<< The Catholic Church came into existance hundreds of years after the Bible was completed (despite their claims). >>
The Church existed from day one (Christ). Christ declared Peter the head of the Church and every Pope has succeded Peter in order from that moment. There was a Pope, Bishops, Priests, etc from the first days of the young Church.
BUT, it was over time, and over many different breaks, spinoffs, and schisms that the Church had to keep narrowing its name to the Roman (follows the authority of the Pope in Rome) Catholic Church.
<< It is true that the Catholic Church attempted to keep the common people from reading it >>
No, they didn't. But the common folk could not read by an overwhelming majority. Literacy was limited to the VERY VERY few - usually the rich or the clergy themselves. The Church's very center sacrament is the Mass - it, like the Bible, was kept in Latin to preserve the meaning and language in the chaotic and changing times. Read even Shakespear (he isn't nearly as long ago as the Church goes) - the english is difficult and many words no longer exist or mean the same. Now read the Canturbury Tales or Beowulf - almost an entire other language! Not to speak of dialects, other countries, missionaries, etc!
<< but many translators - at the risk of their lives (and torture) and despite the Church's opposition - translated it into the languages of the common people. The Church wanted to keep it in Latin so only the Clergy could intrepret it (keeping power over the people). >>
Did you know that before the printing press, every book - Bible or otherwise - had to be hadn copied? Do you think ANYONE could afford them? The monks who spent thier entire lives copying the Bible letter for letter could barely make enough for the churches, let alone to sell in the streets!
The falacy that the Church stopped the spread of the Bible is common but completely false. The Church preserved the Bible, shared the Bible, and when the world could - distributed and translated the Bible. The problem was, it took a serious undertaking of time and thought for the Church to officially translate the Bible. And in that time several people decided they could do it themselves - creating a mismash of translations ranging from almost accurate to the absurd. But the Church simply declared those translations as false and incorrect - it did not ever hunt down and torture/kill people for it, although in those days I'm sure there were plenty of people using that as an excuse to kill/maim/attack one another!
But it was in the Mass that the Bible is read to all daily. Back then it was read as written - in latin. But then the priest would translate the stories into the common language during the sermon. He would explain and relate the Bible to the people in the Church.
If you could go back to the Midieval days you would be surprised at the knowledge the illiterate common people had of the Bible - all of it related to them daily by the clergy.
With the advent of printing and the change in the world toward literacy (and industrialism) came the ability for the Bible to be read. At that point the Church spent time doing an official translation (the Vulgate) and spreading it. To this day the Church spreads the Bible to all corners of the earth.
<< Get a copy in modern English and read it for yourself and think for yourself. >>
A great idea.
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