About cjester's comment (in the Sola Scriptura thread) that Jesus and disciples couldn't read or write..... (Torah, Bible)

[Luvvarkansas]

It was an attempt to discredit the Bible.

A couple of days ago my neighbor threw a big stack of books on me while I was at her house (she's remodeling and wanting to clear stuff out!). One of them was a little 3-volume set called "Bible Reference Library". One of the books is called "Fascinating Bible Facts", and one of the chapters in that book is called "Everyday Life". So finally I get to my point.....here is what I found in a couple of places in that book:

The World's Earliest Schools
The oldest known schools were in ancient Sumer, dating to about 2500 B.C. These were scribal schools, where students copied texts over and over on clay tablets to practice their writing. This practice also helped them learn many subject in the process. They studied botany, zoology, geology, geography, mathematics, languages, and other studies. Only the wealthy could afford the scribal schools, however, so literacy was limited mainly to the rich. It was not until the time of Jesus that schools became open to nearly everyone. (I'm not kidding, this is exactly what it says!)

Synagogue Schools
Sometime during the period between the Old and New Testaments, formal Jewish schools for children were started in the synagogues. By the time of Jesus, all Jewish children had to go to school. They learned how to read and write by studying the Bible. It is possible that Jesus himself went to such a school, where he learned the Torah.

Isn't it funny how God directed me to those sections just a couple of days after cjester made his comments?

[Fundamentalist]

Matthew was a tax collector who could probably write shorthand and what makes the book of Matthew stand out from the others is that the words of Jesus were probably recorded word for word especially the sermon on the mount because Matthew would have had the ability to write down everything Jesus said.

[greentwiga]

My great aunt painted a lovely picture of Bangkok's street of the letter writers. Many ancient cultures thrived with few knowing how to read or write. One reason for the Alphabet taking over from cuneiform of hieroglyphics is that more could easily learn to read and write. Still the memorization method was very strong in the time of Jesus. I recently went to a Hindu temple and heard a lady reciting the mahabharata (~as long as the whole Bible) word perfect from memory. Even the well educated Paul could write but dictated his letters to a more accomplished writer. We have forgotten how effectively people back then were able to memorize massive amounts. Even poor fishermen could do this. Being unlettered would not mean that they couldn't write down Jesus' words perfectly, even years later. We couldn't because we are barbarians, country hicks, and not taught (how to memorize.)