Second, The Council of Trullo endorsed the Easter letter of Athanasius of Alexandria written in AD 367, which lists the 27 books we have today as part of the New Testament. It also endorsed the Council of Laodicea which listed 26 books (it excluded the Book of Revelation). The point being that the New Testament is not in question. What is in question is the canon of the Hebrew Bible. The Jewish Council of Jamnia held in 90 AD rejected the Septuagint.
Third, I never accused the Easter Orthodox of selling indulgences. In fact, I didn't mention them at all.
Fourth, the first meeting of the Council of Trent occurred before Luther died though his death occurred before the first Council of Trent was concluded. Following that line of reasoning, it further shows that Luther could not have “removed” any books from the canon as the original post asserted. The Council was an attempt at answering the issues raised by the reformation. Prior to the Council, Luther had presented his arguements and in those writing, he clearly advocated a return to Hebrew Bible for the Old Testement.
Fifth, Jesus said “I am THE way, THE truth, and THE life. No one comes unto the Father but by me.” Thus Jesus is the exclusive and fully sufficient atonement for sin. To cling to the concept of purgatory, one must reject Jesus own words and claim that his is not the one and only way to the father. In essence, purgatory calls Jesus a liar.
I likewise have never understood the Catholic disposition to blindly follow other men and not check the pronouncements against scripture. Further, the ignorance with regards to how the Priests and Popes selectively added books to the canon to justify their money raising operations via the selling of indulgences strikes me as being willful.
Well said.
The Jewish Council of Jamnia doesn’t concern Christians. In fact it was anti-Christian in nature.
The Jews rejected the Septuagint because Christians used it. I might add that several deuterocanonical books have been found among the Dead Sea Scrolls that predate Jamnia.
You are mistaken. The Council of Trullo was accepted by Pope John VIII in the 9th century, and its canons were regarded as ecumenical save those regarding priestly celibacy and Saturday fasting.