Bible Facts Of Special Interests You Never Know

Some hidden things you don’t know about the Bible I am going to reveal to you in this post on Bible facts of special interests. Almost 300 years before Jesus lived on earth, work began on translating the Hebrews scriptures into Greek. That translation is known as the Greek Septuagint. Some 700 years later, Jerome produced a famous translation known as Vulgate. This was a rendering of the Hebrews & Greek scriptures into Latin, which was the common tongue of the Roman Empire of that time.

            Later, Latin began to fade as a common tongue. Only the well educated maintained familiarity with Latin, and he Catholic Church resisted efforts to translate the Bible into other languages. Religious leaders argued that Hebrews, Greek and Latin were the only bible suitable languages.

Church Divisions and Bible Translation

In the ninth century, C.E, Methodius and Cyril, Thessalonians missionaries acting on behalf of the Eastern Church in Byzantium, promoted the use of Slavic as a Church language. Their goal was to enable the Slavic people of Eastern Europe, who understood neither Greek nor Latin to learn about God in their known language.

            These missionaries however met with fierce opposition from German priests who sought to impose Latin as a defense against the expanding influence of Byzantine Christianity. Clearly, politics were more important to them than people’s religious education. Increasing tensions between the Western and Eastern branches of Christendom led to the divisions between Roman Catholicism and Eastern orthodoxy in 1054.

The Fight against Bible Translation

Roman Catholicism eventually came to view Latin s a holy language, thus in response to the request made in 1079 by Vratislaus duke of Bohemia, seeking permission to use Slavonic in local church services, Pope Gregory VII wrote; “We cannot in any way grant this petition”. Why not?

It is evidence to those who consider the matter carefully, said Gregory. “That is has pleased God to make Holy scriptures obscure in certain places lest, if it were perfectly clear to all, it might be vulgarized and subjected to disrespect or be so misunderstood by people of limited intelligence as to lead them into error”. The common people were given severely limited access to the Bible and it had to stay that way. This stand afforded the clergy power over the masses. They did not want the common people dabbling in areas they considered to be their own domain.

            In 1199, Pope Innocent III wrote concerning “Heretics” who had translated the Bible into French and dared to discuss it among themselves. To them, Innocent applied Jesus words: “Do not give what is Holy to dogs; neither throw your pearls before swine”. (Matthew 7:5) what was his reasoning in this matter? “That no simple and unlearned man presumes to concern himself with the sublimity of scared scriptures or to preach it to others”. Those who resisted the pope’s order were often delivered to inquisitors who had them tortures into making confessions. Those who refused to recant were burned alive.

            During the long battle fought over possession of the bible and reading of its Popes Innocent’s letter was often appealed to for support in forbidding use of the Bible and its translation into other languages. Soon after his decree, the burning of bibles in the vernacular began, as did the burning of some of their owners. In the centuries that followed the Bishops and rulers of Catholic Europe used all possible means to ensure that the ban imposed by Pope Innocent III was observed.

The catholic hierarchy certainly knew that many of its teachings were based , not on the Bible, but on church tradition. Doubtless, this is one of the reasons for their reluctance to allow their faithful ones to have access to the bible. By reading it, people would become aware of the incompatibility between their church doctrine and scripture.

Effects of the Reformation

The arrival of Protestantism transformed Europe’s religious landscape. Maintain Luther’s attempts to reform the Catholic Church and his eventual break with it in 1521 were based essentially on his understanding of scripture. So when that break was complete, Luther, a gifted translator, endeavored to make the Bible available to the public. 

Luther’s translation into German and it’s wide distribution got the attention of the Roman Catholic Church. Two such translations in the German language soon appeared. But then, in 1546, less than 25 years later, the Roman Catholic council of Trent, in effect, placed any printing of religious literature, including translations of the Bible, under the control of the Church.

The council of Trent decreed “That henceforth sacred scripture….. be printed in the most connect manner possible; and that it shall not be lawful for any books whatever on sacred matters without the name of the author; or in future to sell them, or even to possess them, unless they have been first examined and approved by the (Local Shop)”.

            In 1559, Pope Paul IV published the first index of books prohibited by the Roman Catholic Church. It forbade possession of Bible translations in Dutch, English, French, German, Italian and Spanish; as well as some in Latin. Any who wanted to read the Bible were told to obtain written permission from bishops or inquisitors-not an appealing prospect for those who wanted to remain above suspicion of heresy.

People who dared to possess or distribute Bibles in the common language of their religion had to contend with the ire of the galleys. Confiscated Bibles were burned index Catholic priests continued to confiscate and burn Bibles well into the 20^th century. This is not to say that Protestantism has been a real friend and defender of the Bible in the 18^th and 19^th Centuries, some Protestant theologians championed techniques of study that came to be known as higher critics. In time, many people accepted teachings influenced by Darwinian theories that life was created somehow appeared by chance and evolved without the creator.

           

            Theologians and even many clergymen taught that the bible is largely based on legend and myth. As a result, it is not uncommon today to hear protestant clergymen as well as many of their parishioners, disavow the Bible, saying it is unhistorical.

Perhaps you have noted attitudes critically of the Bible’s authenticity, and maybe you are surprised at the attempts that made to destroy it in centuries past. The attacks however, failed. The Bible has survived them all!!! “No book has excited so much opposition as this; but it has survived every attack which power, talent and eloquence have ever made on it,” stated the 19^th century theologian Albert Barnes.

That was a big one and interesting right? Bible is not just a book but it has an extra ordinary effect which no one can understand.

Now these are the years of Bible production from different authors, writers etc.

1. 1513 B.C.E – C.98 C.E: Bible is penned in Hebrew, Arabic and Greek
2. 100: Bible becomes more portable in codex form
3. 405: Translated into Latin by Jerome
4. 1380: Translated from Latin into English by Wycliffe.
5. 1455: Gutenberg produces the first printed Bible
6. 1525: Translated into English language by Tyndale
7. 1938: Printed in over 1,000 languages
8. 2011-date:  Available over 2,500 languages and countries.

IMPORTANT FACTS YOU SHOULD NOTE

The earliest part of the Bible collection was penned by Moses; the last, by a disciple of Jesus Christ about a hundred years after his birth. Jeremiah lived over 600 years before the birth of Jesus Christ.

BIBLE BURNING

Bible burning started from;

• Jehoiakim
• King Antichus Epiphanes
• Roman Emperor Diocletian in 303 C.E
• Mayor of the North Africa city of Cirta AKA Constantine, and finally,
• The rulers of Rome.

THE END