In part one, I discussed the Biblical canon and debated along the lines of if the Biblical Canon was closed. This time will be a bit different. I was in a few discussions before and have heard what they teach in many churches and what they teach in many seminary schools: "The Bible canon is 66 books and the books are sealed, with no new revelation to come." Where did we come up with the teaching that there are only 66 books within GOD's Word?

The Church has been physically divided by man's differences, and have fallen into the following categories with the following Biblical Canon:

Protestant Churches: 66 books
Lutheran Churches: 66 books (however, Martin Luther made an attempt to remove the books of Hebrews, James, Jude and Revelation from the canon)
The Roman Catholic Church, & Eastern Catholic Churches: standard 66 plus the deuterocanonical books
Ethiopic Churches: 81 books (contains Enoch, Jubilees, and three books of the Meqabyan)

...and the list goes on....

Full dogmatic articulations and the closing of the Church Canons were not made until the Council of Trent of 1546 for Roman Catholicism, the Thirty-Nine Articles of 1563 for the Church of England, the Westminster Confession of Faith of 1647 for British Calvinism, and the Synod of Jerusalem of 1672 for the Greek Orthodox.Is it biblical, traditional, or just an assumption? Is it accurate or deceiving?

I guess my question is this: Who decided your Bible's number of books, and was GOD involved in this?

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Trevor,

Ok. Could it be that the reason there is a difference in the acceptance of the canons by each church/demonination stems from their individual doctrinal teachings/traditions; i.e., the Protestants vs the Roman Catholic Church vs the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church?

Not being sarcastic, but it almost sounds like the 3 canons can be laid out like a salad bar and we can pick and choose what we want to read/believe. Is this spiritually healthy? And, since we are under the covering of our respective pastors (undershepherds), shouldn't we be careful not to step out of line seeking knowledge and understanding without some formal guidance in addition to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. After all, if all we need is the covering and guidance of the Holy Spirit, then why would God call men/women to pastor?

Just looking for further clarification and understanding. I am always concerned about stepping out of order.

Thanks,
Ok. Could it be that the reason there is a difference in the acceptance of the canons by each church/demonination stems from their individual doctrinal teachings/traditions; i.e., the Protestants vs the Roman Catholic Church vs the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church?

Yes, thats exactly it. The times that these were established finally were during times of great heresy in the land. Some of the things that were established at the same conferences were the elevation of the status of Mary. Is that something that needs to be regarded as well? I said it before, and I will say it once again: this came all because of the disregard of the Apostolic and the Prophetic (2nd Chronicles 20:20)!


"Not being sarcastic, but it almost sounds like the 3 canons can be laid out like a salad bar and we can pick and choose what we want to read/believe. Is this spiritually healthy?"

No, not at all! This is as unhealthy as it can possibly get!


"And, since we are under the covering of our respective pastors (undershepherds), shouldn't we be careful not to step out of line seeking knowledge and understanding without some formal guidance in addition to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. After all, if all we need is the covering and guidance of the Holy Spirit, then why would God call men/women to pastor?"

How many Pastors within the Protestant Church can you honestly say are educated on the things of this matter? And amongst the educated, how many are willing to admit the truth of the matter or at least be willing to view it from another angle? For far too long, we considered "our Church" as "the Church thats doing it right and teaching proper doctrine" or "our denomination" as "the Kingdom of GOD", even though we may not have said it openly. "Crossing denominational barriers" is only a catchy saying on the bio's of many Pentecostal/Baptist preachers, and the ONLY lines they cross are the lines of Pentecostal/Baptist divisions, with the exception of a few A.M.E. Churches tossed in! Look at the majority of the BPN network members!! How many Ethiopic Church members are there here? How many Anglican? How many Lutheran? How any Episcopalian? How many Roman Catholic? How many from the Churches of the Orthodox branches? We don't cross major lines, we just go next door!! So to ask your Pastor is wise, but keep in mind that your Pastor may not know it all, and may even be prejudice against such do to ignorance.

By the way, there are more than three Canons.
BruthaTrevor--- have you ever read the book of jasher ( also referenced in Joshua and Second Samuel )
No, not yet.....
Trevor,

Many scholars believe that Enoch is a book of imagery, and not literalness. UFO folk use this book to prove that Angels built stone henge, and the pyramids. The book is highly figurative in my book, and I do not take that book literal. There are some things, of course, that we can take for face value, such as Yeshua coming with His saints.
.......just like the prophecies of Ezekiel, Zechariah, Daniel, and John.
Trevor,

Enoch isn't wholly a book of Prophecy. Ezekiel's prophecies, many of them, are literal, and not figurative. The same with Zachariah, and Daniel.
Alot of Enoch's prophetic words were more literal for you and I to handle. In fact, thats exactly why the Bishops of the Council of Laodicea had it cut out of the Canon.
Trevor,

Honestly, I do not see anything literal about angelic beings coming down and teaching men science and technology. That's more myth than anything.
You're right!! What also seems equally as mythical are these:

-Ravens feeding prophets
-a sea opening up to allow an entire nation to pass through and drowning the army behind it
-fire falling from the sky burning up two cities
-fire falling from the sky three distinct times burning troops of 50
-fire falling from the sky directly on an alter after some guy named Elijah prayed
-raising of the dead by Elisha
-raising of the dead by Jesus
-raising of the dead by the Apostles

You're right James, that does sound kinda off!! Silly me!! Why on Earth would I think that an angel would come along and give a few lessons on science and technology??

Thats the problem here: the things of Heaven of considered a myth and a legend to many. I spoke with a Roman Catholic Deacon that did not believe that Jonah was literally swallowed up by a fish. He said that it was a mythical story for for learning, like any parable, but was not an actual event.

Is this what the leaders of the Kingdom of Heaven are to teach others to believe??????
Trevor,

The resurrection is anything but mythical. There was a man that was medically dead for 30 minutes. Heart was done for 30 minutes. He resurrected. So, that is out of the picture.
Sadly, you didn't mention the rest.

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