See here in this Gospel to Mary, I can imagine how strange and wierd it would sound to the World through-out the ages, yet what he says to her for our Generation does not sound far-out at all..
Do you agree?
Will matter then be destroyed or not?
22) The Savior said, All nature, all formations, all creatures exist in and with one another, and they will be resolved again into their own roots.
23) For the nature of matter is resolved into the roots of its own nature alone.
24) He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
25) Peter said to him, Since you have explained everything to us, tell us this also: What is the sin of the world?
26) The Savior said There is no sin, but it is you who make sin when you do the things that are like the nature of adultery, which is called sin.
27) That is why the Good came into your midst, to the essence of every nature in order to restore it to its root.
28) Then He continued and said, That is why you become sick and die, for you are deprived of the one who can heal you.
29) He who has a mind to understand, let him understand.
30) Matter gave birth to a passion that has no equal, which proceeded from something contrary to nature. Then there arises a disturbance in its whole body.
31) That is why I said to you, Be of good courage, and if you are discouraged be encouraged in the presence of the different forms of nature.
32) He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
See here in this Gospel to Mary, I can imagine how strange and wierd it would sound to the World through-out the ages, yet what he says to her for our Generation does not sound far-out at all..
Do you agree?
There would be several ways to verify whether something is of Scripture or not. But, without going into all that right now ... I'll start with something that is true for the rest of the New Testament writings -- for a "clue" as to whether this was something that the "people of God" (at that time) did "recognize" as Scripture (or not).
Remember, no book/writing -- which has ever been rejected by the people of God, the ones it was given to (at that time and to "those people") -- has ever been included in Scripture -- at a later time, and thus determined (at that later time) "to be Scripture"...
Another thing to remember is that all of the New Testament Scriptures were in the hands of the people of God, almost immediately from the time they were written, and all of them were distributed to those intended -- well before 95 A.D. -- except for the book of Revelation, which was the last one ... and that was distributed at around 95 A.D.
So, one of the first things I want to find out -- is if the people of God at that time did recognize this as the "Word of God" (or not).
Let me tell you one little "factoid" about the New Testament writings. It has been shown that one can "reconstruct" the entire New Testament, almost down to the very last verse, by the many quotes where the church fathers and in their own writings, wrote about this book and/or that verse. Just by their own writings, you can reconstruct any New Testament book, even if you did not have that particular New Testament book.
So, the question I have -- is -- can you reconstruct this particular book, from the "church fathers" quoting this book (all the verses and the entire book) in all of their writings?
That's another way to ask (and/or say) "Did they recognize this book as Scripture?". If they used it in their sermons, if they quoted from it and taught the flock (their church) about it, if they did "commentaries' on this book -- then it would be shown that they -- indeed -- recognized this book as the Word of God.
That's one place where I would "start" -- but it wouldn't be the end of the story (about whether the book was "Scripture"). There's much more to that. I just use this one little example as a convenient starting place.