I just hope they had the good sense to burn candles and incense to set the right mood for supernatural inspiration, and perhaps even make sure the stars were in alignment, before embarking on their their holy mission of voting on which scriptures to include.

Unfortunately, whatever precautions they took to exclude the forces of darkness from their process, mistakes were apparently made. The mix of scriptures that comprise the Bible has changed since those earliest days. Since the process resulted in a product that may be flawed, it’s now up to Christians to cherry pick for themselves according to their own divine inspiration.

Tradition?

You mean, uuugh, things like burning heretics?

Or only allowing someone into heaven if you put some water, (ahem) special water on their forehead and said a few words?

Or asking “god” to fix the things he created, like my nieces spina bifida?

Or condemning us to burn forever in hell if we don’t follow the traditional practice of the catholic church?

Or condemning a woman only because she is a woman?

Or deciding that a priest has dominion over a woman’s reproductive system?

Or building huge cathedrals to the god that doesn’t want us to have icons?

OK, them there those traditions. Yup, gotcha.

Yet, you are not… (you are)claiming that it was the church that picked which writings to include to serve their purpose.

I’ve never claimed otherwise (although I am painfully aware of those who do.) I do believe that the people who selected the included works were “inspired” or “guided” by God to select those works which represented the teachings of Jesus as they were intended.

I do NOT believe the fiery hand of God reached down with a pen and cranked out the Bible.

But I think my reply above applies to both your corrected spelling or my initial interpretation.

So, we have priests in frilly dresses (just like nearly every other organization has ceremonial dress) … not because it’s spelled out in the Bible but because it’s “tradition.”

We don’t look to the Bible for specific instructions on how to conduct ourselves every minute of our lives… we look to it for guidance.

Sorry you’ve obviously had negative experiences with some Bible-Thumping fanatics. Don’t lump all us crazy Christians into the same pile. I’ll reciprocate by not throwing you in with the rest of the “heathens.” :^)

Geeze, forgive O Great Spelling God. The second sentence in that post should read:

Yet, you are now claiming that it was the church that picked which writings to include to serve their purpose.

My apologies to the readers and the Great Spelling God.

Many times I have heard that the bible was written by the hand of “god”. Yet, you are not claiming that it was the church that picked which writings to include to serve their purpose.

So even if “god” didn’t want the priests to wear dresses, because that didn’t fit into the book chosen for the final edition, we still have priests wearing frilly dresses. What if “god” didn’t want his people to eat pork? Or fish? Or whole wheat leavened bread? Or drink wine but not beer unless they are watching a Notre Dame Football game?

Do I note a disconnect somewhere here?

What should they have done, assemble ALL writings in existence at the time, no matter how fictitious they may be?

If they had, wouldn’t we be here in this same place, with you saying: “They took everything they could find, and slapped it together. Doesn’t sound like a Holy Book, more like a novel?”

Would god enjoy being treated like by a more powerful god in the same way he judges his creations? What if Supergod condemned our god to hell for eternity for not believing in him? If god knows everything, then he must have willed himself not to know about supergod just like he willed himself as Jebeesus not to know about himself.

Simple.

What does Buddha got to do with it?

Moondawg : You assert the Catholic church has created a bible from various writings and intentionally ignored others. So how is this a holy book? More of a novel.

Religion is just a way to elevate the few (the priesthood) and enslave the majority. You think Pope Nazi cares about your soul? If the Muslim clerics truly believed martyrs would be greeted by 72 virgins and eternal happiness, THEY would be the one’s strapping on explosives.

And that order is the Order of Melchizedek.

There is to be no ordination by men.

All are open to the priesthood and the head of the order is Jesus Christ.

If you need a lambskin from an institution to be a priest, then you are no more than Levites still.

Modern Christendom is no more than Judaism with a Christ figure.

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OF COURSE THEY DID. To use a somewhat cyclic Biblical reference, they had to “separate the wheat from the chaff.”

There are many apocryphal writings that didn’t make it into the Bible (by definition, I guess!) But, it wasn’t just slapped together in a couple of weekends over beer and nachos. The Church basically said: We need to assemble those writings which we believe are TRUE, and which profess our beliefs. If it doesn’t meet those criteria, it’s out.

I just think it’s hilarious (and more than a little disingenuous) to call the Catholic Church a non-Biblical organization. Because it’s obviously from someone who holds the Bible to very high esteem… and who has never studied the history of his beloved tome.

And to those detractors out there who spew “The Catholic Church needs to ‘get with the times.’” You’re not getting something very fundamental about the Catholic Church: The things it believes don’t change. For the Church to “change with the times” would be to turn its back on all of its beliefs. It would be better for the Church to die from lack of participation…. and I say that as a Catholic.

/soapbox

This is no time to repeat the mistakes of the past.