As I suspected, Kevin, you are misapprehending the issue here. The
issue here was not someone HAVING a Bible. The issue was translating the
Scriptures without the authority of the church. I do not agree with what
the RCC did to Wycliffe, Tyndale, and others, but when we represent this as the
RCC not wanting people to have a Bible, we misrepresent them. Such
misrepresentation, whether intentional or not, discredits our testimony. I
don't know of one person who was burned at the stake for having a Bible.
Check again and tell me if you find one. If you do, I will change my mind
(contrary to how some have characterized me on this list).
Peace be with you.
David Miller.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, July 07, 2005 8:05
AM
Subject: Re: [TruthTalk] All believers
are ONE IN CHRIST
As his Bible aroused the English conscience, the pope felt a chill; he
heard unearthly sounds rattle through the empty caverns of his soul, and he
mistook Wickliffs bones for his Bible. The moldering skeleton of the sleeping
translator polluted the consecrated ground where it slept. The Council
of Constance condemned his Bible and his bones to be burnt together
(Armitage, A History of the Baptists, I, p. 315).
To the RCC:
You say it is heresy to speak of the Holy Scriptures in English. You
call me a heretic because I have translated the Bible into the common tongue
of the people. Do you know whom you blaspheme? Did not the Holy Ghost give the
Word of God at first in the mother-tongue of the nations to whom it was
addressed? Why do you speak against the Holy Ghost? You say that the Church of
God is in danger from this book. How can that be? Is it not from the Bible
only that we learn that God has set up such a society as a Church on the
earth? Is it not the Bible that gives all her authority to the Church? Is it
not from the Bible that we learn who is the Builder and Sovereign of the
Church, what are the laws by which she is to be governed, and the rights and
privileges of her members? Without the Bible, what charter has the Church to
show for all these? It is you who place the Church in jeopardy by hiding the
Divine warrant, the missive royal of her King, for the authority she wields
and the faith she enjoins (Fountain, John Wycliffe, pp.
45-47).
Wycliffe also had copies of the hand-written Scriptures produced and
distributed not only in England but also abroad in Europe. That these
multiplied widely is evident from the record that still exists of the many
copies that were confiscated by the authorities: By reference to the Bishops
Registers it will appear that these little books were numerous, as they are
often specified as being found upon the persons of those accused. Sometimes
the Gospels are spoken of either separately, or together; or it is the book of
Acts, or the Epistle of James, or the Apocalypse that is specified. It appears
also from these Registers, that many of those who possessed these little
volumes were either servants or tradesmen (Condit, History of the English
Bible, p. 75).
David Miller <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Kevin wrote:
> Who else burns people for having a BIBLE?
Huh? I think you are mischaracterizing the truth now.
Can you name for me one person who was burned for HAVING a Bible?
Peace be with you.
David Miller.
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