The most interesting question to me is how you, as
a Protestant, know:
- what is Scripture (i.e. which
writings are Scripture and which not)
- why it is Scripture (i.e. why
those writings have authority - are
something that you will be
"judged by" in your words)
Greetings John: Scripture? Jesus
called Moses and the Prophets
scripture; he also said that we would be judged by
the words He spoke
and these are recorded in the four gospels. I
hope you are not going
to make the claim that we would not have a Bible
apart from the rcc.
and make the claim
that the church came before the scriptures.
[jj] Let's slow down just a
bit. Talk about the first question first.
Which writings are
Scripture? Which are not? Why is this so?
jt: The writings of
Moses and the Prophets are scripture,
Jesus
said so. And the
writings of the apostles are scripture.
[jj] You have spoken of Jesus'
words in the Gospels. Granting that
we all start from God first,
Jesus as His Son, then that makes His words
authoritative for us. It
is a long way from there to the whole New Testament,
not to mention the question
which books of the OT are in fact
authoritative.
[jj] So...
jt: Do
you question them John? Which ones don't you
believe?
[jj] Is Tobit Scripture? If not, why
not? Remember, Jesus does
not quote from each OT book, and in any case it
seems to me a long
jump from the fact that He quoted from the OT to
the assumption that
they are
Scripture.
jt: You really
think Jesus would be quoting from heretical
material?
[jj] Is James Scripture? Luther didn't think
so. It said that we
are not saved by faith alone. If you think
James is Scripture, why
do you think
so?
jt: James actually
handled the Word of Truth, Luther was deceived
for
a large part of his
life. I wouldn't throw out James epistle because
of
Luther. Would you
John?
[jj] Is the Shepherd of Hermas Scripture?
Much of the early church
thought so, until the 'RCC' said it wasn't.
If you don't think so, why not?
jt: I've never read
the Shepherd of Hermas so I can
not really
comment. Which years
are you speaking of when you say "early
church?"
judyt
God allows the devil to raise up
heretics
to make his people
study
