We all agree that scripture is inspired by God. But before it was compiled into a book, there were hundreds of letters and books in circulation among the various christian communities. Since all of these documents are not in the Bible, who decided which letters and books would be included? How was it decided? By what authority did these individuals make their decision. What about the Gospel of Thomas or the Gospel of Philip, two of the many books in circulation. Who decided that these two books should not be included?
First, let's understand that this is an old Catholic cleche' you are dishing out and I know it's supposed to be a game stopper...
When coming at this argument from a different angle, the Catholic answer to end all is that there couldn't have been any books since the people of that age were illiterate and slow...
It required millions of monks from the Catholic religion to churn out the copies and put binding on them...
But now, with this argument, there were hundreds of copies of books floating around the known world...Just another tactic...
Since all of these documents are not in the Bible, who decided which letters and books would be included? How was it decided? By what authority did these individuals make their decision.
I already answered that, twice...God decided...And he accomplished it...And I think God has the authority to make that decision...We're not talking about pagan books which were written by men alone...
God said that he created the heavens and the earth...Do you believe that??? God also said he would preserve his words...You don't believe that???
What about the Gospel of Thomas or the Gospel of Philip, two of the many books in circulation. Who decided that these two books should not be included?
Again, God did...
Could be that those two books were authentically written by the apostles (but unlikely)...Regardless, God obviously didn't want them in the scriptures...