. Did we make a mistake by allowing the Bible to leave the Church and become the world’s best seller? I know we get a lot of heat for having such tight control over the Word for 1500 years, but look at what has happened in the short time since the printing press was invented. I guess it was inevitable, but it seems like we may have handed a gun to our separated brothers and sisters and didn’t warn them it was loaded. There is no doubt that the Bible is a very difficult book to read and understand. You need to have knowledge of the customs of the time, common phrases and methods of speaking, and a good basis in Jewish Tradition to really get even a basic grasp on the magnitude of what you’re reading. That’s why we have the Magisterium, it’s more than just the teaching AUTHORITY of the Church, it’s the deposit of knowledge that HELPS teach the Faith. Having the Bible alone is a dangerous proposition. You will probably misinterpret at least parts of it and sometimes miss the most important things all together, for example:

How can you read the Bible all the way thru 10 times and miss the Eucharist?

How can you not see how important Mary was to Jesus, and to us?

Why do we get accused of burning Bibles all the time? It’s the Good Book, true, but it’s still just a book. We didn’t kill God by ridding the world of a few misprinted books, did we? Does this sort of talk sound like book idolatry?

And speaking of Magisterium, the Fundamentalists have one too. Just ask them what happens if they disagree too loudly with their Reverend. I have asked several…in our RCIA class.

Anyway, just some random thoughts, God Bless.

 

[James_Carson]

How can you read the Bible all the way through 10 times and miss the Eucharist?

I am equally dumbfounded by this phenomenon.

How can you not see how important Mary was to Jesus, and to us?

Misinterpreting the passages. (its late at night so I wont expound but I can if needed.

Why do we get accused of burning Bibles all the time? It’s the Good Book, true, but it’s still just a book. We didn’t kill God by ridding the world of a few misprinted books, did we? Does this sort of talk sound like book idolatry?

We also get accused of chaining bibles to keep the public from learning the “truth” when in fact we chained them because bibles were about as valuable as a house in those times because they had to be copied by hand. I think protestants are obsessed with trying to “save” Catholics every. protestant kid I ever met who was brought up in a good faithful home at one point or another tried to nail me with questions such as and not limited to, Why do you worship Mary? Why do you confess your sins to a priest?did you know catholics burn the bible? I read Catholics killed millions in the Spanish inquisition
and my top favorite to answer, Why do you pray to dead saints?

I think ill summarize this by saying that protestants basically just turn a blind eye to facts and focus on evangelizing once they learn they cant convert you they move on to the next target.

To answer the question I don’t think it was a mistake to mass print the bible because then I wouldn’t get to be here debating.

 

[Timmy_Z]

How can you not see how important Mary was to Jesus, and to us?

Mary was very important. No protestant denies that. Catholics just go to far.

I think ill summarize this by saying that protestants basically just turn a blind eye to facts and focus on evangelizing once they learn they cant convert you they move on to the next target.

How can you read the Bible ten times through and miss the great commission?

-Tim

 

[Timmy_Z]

Did we make a mistake by allowing the Bible to leave the Church and become the world’s best seller?

I do not believe men can forever silence God’s word.

-Tim

 

[Lazerlike42]

How can you read the Bible ten times through and miss the great commission?

-Tim

Ummm… The Catholic Church evangelized the world long before Protestantism came into existence

 

[Randy_Carson]

Mary was very important. No protestant denies that. Catholics just go to far.

How can you read the Bible ten times through and miss the great commission?

-Tim

How can we Catholics miss the Great Commission? It contains an incredible promise of infallibility and outlines the basic concept of Apostolic Succession:

And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

How could Jesus be with the Apostles “always to the very end of the age” if they died? Through their successors the Bishops of the Catholic Church.

And what is the logical consequence of Jesus remaining with them always? Would Jesus allow them to teach error? Remember, he also told these same guys, “He who hears you, hears me.”

No, after converting virtually the whole known world from paganism to Christianity and growing from 120 people cowering in an upper room on the day of Pentecost to over a billion strong, I think it is reasonable to think that Catholics have not forgotten the Great Commission.

 

[Timmy_Z]

Laserlike42,

Ummm… The Catholic Church evangelized the world long before Protestantism came into existence

It passed the torch to Evangelicals and now (ironically) criticizes them for evangelizing (see the post I responded to).

-Tim

 

[Mannyfit75]

Laserlike42,

It passed the torch to Evangelicals and now (ironically) criticizes them for evangelizing (see the post I responded to).

-Tim

Nope. There are Catholic Missionary spreading the Gospel today.

