***Knock, knock; reality calling. What NT scriptures did the Church have and at what time? You give the letters to Thessalonians and Colossians as evidence.
No...Jesus gives these letters as evidence...The fact that you don’t want to believe what Jesus says because your church says otherwise doesn’t change a thing...***
When were these letters written and when were they widely circulated? And when were accepted by the Church as Scripture? Reality.
***When were these written and even more important, when were they recognized as Scripture
Well I don’t know Mr. Reality...The Apostle Peter called them scriptures...So they obviously were known as Scriptures as they were being written... ***
Are you referred to 2 Peter? That wasn’t written until the middle of the 2nd Century. How can you hang your proofs on that?
***and when and where and how were they copied out and distributed. Anti Catholics don’t get that there were NO emails or other forms of mass distribution of information. Works were copied out by hand and the Church was far flung - journeys took weeks or months.
Hey, maybe they had donkeys to ride on...
Jesus by Himself covered a great deal of area in just 3 years...He has many disciples that he sent out as well...
Thousands were saved at Pentecost...From all over the known world...
No doubt there was a church at every bus stop...John Wesley covered a pretty good territory on a horse...Apparently if the ‘net’ goes down, your church is in real trouble, eh???***
The ignorance of the current generation astounds me. Let me remind you of the conditions of those days. 99% of the people were illiterate - only the merchants and the ruling class had schooling. 99% of the people were serfs or bondsmen of some sort and had no ability to travel any distances. There were only a few of the early Christian evangelizers and bishops to travel a territory that went throughout the Middle East, North Africa, southern Europe, and east through Mesopotamia into India. Millions upon millions of square miles. And the evangelizers were not of sufficient cash to afford horses. You have no clue, do you?
***The Church was entirely oral for a whole generation after Christ and only gradually when the people realized that Christ was not coming back immediately that they started writing things down.
Now is that Mr. Reality speaking, or Mr. Guesser??? I got news for ya...When Paul met with Jesus, Jesus gave him more information that what Paul wrote or spoke...Paul picked Timothy to go on after him because he knew Jesus wouldn’t be there in his life time...And Paul preached for years...***
In a rather incoherant way you have confirmed my post. The first generation of the Church was entirely oral.
***Your religion is an invention...And God didn’t invent it...***
I don’t have a religion; I am privileged to follow Christ and the Institution that He created. Jesus Christ did not invent the Church of Iscool (population one).
Anything but believe God...Your religion corrupted the word of God back then, and it continues to do so today...
2Co 2:17 For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.
2Th 2:15 Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.
Act 15:27 We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who shall also tell you the same things by mouth.
Whatever was preached by mouth was in totoal agreement with what was written in the epistles...Andything more, or less is the tradition of man and your religion...
Act 15:30 So when they were dismissed, they came to Antioch: and when they had gathered the multitude together, they delivered the epistle:
Act 15:31 Which when they had read, they rejoiced for the consolation.
2Th 3:14 And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed.
Did Paul say Tradition??? Of course not...That shows us that whatever tradition Paul spoke of was identical to the epistle, the written words of God...
And you ought to be ashamed for claiming otherwise..
Rom 16:22 I Tertius, who wrote this epistle, salute you in the Lord.
1Co 5:9 I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators:
2Co 7:8 For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent: for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season.
Col 4:16 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.
1Th 5:27 I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read unto all the holy brethren.1Th 5:27
An awfully lot of reading going on back in the day...So much so that Paul says the brethern should shut out anyone who does not abide by the written epistles...Those epistles are the only and FINAL authority...
Don't like what God says, create your own Tradition...Oh I see, you've already don that...
Are you referred to 2 Peter? That wasn’t written until the middle of the 2nd Century. How can you hang your proofs on that?
So Peter was about 150 years old when he wrote that epistle, eh???
2Pe 3:1 This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance:
Now there's another slap upside your head by God...You ought to be gettin' a headache pretty soon...You are showing me that your religion is all about your religion and your coucils and your man made tradition...Do you ever consult with the word of God???
The ignorance of the current generation astounds me. Let me remind you of the conditions of those days. 99% of the people were illiterate - only the merchants and the ruling class had schooling. 99% of the people were serfs or bondsmen of some sort and had no ability to travel any distances. There were only a few of the early Christian evangelizers and bishops to travel a territory that went throughout the Middle East, North Africa, southern Europe, and east through Mesopotamia into India. Millions upon millions of square miles. And the evangelizers were not of sufficient cash to afford horses. You have no clue, do you?
Of course I have a clue...Lots of them...I believe the word of God...
You figure God told them to preach the Gospel to the whole world and didn't give them the means to do so??? You figure only the homeless and downtrodden became Christians??? Study God's word...He'll show you otherwise...
You own your own salvation? The Church of Iscool (population one) has issued salvation. All gather round and witness the unbelieveable.
You betcha I do (own my salvation)...God gave it to me...It was a free Gift and you nor your church nor anyone else can take it from me...