Jim B
Well-Known Member
Most of the Bible was in existence long, long before the early church. Clearly, the church did not "birth" the Bible. There was a council that decided which New Testament "books" were included in the canon of Scripture, but some apocryphal books were also included by some denominations.How did the early church choose the bible canon for the New Testament? Did the bible fall out of the sky.?
Did the bible birth the church...or did the church birth the bible? The latter is true, of course.
So how did they choose what is scripture and what isn't? I believe it is by the testimony of those who experienced the life and power it testifies to.
The bible then can only be understood and interpreted correctly when that same life that was experienced by those who MADE the bible the bible ....is experienced the same way by modern readers/believers.
It's like finding an old recipe..but nobody remembers what the words that represent the ingredients are or the measurements represent. When those proper ingredients and measurements are discovered....you have the same meal that the original cooks had in mind.
When we EXPERIENCE the power of the gospel, and the life that is testified to therein...THEN we can understand what the bible is getting at.
Otherwise its just opinions and religious formulations that have no power or life in them.
Fortunately, one can buy, not only a complete Bible, but can also read new Bible "books" that have recently been added. I strongly recommend "A New, New Testament" edited by Hal Taussig.
He writes "Over the past century, numerous lost scriptures have been discovered, authenticated, translated, debated, celebrated. Many of these documents were as important to shaping early Christian communities and beliefs as what we have come to call the New Testament. These were not the work of shunned sects or rebel apostles, not alternative histories or doctrines, but part of the vibrant conversations that sparked the rise of Christianity. Yet these scriptures are rarely read in contemporary churches; they are discussed almost only by scholars or within the context only of gnostic gospels. Why should these books be set aside? Why should they continue to be lost to most of us? And don’t we have a great deal to gain by placing them back into contact with the twenty-seven books of the traditional New Testament—by hearing, finally, the full range of voices that formed the early chorus of Christians?"
Of course, if your mind is closed, you can't accept this, but if you believe that God still reveals His truth even today, you should read this New, New Testament.