“Brethren of the Lord”

>>“That you cannot prove it should be of a serious concern to you.”<<

Talking to the majority of protestants is like talking to a wall. The innate hatred of all things Catholic prevents closes their mind to the obvious. There were no Bibles at one time and if they were most people didn’t know how to read. The only way for people to learn of God was through others telling them stories. Anyone that can’t understand that basic fact I feel sorry for them. Blind hatred of the Catholic Church, the One, True, Apostolic Church, is the only reason.

As expected...when the Roman Catholic cannot articulate their position they retreat to the tried and true "ya'll hate the Roman Catholic church" routine.

I can, and have, offered a defense of what I believe.

What have you offered when asked to do the same?

Maybe the dumbest comment I’ve ever read.

I gotta tell ya...if this were on the playground you'd be laughed at in this point of the discussion. It's the kind of statement the loud mouth makes when he's got nothing to back up his claim.

There were no Bibles at one time and if they were most people didn’t know how to read. The only way for people to learn of God was through others telling them stories. Anyone that can’t understand that basic fact I feel sorry for them.

You seem to have a rather distorted view of actual history.

You do know the OT was around? Right??

From another post in a different thread to one of your fellow Roman Catholics making the same false accusation.

The indications, especially on the evidence of the papyri, are that the literacy rate of Hellenistic and early Roman times was rather high, probably higher than at any period prior to modern times....pages 111-112.

The Jewish child was expected to be able to read the Hebrew Scriptures, to memorize a standard translation in his own language if not Hebrew and to recite certain parts of the liturgy. There was a great emphasis on memorizing Scripture. p 112

Backgrounds of Early Christianity, Everett Ferguson

I also post this from another poster, but will leave them out of the discussion.

“Concerning the 1st century, one of the favorite sayings of Jesus in rebuttal to his accusers was: “Have you not read…” This not only implied literacy to his opponents, but also to himself and to his apostles whom he taught, for why would he use the phrase against his accusers, if they could turn around and cast his own words in his teeth to point out the illiteracy of his followers? Jesus’ parable of the unjust steward (Luke 16:6-7) implied literacy in the normal course of business in the Jewish society. This is also borne out in some archeological finds dating to the 12th century BCE where Israelite inscriptions are found on pottery and artifacts showing literacy was not exclusive to the elite.[3] Moreover, just before the Jewish revolt, the high priest Joshua ben Gamala (cir. 64 C.E.) declared that teachers would be appointed in every town of every province throughout Palestine. Their purpose was to provide an education for every male of the age of six or seven and upward. One teacher would serve a community of up to 25 students. A teacher’s assistant would be added for communities having up to 50 students and for communities having more than 50 students two teachers would be provided.[4]” https://coffeehouseapologetics.wordpress.com/2011/03/13/were-most-ancient-jews-illiterate/

We also have the testimony of Scripture on this as well:

Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.

You may also note the emphasis on searching the Scriptures to confirm if what they were hearing was valid....you may also note no appeal to "tradition".

Both Old and New Testaments indicate there was a good deal of reading happening.

I used biblegateway.com and performed a word search on "read" from the NASB.

Results are below:

Exodus 24:7 Then he took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people; and they said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient!”

Deuteronomy 17:19 It shall be with him and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, by carefully observing all the words of this law and these statutes,

Deuteronomy 31:11 when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God at the place which He will choose, you shall read this law in front of all Israel in their hearing.

Joshua 8:34 Then afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse, according to all that is written in the book of the law.

Joshua 8:35 There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded which Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel with the women and the little ones and the strangers who were living among them.

2 Kings 5:7 When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man is sending word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? But consider now, and see how he is seeking a quarrel against me.”

2 Kings 19:14 [ Hezekiah’s Prayer ] Then Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, and he went up to the house of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord.

2 Kings 22:8 [ The Lost Book ] Then Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, “I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord.” And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan who read it.

2 Kings 22:10 Moreover, Shaphan the scribe told the king saying, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read it in the presence of the king.

2 Kings 22:16 thus says the Lord, “Behold, I bring evil on this place and on its inhabitants, even all the words of the book which the king of Judah has read .

2 Kings 23:2 The king went up to the house of the Lord and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests and the prophets and all the people, both small and great; and he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the Lord.

2 Chronicles 34:18 Moreover, Shaphan the scribe told the king saying, “Hilkiah the priest gave me a book.” And Shaphan read from it in the presence of the king.

2 Chronicles 34:24 thus says the Lord, “Behold, I am bringing evil on this place and on its inhabitants, even all the curses written in the book which they have read in the presence of the king of Judah.

2 Chronicles 34:30 The king went up to the house of the Lord and all the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests, the Levites and all the people, from the greatest to the least; and he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the Lord.

Ezra 4:18 the document which you sent to us has been translated and read before me.

Ezra 4:23 Then as soon as the copy of King Artaxerxes’ document was read before Rehum and Shimshai the scribe and their colleagues, they went in haste to Jerusalem to the Jews and stopped them by force of arms.

Nehemiah 8:3 He read from it before the square which was in front of the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of men and women, those who could understand; and all the people were attentive to the book of the law.

Nehemiah 8:8 They read from the book, from the law of God, translating to give the sense so that they understood the read ing.

Nehemiah 8:18 He read from the book of the law of God daily, from the first day to the last day. And they celebrated the feast seven days, and on the eighth day there was a solemn assembly according to the ordinance.

Nehemiah 9:3 While they stood in their place, they read from the book of the law of the Lord their God for a fourth of the day; and for another fourth they confessed and worshiped the Lord their God.

