[Legatus]

If you had asked it that way, I would say that Christians have the gift of "ears to hear." We know God's words when we hear them. Thus we know what is or is not Scripture. People who do not have that gift cannot hear Him and cannot discern the difference between the words of men and the words of God.

Isn't that basically what the Mormons and JWs and what have you say to validate their various beliefs? You (and I) don't have the gift of knowing the BoM is Scripture for instance.

I'll be painfully blunt: I earnestly believe that Jesus Christ is God come in the flesh and that no one comes to the Father except through Him but I when confronted with the Shepherd of Hermes and 2 Peter (for example) couldn't tell which is inspired and which isn't. Does this mean I'm damned because I accept the authority of the Roman Church to tell me what is and isn't canonical?

And yet there's nothing more I hope for than to see God face to face. Just let me see Jesus and throw my unworthy self at His feet and I will be happy for all eternity.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thank you so much for sharing your concerns and your question, dear Legatus!

Your first hearing of the words of God may very well come with the testimony of other believers - e.g. Catholic Church, evangelist, minister, family member, friend.

Praise God!!!

But it is not their testimony which enlivens you "in" Him - it is His own words that do that:

But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. – Matt 4:4

Give us this day our daily bread. – Matt 6:11

I am that bread of life. – John 6:48

It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, [they] are spirit, and [they] are life. – John 6:63

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. – John 5:24

And again,

For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. - Colossians 3:3

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. - Galatians 2:20

Don't sweat the disputes between Christians. The important part is knowing Who God IS, loving Him whole-heartedly, receiving His words spoken to you.

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

This is the first and great commandment.

And the second [is] like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. – Matthew 22:35-40

And again,

For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. - Matthew 5:18

Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish [ought] from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you. – Deuteronomy 4:2

Focus on God, not the ones you brought His words to you.

And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, [even] as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able [to bear it], neither yet now are ye able.

For ye are yet carnal: for whereas [there is] among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I [am] of Apollos; are ye not carnal?

Who then is Paul, and who [is] Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?

I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. – I Corinthians 3:1-7

When we know "Who God IS" and we hear His Names then we can never deny Him:

Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they [also] which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.

I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. - Revelation 1:7-8

And again,

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. – Isaiah 9:6

And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. – Exodus 3:14

Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. - John 8:58

As soon then as he had said unto them, I am [he], they went backward, and fell to the ground. – John 18:6

Remember the former things of old: for I [am] God, and [there is] none else; [I am] God, and [there is] none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times [the things] that are not [yet] done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: - Isaiah 46:9-10

We cannot be deceived by strangers, e.g. religions which deny His Names:

To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers. – John 10:3-5 To God be the glory, not man, never man.