Books banned from the Bible

[Andrew]

The gnostic gospels were never part of the Bible but what about books that were added by Jews centuries before Christ's earthly ministry and were taken out post Christ's ascension and after all the Apostles had died off?

Why were they banned from the inherent Word of the Living and Sovereign God if early letters and documents from Christianity's infancy tell us that they most definitely preached on and understood certain books that would later be denounced as uninspired?

I apologize for any ignorance on my part but how is it possible for 1rst, 2nd and 3rd century Christians to get away with willfully accepting and identifying with non biblical characters and narratives in their teachings if they weren't 100% inherent to begin with?

If they weren't inspired yet remained so widely distributed centuries before and after Christ's ministry, why did none of the Apostles warn us of "former" documents having been loosed in the church?

Was God unsuccessful in providing the gentile and Greek speaking majority of the Hebrew nation with his word in the common tongue of that time?

If that's the case then perhaps all nations should be under one umbrella of speaking and using Hebrew only, as if God was unable to prepare the greek speaking majority of both Jew and Gentile without using Hebrew alone or through a Hebrew scholar alone.

Yet today we have Bible translations in every tongue and in every nation worldwide.

Perhaps the LXX isn't so mythical after all, it truly did exist just in time for the "grafting in of nations", it was and still is a blessing for Christianity today

 

[Josiah]

The gnostic gospels were never part of the Bible but what about books that were added by Jews centuries before Christ's earthly ministry and were taken out post Christ's ascension and after all the Apostles had died off?

Wrong, my friend.

Judaism did NOTHING WHATSOEVER in terms of what is and is not canonical until 90 AD (that's AD - ranoughly 60 years AFTER Jesus). They called an official, authoritative, ecumenical council to do what had NEVER been done before, determine what is and is not canonical. The Council of Jamnia accepted the material that is the same as our 39 OT books. This was an authoritative decision and every Jew around the world completely complied, among the Jews, no other material or books was so accepted and largely fell out of use and even awareness. But friend, that was in 90 AD.... after Jesus, after Christianity already began.

Why were they banned

What is "they?"

By WHAT? What authortative, official body in Christianity issued such a ban? Would you please quote the Ecumenical Council that authoritatively stated, "Thou art BANNED from reading the following books......?"

if early letters and documents from Christianity's infancy tell us that they most definitely preached on

What is "they?"

IF you could name say 20 people who preached on the Book of Mormon, that would not substantiate that ERGO the whole Church officially, authoritatively declared that book to be the inerrant, verbally inspired, inscripturated words of God and THEREFORE the canon/rule/norm for faith and practice equal to say the Books of Moses or the Epistle to the Romans; the ONLY THING it would show is that 20 people used that book in some way. That's it, that's all. And 20 people are not "The Church." And 20 people are not divine authorities whose decisions are ergo God's.

Ever been to an Evangelical church? Not infrequently, the sermon includes quotes from TV shows, movies, pop songs.... video clips of such are frequently used in sermons. By your apologetic, this PROVES that The Church at some point officially, authoritatively determined that the TV Show MASH is the inerrant, verbally inspired, inscripturated words of God and THEREFORE the canon/rule/norm for faith and practice equal to say the Books of Moses or the Epistle to the Romans as recognized by The Church and thus all Christians.




.

 

[tango]

Hey, let's take this a step or two further. In the past, in certain settings, I used to draw analogies from the Rider-Waite tarot deck to indicate a theological concept. Maybe the tarot just got promoted?