 

[Timmy_Z]

Randy,

How can we Catholics miss the Great Commission?

That was my question.

Intersting point about apostolic succession. Why could Jesus’ statement not be seen as a promise that His presense or the Holy Spirit would be with all believers or the church forever?

-Tim

 

[Mannyfit75]

Randy,

That was my question.

Intersting point about apostolic succession. Why could Jesus’ statement not be seen as a promise that His presense or the Holy Spirit would be with all believers or the church forever?

-Tim

Because unfortunately most Catholics are not practicing and lack the zeal or charismatic spirit to preach. However, there are Catholic Converts today and cradle Catholics who have a strong faith and act upon them.

It may vary from community to community and the population density of Catholics. Jesus commissioned his Apostles to preach the Gospels orally after the death of the apostles, their teachings were pass on through their successors the bishops, we see this in the writings of the Early Church Fathers, and the Councils of the Churches.

How was did the Barbarian tribe in Europe convert. They were converted by the missionaries, monks, like St. Patrick, and others. It was also through these institution which the Church form university which is now the model of the modern university.

In essence the Catholic Church created the Western Civilizations. The Church was Catholic in its beginning, when it split in 1054, the Church became Orthodox and Catholic. Western Europe until 1517-1545 when Protestantism was introduced by Martin Luther, John Calvin, who introduced Faith Alone and Bible Alone.

They rejected the authority of the Church, bishops priests, and only rely on the Bible.

 

[spauline]

I’m kind of new around here, so forgive me if I make a miss step or two.

This question came to mind after reading the 1000th attempt from a Protestant to beat us to death with our own Bible. Did we make a mistake by allowing the Bible to leave the Church and become the world’s best seller? I know we get a lot of heat for having such tight control over the Word for 1500 years, but look at what has happened in the short time since the printing press was invented. I guess it was inevitable, but it seems like we may have handed a gun to our separated brothers and sisters and didn’t warn them it was loaded. There is no doubt that the Bible is a very difficult book to read and understand. You need to have knowledge of the customs of the time, common phrases and methods of speaking, and a good basis in Jewish Tradition to really get even a basic grasp on the magnitude of what you’re reading. That’s why we have the Magisterium, it’s more than just the teaching AUTHORITY of the Church, it’s the deposit of knowledge that HELPS teach the Faith. Having the Bible alone is a dangerous proposition. You will probably misinterpret at least parts of it and sometimes miss the most important things all together, for example:

How can you read the Bible all the way thru 10 times and miss the Eucharist?

How can you not see how important Mary was to Jesus, and to us?

Why do we get accused of burning Bibles all the time? It’s the Good Book, true, but it’s still just a book. We didn’t kill God by ridding the world of a few misprinted books, did we? Does this sort of talk sound like book idolatry?

And speaking of Magisterium, the Fundamentalists have one too. Just ask them what happens if they disagree too loudly with their Reverend. I have asked several…in our RCIA class.

Anyway, just some random thoughts, God Bless.

I think that God has deliberately created the world so that scientifically it could develop to a point that mass communication would be possible. I think that God would have predestined the possibility of the mass production of information in ANY physical creation in which the Incarnation would take place. And so I would say that the devil would make use of it to confound the truth.

But then, I would also say, as I believe St. Paul hints at, that “iniquity is already at work.” That is, the force of the fallen nature in man is something that must, intrinsically,* by its very nature*, continually raise up stages of sin in human history, but stages that, excepting only the last one, can be redeemed.

Toward that end, I do not believe that the current age of confusion is the final major manifestation of sin. I think it can be healed, as were the preceding six ages of sin prior to the present one.

In other words, I believe the general “moral fall” of the clergy of the Church (which was clearly the instigator of Protestantism) was *inevitable, *again, because the fallen nature would intrinsically bring about moral laxity in the men who should be the most holy.

But I think that Christ can use this to his advantage: because of the sin of Catholic clergy, Christendom becomes horrifically divided and confounded, and because of the unimaginable division, the world loses faith. And becuase of this, the modern world scoffs even at ANY religion. But I think God can teach them a lesson, the final lesson of history, saying, “If, because of the sin of My children, you don’t think you need the Pope, or the Bishops, or Scripture, or even Reason, then find out the hard way. And when the hard way comes, the world will almost end. But in that time of unspeakable suffering, you will repent and come back to Me, and I’ll use the suffering and consequences to manifest ALL of the errors that lie outside the truth of my Bride, and you will come back to Her with the greatest fervor that shall ever be before the end of time.”