Nehemiah 13:1 [ Foreigners Excluded ] On that day they read aloud from the book of Moses in the hearing of the people; and there was found written in it that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God,

Esther 6:1 [ The King Plans to Honor Mordecai ] During that night the king could not sleep so he gave an order to bring the book of records, the chronicles, and they were read before the king.

Isaiah 29:11 The entire vision will be to you like the words of a sealed book, which when they give it to the one who is literate, saying, “Please read this,” he will say, “I cannot, for it is sealed.”

Isaiah 29:12 Then the book will be given to the one who is illiterate, saying, “Please read this.” And he will say, “I cannot read .”

Isaiah 34:16 Seek from the book of the Lord, and read : Not one of these will be missing; None will lack its mate. For His mouth has commanded, And His Spirit has gathered them.

Isaiah 37:14 [ Hezekiah’s Prayer in the Temple ] Then Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, and he went up to the house of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord.

Jeremiah 29:29 Zephaniah the priest read this letter to Jeremiah the prophet.

Jeremiah 36:1 [ Jeremiah’s Scroll read in the Temple ] In the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,

Jeremiah 36:6 So you go and read from the scroll which you have written at my dictation the words of the Lord to the people in the Lord’s house on a fast day. And also you shall read them to all the people of Judah who come from their cities.

Jeremiah 36:10 Then Baruch read from the book the words of Jeremiah in the house of the Lord in the chamber of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the scribe, in the upper court, at the entry of the New Gate of the Lord’s house, to all the people.

Jeremiah 36:13 Micaiah declared to them all the words that he had heard when Baruch read from the book to the people.

Jeremiah 36:14 Then all the officials sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, to Baruch, saying, “Take in your hand the scroll from which you have read to the people and come.” So Baruch the son of Neriah took the scroll in his hand and went to them.

Jeremiah 36:15 They said to him, “Sit down, please, and read it to us.” So Baruch read it to them.

Jeremiah 36:21 Then the king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and he took it out of the chamber of Elishama the scribe. And Jehudi read it to the king as well as to all the officials who stood beside the king.

Jeremiah 36:23 When Jehudi had read three or four columns, the king cut it with a scribe’s knife and threw it into the fire that was in the brazier, until all the scroll was consumed in the fire that was in the brazier.

Jeremiah 51:61 Then Jeremiah said to Seraiah, “As soon as you come to Babylon, then see that you read all these words aloud,

Daniel 5:7 The king called aloud to bring in the conjurers, the Chaldeans and the diviners. The king spoke and said to the wise men of Babylon, “Any man who can read this inscription and explain its interpretation to me shall be clothed with purple and have a necklace of gold around his neck, and have authority as third ruler in the kingdom.”

Daniel 5:8 Then all the king’s wise men came in, but they could not read the inscription or make known its interpretation to the king.

Daniel 5:15 Just now the wise men and the conjurers were brought in before me that they might read this inscription and make its interpretation known to me, but they could not declare the interpretation of the message.

Daniel 5:16 But I personally have heard about you, that you are able to give interpretations and solve difficult problems. Now if you are able to read the inscription and make its interpretation known to me, you will be clothed with purple and wear a necklace of gold around your neck, and you will have authority as the third ruler in the kingdom.”

Daniel 5:17 Then Daniel answered and said before the king, “Keep your gifts for yourself or give your rewards to someone else; however, I will read the inscription to the king and make the interpretation known to him.

Matthew 12:3 But He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he became hungry, he and his companions,

Matthew 12:5 Or have you not read in the Law, that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break the Sabbath and are innocent?

Matthew 19:4 And He answered and said, “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female,

Matthew 21:16 and said to Him, “Do You hear what these children are saying?” And Jesus *said to them, “Yes; have you never read , ‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies You have prepared praise for Yourself’?”

Matthew 21:42 Jesus *said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures, ‘The stone which the builders rejected, This became the chief corner stone; This came about from the Lord, And it is marvelous in our eyes’?

Matthew 22:31 But regarding the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God:

And above His head they put up the charge against Him which read , “THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.”

Mark 2:25 And He *said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions became hungry;

Mark 12:10 Have you not even read this Scripture: ‘The stone which the builders rejected, This became the chief corner stone;

Mark 12:26 But regarding the fact that the dead rise again, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the burning bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’?

Mark 15:26 The inscription of the charge against Him read , “THE KING OF THE JEWS.”

Luke 4:16 And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read .

Luke 6:3 And Jesus answering them said, “Have you not even read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him,

Luke 10:26 And He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?”

John 19:20 Therefore many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Latin and in Greek.

Acts 13:27 For those who live in Jerusalem, and their rulers, recognizing neither Him nor the utterances of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled these by condemning Him.

Acts 15:21 For Moses from ancient generations has in every city those who preach him, since he is read in the synagogues every Sabbath.”

Acts 15:31 When they had read it, they rejoiced because of its encouragement.

Acts 23:34 When he had read it, he asked from what province he was, and when he learned that he was from Cilicia,

2 Corinthians 1:13 For we write nothing else to you than what you read and understand, and I hope you will understand until the end;

2 Corinthians 3:2 You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men;

2 Corinthians 3:15 But to this day whenever Moses is read , a veil lies over their heart;

Ephesians 3:4 By referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ,

Colossians 4:16 When this letter is read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans; and you, for your part read my letter that is coming from Laodicea.

1 Thessalonians 5:27 I adjure you by the Lord to have this letter read to all the brethren.

I can defend my faith....you can't.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.