books of the canon

mark75 · #41 20th May 2005, 10:40 PM

We can be as certain as is possible to be about anything.

Originally Posted by AliOgg

God let it be so, but can we be absolutely certain that we know why?

such as?
I didn't give a detailed account of the Arianism, Gnoticism, Socenianism, etc. because I didn't think anyone would be interested in the details of those heresies since that is not really what this thread is about. But I'll be glad to enter this info in a new thread. You can read about those issues in your Catholic Encyclopedia. It's actually quite interesting when one really gets into those issues that were boiling in that day. We find that things haven't changed all that much.

so says man, but what does our Father in Heaven say about this?
What does He say? You can either read His word in Paul's letters to Timothy or if you want, you can just look and see what happened in history.

where does God say, I have said this much and will say no more? It's interesting that there are those who expect God to have someone write out a verse or something to the effect that the canon is officially closed. Even though He didn't do that with the OT, He actually just stops speaking rather than adding a verse to the canon to tell everyone that He was going to stop speaking and does the same with the NT.

The fallacy that happens is when a person thinks that the formal announcement of the accepted books of the canon at Nicea was the closing of inspiration. Inspiration of Scripture ended where one would expect it to end - with the writing of the last inspired book (Revelation, or the Apocalypse, whichever you prefer). At Nicea, the only thing that happened is that the list of inspired books was formally announced, but had already existed since the writing of Revelation in c. A.D. 95.

However, as stated before, the inspired books of the OT and NT are not the only books of any value from this time period. There were many great books written by men during this time, but only 66 have been declared inspired because they met the inarguable criteria for Holy Spirit inspiration set forth by the Church Fathers. Sorry if I confused anyone with my previous post, but as a seminary prof, this has always been an interest of mine.

God Bless!

And God Bless All His Peoples.

AliOgg · #42 21st May 2005, 06:32 PM

Originally Posted by mark75

We can be as certain as is possible to be about anything.

If you are certain then I am glad for you but personally I am a long way from being convinced.

And God Bless All His Peoples.

mark75 · #43 21st May 2005, 07:34 PM

You are correct that each person is responsible to believe God's Word or not. No one can do it for you or can "argue" you into it. It must come from you. Hope that you can make peace with this issue on this side of things.

God Bless You.
Mark75

AliOgg · #44 22nd May 2005, 10:03 AM

Originally Posted by mark75

Hope that you can make peace with this issue on this side of things.

Mark75

Thank you my friend, but if you mean I should accept that only the books in the protestant bible are inspired then your barking up a gum tree, have a nice day and peace be with you

And God Bless All His Peoples.

mark75 · #45 25th May 2005, 12:50 AM

AliOgg,

I'm afraid I don't understand your reply. Let me clarify: I don't intend to tell you what to accept when it comes to God's inspired canon. That's your place to be responsible for that decision. I also don't mean to create a special "Protestant Bible." There is only one Bible, and there have been many through the years that have either tried to add, subtract, or re-write Scripture altogether. If a person wants to buy into any of those ideas, there's no use arguing about it because, more than likely, that person has made up his/her mind what path he/she will take.

So I don't really understand what you are saying. It sounds like you are saying that there are other inspired books besides the 66 books that are currently recongnized as inspired Scripture. If that's the case, I'd have to see more evidence than that statement to understand why you would say something like this.

God Bless,

AliOgg · #46 25th May 2005, 12:40 PM

Originally Posted by mark75

AliOgg,

I'm afraid I don't understand your reply. Let me clarify: I don't intend to tell you what to accept when it comes to God's inspired canon. That's your place to be responsible for that decision. I also don't mean to create a special "Protestant Bible." There is only one Bible, and there have been many through the years that have either tried to add, subtract, or re-write Scripture altogether. If a person wants to buy into any of those ideas, there's no use arguing about it because, more than likely, that person has made up his/her mind what path he/she will take.

So I don't really understand what you are saying. It sounds like you are saying that there are other inspired books besides the 66 books that are currently recongnized as inspired Scripture. If that's the case, I'd have to see more evidence than that statement to understand why you would say something like this.

God Bless,

Hello my friend, peace be with you and peace be on your house

2/3 years ago the Lord told me to read his word from alpha to omega, I read the New English Bible, New Testament popular edition, the Lord inspired me to understand that what I was reading was the Lord God Almighty talking to men, I was then led to read the NIV from alpha to omega and this I did slowly and carefully as I had the New Testament before, this I did three times and while I was reading these the Lord inspired me to understand that what I was reading was the Lord God Almighty talking to men, I was then led to read the NRSV Catholic Edition, which I did from alpha to omega slowly and carefully as before and while I was reading this the Lord inspired me to understand that what I was reading was the Lord God Almighty talking to men, I am at present reading online the LXX and the Early Church Writings as before slowly and carefully and the Lord is inspiring me to understand that yet again what I am reading is the Lord God Almighty talking to men. Personally I can see that some of the things I come across are puzzling there is much I don't understand and my hope is that the Lord will help me to understand these things, but my feelings just now are that God's Word is not restricted to 66 or even a hundred books and as the Lord has led me to understand that man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God I feel compeled to search for every word even though I understand I am not capable either of finding it all nor understanding it all, still I must search.
You ask for evidence but ultimately what evidence can there be but the evidence that a man finds growing in his heart.

And God Bless All His Peoples.

mark75 · #47 26th May 2005, 02:22 AM

AlliOgg,
Thanks for the reply. I understand and appreciate your fervency for reading God's Word in the different English translations. My concern is the subjective way in which you are determining what is inspired vs. what is not inspired. By this, I mean that someone else could very well read the same additional books and conclude that they feel God showing him/her that they most certainly are not inspired. Obviously, both positions couldn't be true. Determining inspired scripture in a way is like "re-inventing the wheel." My point is simply that there must have been more involved in determinig the inspired from the non-inspired besides simply how one "felt." This decision has already been made using agreed-upon criteria that everyone was in agreement on. This is why I say that all this discussion is merely re-inventing the wheel. Obiviously, along the way there was initial disagreement about some of the 66 books, but this disagreement was eventually reconciled, and an official list was finally published, which didn't canonize anything, but merely stated what had already been there.

As a side note, I have to ask if you have encountered any of the additional books so far that you don't consider to be inspired, and for what reason.