You might consider reading this:

Christian Disunity and the ‘Plan’

 

[RNRobert]

I would also say that the false doctrine of Sola Scriptura could not have come about until the advent of the printing press. Until then, few people could read, and even if they could, Bibles were too expensive for all but the wealthy to afford.

 

[Grateful4mercy]

In other words, I believe the general “moral fall” of the clergy of the Church (which was clearly the instigator of Protestantism) was *inevitable, *again, because the fallen nature would intrinsically bring about moral laxity in the men who should be the most holy.

I think you really nailed the beginnings of the split (Orthodox not withstanding) of the Church. Jesus knew the Church would grow large and powerful, he even warned Peter to be “the least in order to be the first” (something JPII excelled at). When we failed to heed this warning God had no choice but to humble us. The plague was devastating to not only 1/3 of the population, but HALF the clergy. This opened the door for Satan to enter the minds of men and confuse them with a church that was a marketing boom. "Come to MY church, salvation is EASY there. Less guilt, less effort, * less Christ* (no Eucharist) :nope: " how tempting, especially when death is around every corner and you don’t understand why.

Now I’m not trying to say Luther was the devil, he was as much a victim as the rest of us. I understand his anger, he was a brilliant man with great potential, he deserved to be lifted beyond where he was, but being a poor son of a miner he didn’t have the clout. It didn’t help that he and I have the same ailment; can’t keep our mouths shut even in our own best interest. Satan saw an opportunity to diminish us by division and he never fails to take advantage of our moments of weakness.

Thanks for the link, I pray each day for unity of our Church. There are signs of Hope, God is calling his sheep back home.

 

[Randy_Carson]

Laserlike42,

It passed the torch to Evangelicals and now (ironically) criticizes them for evangelizing (see the post I responded to).-Tim

This is an assertion without argument.

When do you believe this happened and why?

 

[James_Carson]

Randy,

That was my question.

Interesting point about apostolic succession. Why could Jesus’ statement not be seen as a promise that His presence or the Holy Spirit would be with all believers or the church forever?

-Tim

because if all believers were guided by the the holy spirit or Christ this apologetics forum wouldn’t be here the way we know it and I would be opening the door for more people every Sunday.

Satan saw an opportunity to diminish us by division and he never fails to take advantage of our moments of weakness.

quoted for truth

 

[spauline]

I think you really nailed the beginnings of the split (Orthodox not withstanding) of the Church. Jesus knew the Church would grow large and powerful, he even warned Peter to be “the least in order to be the first” (something JPII excelled at). When we failed to heed this warning God had no choice but to humble us. The plague was devastating to not only 1/3 of the population, but HALF the clergy. This opened the door for Satan to enter the minds of men and confuse them with a church that was a marketing boom. "Come to MY church, salvation is EASY there. Less guilt, less effort, less Christ (no Eucharist) :nope: " how tempting, especially when death is around every corner and you don’t understand why.

Now I’m not trying to say Luther was the devil, he was as much a victim as the rest of us. I understand his anger, he was a brilliant man with great potential, he deserved to be lifted beyond where he was, but being a poor son of a miner he didn’t have the clout. It didn’t help that he and I have the same ailment; can’t keep our mouths shut even in our own best interest. Satan saw an opportunity to diminish us by division and he never fails to take advantage of our moments of weakness.

Thanks for the link, I pray each day for unity of our Church. There are signs of Hope, God is calling his sheep back home.

Thank you for your response, Grace. I agree that we should pray and hope for another moral miracle, the healing of the wounds to Christian unity.

blessings to you!
scott

 

[theAuthor]

It is common sense that the Bible, being written over Centuries with the newest books being 1900 years old, by many authors using different types of literature, is going to produce a multitude of interpretations if it is left to the individual. As a new Catholic that is one thing I appreciate about the RCC, is that the Church is united in her beliefs. I won’t be going to church and hearing the same Bible passage preached on in three mutually exclusive ways.

That’s where the Tradition/Magesterium of the RCC is great. We have things like the Catechism, that solidify the knowledge of 2000 years of teaching (including great minds like the doctors of the Church), rather than what some pastor who did two years of Bible college thinks. That’s no sleight on any protestant pastor, but who even in a whole lifetime can compete with centuries of great minds thinking and the Holy Spirit’s illumination that the RCC has by her nature?

Timmy Z, only some Catholics go too far and deify the Mother, but there is actually Biblical precedent in the OT for the approaching the King through his mother idea. I can understand that it may feel blasphemous to pray to Mary, but ask yourself, what does Jesus think of his mother?