The vibe I'm getting from pretty much all the posters in this thread is that the Bible is expendable, and nobody can know what's in or out of it anyway. Contrast that with what I heard today at mass.
"You must keep to what you have been taught and know to be true; remember who your teachers were, and how, ever since you were a child, you have known the holy scriptures – from these you can learn the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and can profitably be used for teaching, for refuting error, for guiding people’s lives and teaching them to be holy. This is how the man who is dedicated to God becomes fully equipped and ready for any good work.
Before God and before Christ Jesus who is to be judge of the living and the dead, I put this duty to you, in the name of his Appearing and of his kingdom: proclaim the message and, welcome or unwelcome, insist on it. Refute falsehood, correct error, call to obedience – but do all with patience and with the intention of teaching."
At least that's how this Catholic has been taught by his Church. Even today.
I'm not very familiar with Catholic religion. But even traditional thinking in Protestant denominations treats the Bible as non-expendable.
It just so happens that Christians who are active on "Christians forums" tend to be unconventional. They tend to be the people who look deeper into the study of the Bible, the irony.
And it's rather ironic if you knew the Bible enough, even the Bible makes no claim about its expendability. When Jesus asks the disciples if they read the scriptures, it's simply a question and possibly a critique to their laziness at not reading scriptures often enough, not a command to read the scriptures.
Peter / Paul told that scriptures are good for instructing. However, they're not referring to the Bible here because the Bible did not exist yet. They were referring to the Torah (Old Testament only) and the letters of Paul, not together but separately.
The Bible would have Torah and the letters of Paul and among other teachings of the saints in New Testament.
But did Jesus instructed us to put together the letters of the saints and include them to the Torah to make the Bible? The simple answer is no.
The letters some of the disciples wrote were meant for newly converts, especially the Gentiles. The disciples didn't need it among themselves. It is typically understood and obviously, we only need to be introduced to the "Spirit of Truth" and then it becomes our primary guide to the Truth (John 16:13).
Because the problem with physical books, the knowledge they contain don't typically withstand the test of time as people learn more about nature, the universe with vastly improve methods of gathering and analyzing information. It forces us to twist interpretations that is often ridiculous if previous interpretations no longer agree with facts.
Jesus did command us to seek the Truth and not bend things to agree with the Truth.
Yes, the Spirit of Truth can and will also guide you in understanding the Bible. But its work doesn't end in the Bible. It guides you into ALL Truth as said in John 16:13. The problem is that most Christians don't have the patience nor the courage to look beyond the Bible. Either lazy or just hopelessly stuck, lacking faith in the Holy Spirit (they have more faith in money, houses, cars, career, than spiritual matters).
