Posted on 07/14/2013 3:02:43 PM PDT by NYer
And just who decided THAT?
A Church Council and the popes...LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL...
As opposed to... who?
You?
Martin Luther? The man who wanted to remove the book of James from his Bible?
Who infallibly determined which books would constitute the New Testament? The Old Testament? And by what authority?
The Authority that determined the canon of Scripture has to have been divinely inspired, otherwise, as R.C. Sproul said, "we have a fallible collection of infallible books."
Maybe that makes sense to you and other Protestants. It doesn't make sense to me.
This is a simple, logical question.
What authority infallibly canonized the Bible?
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It's very telling that you seem to reflexively despise the Church of Christ, "the pillar and foundation of truth," to which Christ commanded us to take our disagreements, and which "the gates of hell" would not prevail against.
The so-called council of Jamnia?
You?
Who?
It's clear that you reject the authority of the Catholic Church to do so, so we need an alternative.
What is that authority?
Taking easy offense shows that people really do know what they're about.
Now there's a guilty conscience.
By what authority did the Catholic church include that which the Jews did not accept as Scripture?
If the OT that is in the Protestant Bible is what the Jews recognize as Scripture, then the Apocrypha was added to the Catholic Bible. Why?
I’m not impressed with self-proclaimed authority.
What's interesting is that the debate is over books the RCC chose to include, as opposed to non-Catholics choosing to add books.
The biggest criticism that can be offered to non-Catholics in their acceptance of the Protestant Bible is that it does not include enough, that it is more conservative if you will, than what the Catholic Bible contains.
In essence, non-Catholics are being criticized and condemned for not going far enough even though what they reject was never recognized as Scripture by the Jews.
Way to forfeit an argument.
And?
OK, let me see if I have this right.
Catholics believe that Jesus is God. Right?
Catholics believe that the Holy Spirit is God. Right?
Then what makes the words of Jesus more significant than the words of the Holy Spirit?
God is God, is He not? Would God the Holy Spirit contradict anything said by God the Son? Is the Holy Spirit less important than the Son?
Luke 4:1-2 And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness 2 for forty days, being tempted by the devil.
Luke 4:14-15 14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country. 15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.
Jesus - full of the Holy Spirit. Went about teaching.
Whose words was He speaking?
And?
Does that constitute a significant distinction to you?
That's what I meant.
If that's unclear, let me try it another way.
The Gospels are accounts of Jesus' life and ministry. The Epistles are letters, explicating Jesus' teachings and Church doctrine.
Do you see the distinction? Yet both the Gospels and Epistles constitute Sacred Scripture.
Similarly, the deuterocanonical (literally, "second canon") books are distinct from the protocanonical books of the Bible, yet both canons constitute Sacred Scripture.
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And while I have you, what person or group of persons had, or has, the authority to infallibly determine what books constitute Sacred Scripture?
You?
Luther?
Who?
Why won't any Protestants answer?
It's a simple question.
Does that constitute a significant distinction to you?
As far as importance and authority, no...
In the Gospels Jesus showed up to teach his chosen, the Jews, about him...Jesus taught about his coming Kingdom of Heaven, His earthly rule as the King...
God's chosen rejected Jesus as a whole...Jesus then turned to Paul...Jesus spent about 3 years with Paul teaching Paul about the Kingdom of God and how that Kingdom would be offered to the Gentiles...Jesus revealed to Paul the doctrine of grace thru faith without works...Jesus revealed to Paul how he wanted his church set up...Jesus revealed to Paul the resurrection of the saints...
Without Paul's teaching that Jesus revealed to him about the church, there wouldn't be much of a legitimate church today...Only so called churches similar to the Catholic church who pretty much twist, pervert and ignore what Jesus had Paul teach us...
All of scripture is equally important...It is all the counsel of God...
“has, the authority to infallibly determine “
As a former Catholic who came to trust Christ, I’ll answer your question...
GOD HIMSELF worked through history and people to infallibly deliver His Word.
That he uses a person or group of people to accomplish His will doesn’t make the people infallible. He alone is infallible.
He used Balaam’s ass too. Was the ass infallible? Or was it simply an ass that HE used?
Which Bible?
Can you tell me, infallibly?
It certainly wasn't your religion...
Psa 12:6 The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.
Psa 12:7 Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.
That statement excludes anyone in your religion from having any authority dealing with what is or what isn't scripture...We can be sure we have the scriptures in spite of your religion...
A good point. Surely if His spirit could guide a group of men to write down His word He could by that same spirit guide the collection of those writings over a period of time.
Look at your religion...If the gates of hell aren't prevailing against it, I don't know what is...
Yours is not the Church of Christ...The bible condemns your religions practices all thru out the scriptures...The words of God are available to everyone...He says no one is infallible and he condemns your religion...
One Infallible Donkey for Sale. Has spoken when moved by G-d. Can see angelic visitations. Slightly abused. Do not be tricked by other claims of infallibility! Don't be an as*! Buy my as* instead! $1.5 million firm. Contact me at: Balaam@My.Donkey-Is-the-Only-Infallible-Donkey.com
Me neither...And neither is God...
Not only, but only the priest can read the gospels in the Mass. It is true that some texts can be broadly weightier in application than others, John 3 and Romans 8 versus Numbers 7 perhaps, and also can reflect the differences in character and anointing of the one speaking it, with the Lord being more supreme.
Yet this does not warrant the degree of elevation given to gospels among RCs, as they are incomplete as a source of Christian doctrine, containing little about the nature of the body of Christ, "which is the church: Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God. " (Colossians 1:24-25)
And it is the same Spirit of Christ who inspired the writers of the gospels to pen the Lord's words, and which are sometimes somewhat different is duplicate accounts, such as in the Lord's words in His trial, which evidences that these are not always the verbatim words of Christ, but as in quoting OT prophecy, that Spirit can expand or recast what was said in order to provide a fuller revelation of God's truth.
In addition, the gospels depends upon the promised (Jn. 16:12-14) revelation of the rest of the NT, as in providing a basic clear gospel message with its theology, and of which Paul said, "I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ." (Galatians 1:12)
I like the classification that the OT is The “Preparation;" the Gospels are The “Presentation;” the Book of Acts is the “Propagation;" the Letters and Epistles The “Explanation;” Revelation is the "Consummation."
Because you say so?
Still no answer from any Protestant regarding the authority that acted infallibly in canonizing the Scriptures.
Unless you think that you're that source.
I think this is called a "red herring."
Still no answer from any Protestant regarding the authority that acted infallibly in determining the canon of Scripture.
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