> Breaking the thread up a bit, I have an honest question that's been bugging me for a while, which SB sort of touched on. Assuming that Scripture is the inspired word of God and is infallible from copying / translation errors, how does one determine precisely what is cannon and what is not? I have a vague understanding of how it was done historically (the collection of individual writings into what is now The Bible), but if anyone could fill me in more it would be appreciated.

oooh! Wow! We JUST talked about this on sunday, so I still have my notes, which is pretty siffy... from an absolutely historical standpoint, these are the 5 questions used to decide whether or not a book of the bible was canonical...

1) Was it written by a prophet of God?

2) Was he confirmed by an act of God?

3) Does the writing tell the truth about God?

4) Does it have the power of God?

5) Was it accepted by the people of God?

Unfortunately, i can't explain those as well as the guy leading our class..... but if you don't get one ofthem i could probably explain 9or someone else could)

>Furthermore, how does one determine on an individual level that what you are getting is the authentic word of God?

um.... I guess if it's consistent with biblical teaching. That's really the only way to know for sure, as far as I know
>
> Stephen

unipeg