March 14, 2010- Chapter 3 finished

The most often used challenge by nonbelievers to the validity of Christianity is the reliability of the Bible. Nonbelievers will hastily point out that the Bible is written by men who by the very Scriptures are deemed fallible. Often, they also point out numerous books of importance were left out of the canon.

Taking an apologetic point of view, Christians would be unable to counterpoint with our belief in the fact God's hand was guiding the writings and canonizing of today's Bible. A more objective point of reference could be used for someone to understand the rigorous standards undertaken during the canonical process.

Chapter 3- Canon Criteria

• Dr. Metzger points out three criteria were used to determine what books were authoritative by the early church:
• Apostolic Authority- the book must have been written by an apostle or by someone closely associated with an apostle. For the Gospels, Matthew and John were disciples, Mark was close to Peter, and Luke was with Paul.
• Conformity to the Rule of Faith-was the book congruent with basis Christian tradition that the church consider normative
• Continuous Acceptance- did the book of continuous acceptance by the church in large
• Good reference site for more detailed information: On the Formation of the New Testament Canon

The Problem with Gnostic Gospels

• Gnostic belief recognizes a Supreme Being but believe He is imperfect. Movement started before Christ's birth.
• Most Gnostic Gospels (teachings on Jesus) weren't written until after the 2nd Century or much later.
• Popularized in last decade by Dan Brown's book The Da Vinci Code and popular movies based on the series along with Stigmata (1999).
• Gospel of Thomas is probably most disputed for being left out of the canon, but the authorship has long been in question, and the text were lost for hundreds of years before resurfacing in 1898. There are a number of controversial versus including a reference that Jesus stated Mary would be converted to a man in order to gain heaven, a concept completely rejected by the early church.

Additional Information

Steevie ask a questions about what Mormons actually believe. I found a good website that lays it out pretty straight forward. Click Here

Next week- Chapter 4 The Corroborating Evidence