Posted on 06/28/2012 1:11:48 PM PDT by NYer
“Martin Luther disagreed with you.”
I believe you are mistaken about what I believe.
As to Luther, he never new me. He died, you know, in a century before I came into existence. To my knowledge, he wasn’t omniscient.
I am thankful for his life in some ways.
:-)
So do you believe that the Bible came from the Catholic Church? That was the point I was trying to make.
~ Martin Luther
Luther was wrong. The papists are the group that broke away from the Orthodox, because of organizational and cultural disputes. The Orthodox also hold, "The Word of God". Note that no one refers to The Book as the Word of the Pope, the word of the Papists, or the word of the Cathoolics, ect... Either The Word of God belongs to all, or it belongs to a select few. God says it belongs to all, so the Catholics should acknowledge that and share and make nice.
“So do you believe that the Bible came from the Catholic Church? That was the point I was trying to make.”
Again, off thread topic...
The Hebrew Scriptures, were widely used and recognized by the time of Christ. The early church used them, being mostly Jewish converts. As such, they came before the Church came into existence, and make up 2/3 of the Scriptures.
The New Testament Scriptures were written, circulated, used and recognized before 100 ad (most before 70ad). 5 books were in dispute, but were used by believers.
GOD inspired all of Scripture, working through the lives of individual Jews and Christians to bring it into existence and preserve it through history, down to our times.
So the short answer to your question is that I believe the Bible came from God, through men and was preserved supernaturally by him. I also believe He preserved His revelation by inspiring men of God to reject the spurious books in circulation during the early centuries.
Later in history (approx 367), the Catholic Church formalized a canon that was already widely in use centuries before by believers.
I am thankful to God for how He has worked through men over thousands of years to inspire and preserve His word.
best to you.
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