[metmom]

And your alternative authority is... who? King James? Martin Luther?

Jesus.

If you are using Scripture as a historical account to give it divine authority, then you have completely undermined any defense you have for claiming your church's spiritual authority.

[boatbums]

Jesus DID give his opinion about what should be considered Sacred Scripture. He said:

Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. (Matthew 23:34,35)

From Abel to Zachariah, the Pulpit Commentary says:

It seems to be a kind of proverbial saying which the Lord here uses, equivalent to "from the first murdered saint to the last," taking the arrangement of the Hebrew canon of Scripture, and regarding the Books of Chronicles as the conclusion of Jewish history.