“Oh, yeah, the Catholic Church is the ONLY institution that has been around for 2000 years!” [excerpt]Stand up on that thar pedestal, sonny.
“The Bible was created by the Roman Catholic Church while the Eastern Orthodox were still in full union with Rome.” [excerpt]Oh my!
“The Protestants went to the Orthodox, for their original texts for several reasons:” [excerpt]And this Evangelical goes to the original texts because, well, I like to know what the authors actually wrote.
Actually, I did not make that last point you referenced very clear.
The Catholic Church had NO PROBLEM with the Orthodox Greek text, as that text was IDENTICAL to the translated Latin text, in meaning.
Very very few differences in meaning and translation existed between the manuscripts of the two faiths, before or after the split.
Now, “original text” is a bad phrase for me to use ——
BECAUSE NO ORIGINAL TEXTS EXIST!
Every single shred of existing parchment or manuscript was, at one time, produced by a CATHOLIC Monk or a Catholic Priest.
Even in the case of the Orthodox, all of the manuscripts and parchments in their possession only survived the ages due to the hard work of Catholic (UNIVERSAL) Monks and Priests.
The Old Testament was not a BIBLE until the Catholic Church, in union with the Orthodox, combined the Old Testament, including ALL OF THE BOOKS in the Temple at the time of Jesus, with the Books that the ONLY Christian faith at the time, the UNIVERAL Catholic Church, Canonized as the official Bible.
Prior to that time, the Bible did not exist.
Calling a stack of bricks and a barrel of wet mortar a “chimney” would make just about as much sense as calling the teachings of Moses a “Bible” prior to the Catholic Councils which approved the first translated, edited, bound and official text of the Bible. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2286074/posts I suggest you educate yourself by reading the above FR thread on the history of the Catholic Church and the History of the Bible, prior to exposing your ignorance again. And, for the record, the first person in HISTORY to ever refer to the current books of the New Testament, in their current form were Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, and Pope Damasus : 367 The earliest extant list of the books of the NT, in exactly the number and order in which we presently have them, is written by Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, in his Festal letter # 39 of 367 A.D.. 382 Council of Rome (whereby Pope Damasus started the ball rolling for the defining of a universal canon for all city-churches). Listed the New Testament books in their present number and order.
Catholics and the hundreds of Protestant and Episcopalian pastors and scholars who have converted to Catholicism including a former Rabbi of Rome, all consulted the original texts. One of them, a towering theological author- Cardinal Henry Newman is on a path to sainthood! Enuf said.
Unless you are completely literate in 1st century Aramaic, Mishnaic Hebrew, and Koine Greek, and have read the multiple versions available as well as those texts that were considered and rejected by the Council of Nicene you are relying on the works and judgment of the Catholic Church as to what the Bible says and means.