Have you ever heard of Monk Charlie? Really? You have never heard of him? Well, let me tell you a little bit about Monk Charlie...
Monk Charlie lived somewhere between the time that the Apostles walked the Earth and the invention of the printing press. He was a good sort of fellow, that had no intention of devoting his life completely to God - but that is exactly what he did.
Monk Charlie, had many dreams as a young child. He wanted to be a farmer and raise a family. He also had dreams of becoming a knight fighting for damsels in distress and gaining fame and honor. But God had a different plan for him. After years and years of being a Jonah, running away from God and His divine plan, he decided to co-operate with it. Monk Charlie enlisted in the Christian Army as a monk. His life was going to be one devoted to Christianity and the spread of the gospel.
He was very excited. He spent many hours in prayer preparing to spread the Gospel to far away lands. He would imagine conversations that he would have with non-Christians and how exactly he would use logic and reasoning to bring them to the faith. After spending quite a bit of time preparing to spread the Word of God, he was called by his abbot. He knew deep within his soul that this was going to be the day that his abbot would let him know his mission and where he was going to be sent. Where would it be? Europe? Asia? Africa? Almost giddy, he skipped to the abbots quarters, entered and awaited his instruction.
The abbot told him that he had the most important work for Monk Charlie. This work to be done, was of critical importance of the spread of Christianity. Without it, Christianity may not even survive. Monk Charlie was so excited that he could hardly contain himself. What was this most important mission? Where was he going to go? The abbot told Monk Charlie that he was to commit his entire life to transcribing the Holy Scriptures, word for word. He would spend day after day, night after night for the rest of his life copying the Word of God.
As you can imagine, this is not exactly what Monk Charlie had in mind. His immediate reaction was to get up and walk right out of the monastary, and leave his vocation behind. Hey, there is still time, maybe he could be that farmer or that knight that he always dreamed of becoming. In the few moments that he heard this news from his abbot, he had already seen himself tilling the land with a huge family. His wife Sally and their 4 beautiful boys. They had a wonderful life together, and it was all waiting for him, all he had to do, was get up and walk away. Then, God's grace came to him. Hadn't he prayed for long hours for God to use him to spread the Gospel? Hadn't he prayed that he would be able to share the Gospel with far away lands? Wasn't this work of copying the Holy Scriptures, going to be able to do just that? Wasn't this God answering his prayers. Yes it was. Monk Charlie happily accepted his mission in Christianity. 80 years he spent copying the Word of God, word for word in order for it to be preserved for you and me to enjoy.
Was there really a Monk Charlie? I am sure that there was. Let us thank Monk Charlie for his work. It is the fruits of his labor that we enjoy today. Let us thank Monk Charlie, and all of the other people who dedicated their lives to copying the Scriptures, by reading something out of the Bible today. Let us not let their sacrifice be wasted.
God bless...
6 comments:
Interesting post. I do have a question though. With all the real people Like Wycliff and Tyndale (English), Luther (German), and Calvin (who translated the Bible into a common tongue, and those who have spent years translating the Bible into rare languages in far away places even today, why did you choose Charlie Monk to make your very important point of encouraging folks to read the Bible?
Just Curious
Anonymous,
Monk Charlie, was real. That may not have been his name, but I do believe that Monk Charlie represents many of the people who dedicated their lives to copying and preserving the Bible.
Growing up, I was always taught that Martin Luther transcribed the Bible for people to have. What I never asked myself was, where did he get the Bible from? Who was responsible for maintaining the Scriptures well before Martin Luther and the invention of the Gutenberg printing press in 1439? Well it was the Monks in the monastaries. The sacrifice of these people is who I am trying to call attention to.
The people who transcribe the Bible today (with the conveniences of high efficiency printers and things of that nature), while they have blessed us as well, it shades in comparison to copying by hand, word for word, all of the scriptures for over 1400 years.
The main point of the post was not to encourage people to read the Bible. It was a point, of course, but not the main one. The main point was instead to spend some time remembering the people that sacrificed for all of us so that we can enjoy the scriptures today.
God bless...
"The main point of the post was not to encourage people to read the Bible. It was a point, of course, but not the main one. The main point was instead to spend some time remembering the people that sacrificed for all of us so that we can enjoy the scriptures today."
I can understand that, especially since we need Mother Church to be our interpreter of scripture, lest we make mistakes reading it and trying to interpret it for ourselves.
If the monks copied the Bible, wouldn't it have been the Latin Vulgate (Jerome) or Vestus Latina texts, that predated Jerome? If any of the other guys I mentioned translated the Bible from the original languages, they didn't get theirs from the monks, did they?
Martin Luther's German language translation of the NT was from the Greek.
Tyndale's translations were from Greek and Hebrew, although I don't think he translated the whole Bible.
The Wycliffe Bible had several translators and did work from the Latin Vulgate.
I am not sure about Calvin, but I read he did some translating into French.
What do you think about their contributions?
Anonymous,
I can understand that, especially since we need Mother Church to be our interpreter of scripture, lest we make mistakes reading it and trying to interpret it for ourselves.
Is this being said in love and charity, or are you trying to illicit a specific response? If there is something specific that you would like to discuss, please say so. Otherwise, please leave the sarcasm out of the conversation.
If the monks copied the Bible, wouldn't it have been the Latin Vulgate (Jerome) or Vestus Latina texts, that predated Jerome? If any of the other guys I mentioned translated the Bible from the original languages, they didn't get theirs from the monks, did they?
Where else would anyone get the books of the Bible, except from the Catholic Church? Was there another protector of the Scriptures that you are aware of throughout the years?
What do you think about their contributions?
Outside of the fact that they removed some of the books from the Old Testament that did not fit with their theology, and Martin Luther possibly adding content where content did not exist (Romans 3:28 adding the word "alone" so that it read "faith alone")...I think that they did a pretty good job. It was through some rendition of their translation that I found Christ - or rather Christ drew me to Him.
"Is this being said in love and charity, or are you trying to illicit a specific response?"
Maybe I'm a good Catholic just making a statement?
Anonymous,
Are you?
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