“like Mohammed, at base automotons, mere scribes for God”
I would like to know which Christian sects believe the writers of the Bible were similar to Muhammed. I don’t know of any that would accept such a comparison. It is the kind of thing only opponents would assert to discredit someone else. No one would agree to the comparison.
My opinion is that various writings of the Bible were constructed under a variety of circumstances, writing styles, methods and forms. For example, Psalms and Proverbs are collections of writings that originated from multiple authors but were compiled by God’s divine direction. Some scriptures contain parts that were directly dictated by God as if He was speaking to a scribe. Some are largely from the author’s description of visions from God. Some probably came from men who had been taught by God, taught others over many years, and then carefully compiled a form of these teachings. Some are simply recollections of historical events.
What is not my opinion, but is fact, is that all of the scriptures were inspired (God-breathed). This means they contain no errors and are directly from God as general revelation to us.
The Apocryphal writings have been rejected because they were not inspired writings.
Codex Vaticanus, Codex Sinaiticus, Codex Bezae, Codex Alexandrinus, Vetus Latina, Vulgate are among the manuscripts which are not authoritative even though they may contain scriptures and may have attempted to faithfully preserve them.
The Textus Receptus is authoritative. Attempts to dilute it with “higher criticism” (John Mill in early 1700’s through Westcott and Hort in the late 1800’s) failed. This text comes to us mainly through the majority text.
Since there is the potential to spend a lifetime studying the history, language, and roles that people had in the transmission of scriptures to us today, it is impossible to have “simple” debate on the subject.
As far as your church history, I thought I was addressing a Roman Catholic. My mistake.
“The Textus Receptus is authoritative.”
As a complete collection, probably yes. But again, its authority derives from the Majority Test, the Byzantine manuscripts. You should remember that while Western Europe was in barbarism, in the East we had a magnificent empire with schools for everyone, private and public centers of higher learning, hospitals, old folks homes, sewer systems, central heat; true civilization. Manuscripts get preserved in cultures like that. All the more so when the language of the scriptures is the language of the society around them.
Today at the Divine Liturgy, I will hear the Gospel and the Epistle read in Byzantine Greek. The same way my ancestors have been hearing them for 1800 years.