Body: | Extra-Biblical Oral Tradition Arguments Refuted:
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"Sola Scriptura is impossible because there were so few Bibles in circulation until the printing press was invented in the 16th century."
False arguments that Catholics and Orthodox use to prove oral
extra-scriptural church tradition are refuted.
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Click to View "Sola Scriptura is impossible because there were so few
Bibles in circulation until the printing press was invented in the 16th
century."
Even a Protestant author admits sola Scriptura was impossible in the first
century! "Literacy in the Roman empire, by very rough estimate, did not
exceed 10 percent [10%] on average." (Wayne Meeks, The Moral World of the
First Christians, 1986).
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Refutation of the false Catholic & Orthodox tradition argument:
"Sola Scriptura is impossible because there were so few Bibles in circulation until the printing press was invented in the 16th century."
The invention of the printing press is irrelevant: Scriptures were easily
accessible to all from Moses to 1436 AD.
This is a silly and irrelevant argument against sola Scriptura. Sola
Scriptura means you follow the Bible only apart from tradition and creeds.
Even if you do not have a copy of the Bible in your home, you can still use
the Bible only to determine doctrine. People know when the doctrine comes
from the Bible and when it comes from creeds and traditions even if they
don't own a Bible. Catholics that don't own a Bible know that most of
Catholic doctrine isn't taught in the Bible but creeds, canons and
catechisms.
With the invention of the Gutenberg printing press in 1436 AD, it
certainly made life easier. But to suggest the printing press is a
necessary presumption for sola Scriptura to exist, is as poorly thought out
as it is historically inaccurate. Scriptures were privately possessed in
homes and always accessible in the synagogues.
Even if it was true that the Bible was not in every home, this would
mean that people would work harder at memorizing scripture. Reciting
scripture from memory is not oral tradition but sola Scriptura!
Even if it was true that that the Bible was only in the synagogues,
sitting and listening to scripture being read in the synagogue is not oral
tradition, but sola Scriptura! "For Moses from ancient generations has in
every city those who preach him, since he is read in the synagogues every
Sabbath." Acts 15:21
Psalms 119 contains an entire chapter on personal devotion to the
scriptures in 1000 BC. This was to be the norm for all Jews! It matters not
if they had a copy of the Bible themselves, they were still instructed to
know the scriptures and meditate on them day and night.
Each individual family was to teach and read the scriptures to their
children every day. They could certainly copy portions of scripture from
the synagogue each Sabbath they worshipped: "These words, which I am
commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them
diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house
and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.
"You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals
on your forehead. "You shall write them on the door posts of your house and
on your gates. Deuteronomy 6:6-9
The eunuch is a Gentile convert to Judaism with his own personal
copy of Isaiah! Perhaps he had the entire Old Testament. But the fact
remains, that the scriptures were readily available to anyone who wanted
them. "So he got up and went; and there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court
official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her
treasure; and he had come to Jerusalem to worship, and he was returning and
sitting in his chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah." Acts 8:27-28
Paul's custom was to reason from the scriptures in the synagogues
every Sabbath in order to convert Jews to give up the Old Law and start
worshipping with Christians on the first day of the week. Acts 13:15;
17:1-2; 10-11; 18:4
"After the reading of the Law and the Prophets the synagogue officials sent
to them, saying, "Brethren, if you have any word of exhortation for the
people, say it." Acts 13:15
"Now when they had traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to
Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. And according to
Paul's custom, he went to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them
from the Scriptures," Acts 17:1-2
"The brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and
when they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. 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." Acts 17:10-11
"And he was reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath and trying to persuade
Jews and Greeks." Acts 18:4
So even if only a few people had the scriptures, they could still
fully adhere to sola Scriptura.
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by Steve Rudd
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