[PetroniusMaximus]

“Pardon my interprtation, I don’t THINK that the poster was saying that God was unable to clearly and adequately express Himself in the Bible. “

Let me quote...

“These things led me to realize that if the Body of Christ has to go at Faith with a Bible Alone approach we are doomed. The time, culture and language separations are a huge obstacle to getting at the actual meaning of the texts, with all the nuance and subtlety that comes with theological understanding and the development of those concepts.”

**********

“’God spoke through his chosen spokespeople. FIRST came the Magesterium, that is, the twelve Apostles, THEN came the Bible, 400 years later. “

No. The Canon closed around 400 years later.

The vast bulk of the Bible was around even before Jesus was born. As it was ALREADY Scripture.

All of the New Testament was written within 40 years of Jesus’ death, (before the fall of Jerusalem).

The Bible did not suddenly appear 400 years after the fact.

[dartuser]

All of the New Testament was written within 40 years of Jesus’ death, (before the fall of Jerusalem).

Except for Revelation ... 95 AD.

[metmom]

Just wow........

What an indictment of Catholicism.

I see that our analysis of the RCC wanting to be completely in control was not off at all.

NOTHING is above the authority of Scripture. The Catholic church’s self-proclaimed final authority is meaningless because one cannot proclaim themselves as a final authority, it must be granted from the outside to be valid.

Only authority can confer authority and I don’t see God giving His up to Catholicism.

[cloudmountain]

I think we're talking at cross purposes.
Of course, the Old Testament was written before Christ and of course, it's larger, much larger. Who would disagree? Of course, the New Testament was written within 40 years of Jesus' life and death, by those witnesses. Who else could have done it? You're preachin' to the choir.

I didn't say that the Bible suddenly appeared.
I did say that it was collated at a certain date: 380, 400 and 420 A.D. The Magesterium hadn't done the deed before because of the persecutions of the Romans. When the Romans finally made Christianity the state religion, THEN the Magesterium could come out of hiding, so to speak, and organize, collect, investigate and get all those documents OUT of hiding, together, with all the current bishops and rationally collate the new works of Jesus.

It's not rocket science or special information; it's just history.