Originally posted by Mr Potato Head
Originally posted by wickwoman
Well, for one, there is the adamant contention that the Bible is the true and inspired word of God and that “nothing should be taken away or added” to it, according to scripture. However, when the Protestants broke away from the Catholics, how many books “fell out” of the Bible, never to be recovered? Are all Christians aware that this happened?
Well if you did any research on this you would know this is simply not true.
The Hebrew Bible was originally as the protestant Bible renders it today. The Septuagint (original Greek translation of OT) held the 39 books of the OT that we have today. The Apocrypha you make reference to were not at all considered Scripture. At best they were books with useful wisdom.
When Jerome translated the Bible into Latin (the Vulgate translation) he included the Apocrypha but put them in a separate section. However, it was not until the Council of Trent, which was in
response to Martin Luther's accusations against the Catholic church that the Apocrypha were placed on the same level as Scripture.
The Bible was only formally put together because of the stream of new pseudo-gospels that were inundating the church at the time. Also, because Christianity was spreading so far there was a need to translate the Bible and there needed to be a confirmed, complete Bible to give to their converts. Finally, with the persecution that was so fresh in the mind of many Christians (edict of Diocletian, 303 A.D.) no one wanted to die for books that were not truly sacred, Christians needed to be sure. The New Testament was recognized extremely close its present version long before the Synod of Hippo which formally accomplished this. Twenty of the twenty-seven were recognized by Irenaeus in 180 A.D. The other seven were not included because of some doubts as to their authorship. However by the Synod of Hippo (393 A.D.) they had been long recognized. The tests for the inclusion into the Canon which were used at the synod were as follows:
1. Was the book written by a prophet?
2. Was the writer confirmed by acts of God?
3. Did the message tell the truth about God?
4. Does it come with the power of God?
5. Was it accepted by the people of God?
The synod went through great lengths to confirm these so as not to make a mistake.
Wickwoman, your allegations are ignorant and you take only a few facts of history to rant against the truth. I urge you to seek out the facts, you will find the Bible is indeed the Word of God and you are loved by the One who died for you, if you give it a chance.
