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The church fathers were not inspired by God like the Bible is, so I really don't care what they said. In fact, in the Bible, Jesus often told the disciples they were not correct in their understanding of what Jesus was saying. If the disciples were wrong so often when they talked to Jesus in person every day, why trust someone who never talked to him?

It's unfortunate that Jesus Christ left his teachings in the hands of men who, according to what you must believe, messed up so badly, mangled the Truth so badly, that they couldn't pass on the faith correctly even to their own disciples. And less than one generation after the death and resurrection of Christ, to boot!

I think this is the saddest post yet. You realize that what you are saying is that Jesus failed. He is the one the promised to lead His Church into all truth. Did he fail? The Church is His bride that He said he would preserve blameless for eternity. Did He fail?

While the Church Fathers may not have been inspired, they were those who learned the faith from the Apostles. The Christian faith was from the beginning oral Tradition. If we were to operate from your point of view, then four centuries of Christans would not have any chance to be saved, since they had no New Testament. And then an additional thousand years went by before any of them could afford one because the printing press was not invented yet. Only 10% were literate, so even if they had one they could not read it. Those who did read, read Latin, which is why the Bible was translated into Latin. And if reading the Bible is the only way to learn of God and become a Christian, there are millions of people of the face of this earth who will burn in hell simply because they cannot read. God NEVER intended Christianity to be the faith of only the rich and the literate. That is why from the beginning the use of images and statues asisted parents in teaching their children through visual aids about the stories of the Bible and the life of Christ. They were three dimentional words for the illiterate. Tradition and ritual allowed us to learn prayers and creeds so that without having a Bible in our hands we could pass on the faith and commit it to memory. Now those who have long been in possession of the scritures and the ability to read them turn in disgust at the Tradition that delivered to their ancestors the truth about Christ's love for us.

Where in the Bible does the Bible say it is the only authority for faith and practice? And where in the Bible does it say what books should be in the Bible?

The Bible never claims to be the sole rule of faith and practice. In fact, 2 Thes 2:15 tells us that we should hold fast to the Traditions the Apostles passed down whether they be written or oral. Is this verse not authoritative? Can you find a verse that says it is no longer in effect? No, we are still be be obedient to the Sacred Traditions we were left by the Apostles and that the Early Christians guarded as carefully as they guarded the scriptures.

Don't settle for a truncated faith. Investigate the history of the Christian faith, and then read your Bible again. If it doesn't read differently, you are afraid to see what is there in all it's glory.