Flatbusher – this discussion reminds me of a story I heard when I was a kid. I assume it’s from the Gemara.
Some of my details may be off, but the gist of the story is that someone approaches a Rav and tells him that he wants him to teach him Torah, but only the Torah Shebichtav since he doesn’t believe in the Oral Law.
So the Rav says “fine, the first thing we must start with is the Alef Beis.”
So he teaches him the first few letters.
The next day, the student comes back to continue the lesson.
The Rav points to an Alef and says, “this is a Beis.”
The student says, “no, it’s not, it’s an alef.”
The Rav asked, “How do you knwo it’s an Alef?”
“Because you told me so yesterday.”
“Ah, so you see, that we do need the Oral Tradition in order to learn anything. Without the Oral Tradition, you wouldn’t even know the Alef Beis and you would have no way to begin to learn the Written Torah”.
I think that story answers the question.