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Universally established by man, in other words, they were popular. Man chose them.

As they choose to follow Abraham, Moses, and prophets, and Christ. What is your objection? Of course God must allow competition to test the people, (Judges 2:21-23) and thus you have Muhammad, Joe Smith etc. But who are contrary to Christ.

Who knows what you're missing out on:

Indeed, only God knows, and since He did not consider them important to be preserved, or the body of Christ did not find that they fed their souls as did the books of Scripture, then you beef is with God and the body of Christ.

Obviously it was important. God wanted everyone to read it. So it wasn't God that didn't put it in the Bible, that was man's choice.

Obviously? And the word of the Lord does not remain due to man? Rather than your reasoning, what is obvious is that God preserves His word even though man seeks to destroy it. When Moses broke the tablets then God made a new set, and when Jehudi cut the written word of God with the penknife, and cast it into the fire, God commanded, "Take thee again another roll, and write in it all the former words that were in the first roll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah hath burned." (Jeremiah 36:28)

And if there was no word of God, as a body of Truth that was progressively established by the community then one could not ever be charged with adding or subtracting from it.

one thing is for certain, God wanted us to read it.

Not so, as what is certain is that, "The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever," (Isaiah 40:8) but not everything that an apostle or any author of Scripture wrote was inspired, and nowhere do we even see anything referenced to the epistle from Laodicea. Thus the command was specific to the Colossians, and edifying, as can many works be, but not wholly inspired Scripture.

A number of unprovable assumptions in your position, SP. In the King's English, we read:

And when this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and that ye likewise read the epistle from Laodicea.
(Colossians 4:16)

In Greek, the phrase "ye likewise read the epistle from Laodicea" comes out as:

καὶ τὴν ἐκ Λαοδικείας ἵνα καὶ ὑμεῖς ἀναγνῶτε

which comes out something like this:

and the [one] out of (or from) Laodicea, that also y'all should read

There are a number of possibilities here. The context is epistles, so supplying the missing word "epistle" makes sense. But who is the author, and what is the intended scope? Paul doesn't say. The Christian fellowships of Asia Minor, Colosse, Laodicea, Ephesus, and others, interacted with each other. Apostolic letters circulated among them, as well as less significant communication. Which of the two was it? There is a hint in the fact that Paul wanted these epistles read reciprocally, because it suggests they were on topic to what Paul was saying in the immediate letter to the Colossian Christians. But either way, the language is explicit that Paul was referring, not to a letter written to Laodicea, but a letter the Colossians were expected to receive from Laodicea.

So let's consider these two most likely scenarios. Under the first theory, it is possible the Laodiceans had private or local matters they needed to share with Colosse, and this letter was in fact written by them, just for Colosse. This would mean the letter could easily be excluded from the canon, as were many other communications during those times, as John indicates explicitly near the end of his Gospel, where only those things were included that were important to coming to faith in Jesus Christ. We would not necessarily need to see a letter, by Paul or anyone else, that dealt with, say, Laodiciea asking for more funds or other help from the fellowship at Colosse, with no significant doctrinal content. Paul told them they should read the letter. But we cannot extrapolate from that your conclusion that everybody on planet earth needed to know what was in that private communication. So SP your premise is faulty. You can't infer a universal need to know from this skimpy information.

Alternatively, it is possible Paul knew of this epistle because he was the author of it. However, there was, as noted above, a practice of circulating apostolic epistles. We do NOT know that the epistle coming from Laodicea was named after Laodicea. Circular letters may have had an initial audience in mind, but then would be copied, word for word, and sent from fellowship to fellowship. The one epistle that Paul wrote, which would have been in the Colosse/Laodicean/Ephesian/Etc circuit, that also is remarkably similar in content and focus to Colossians, is Paul's epistle to the Ephesians. Therefore it is possible, just on a straight factual analysis, that the epistle coming from Laodicea was the epistle Paul had originally written to the Ephesians. If so, then it isn't even lost. Merely canonical under the name given by it's original audience, the Ephesians.

Bottom line, we cannot attribute to God the inability to communicate His word to whomever He wants, whenever he wants, however he wants. He is God:

And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation: And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?
(Daniel 4:34-35)

But if someone serves a god who's purposes can be thwarted by human error or faulty human judgment or the chaos of history, then they serve a different god than the God of Scripture, Who is emphatic that His word will get where it is supposed to go, and do whatever He sends it to do:

For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
(Isaiah 55:10-11)

Great comfort in that. God rules.

Peace,

SR