/lit/ - Literature

>>19430170
Thanks for the tip. Feingold is very good.

>>19430504
>By what standard did the Church decide which books of the Bible are canon and which are not?

Here is what Augustine wrote: “I would not have believed the gospel, unless the authority of the Catholic Church had induced me.” (St. Augustine, Contra Ep. Fund., V, 6.)

The quote is taken from this article:

The Canon Question
https://www.calledtocommunion.com/2010/01/the-canon-question/

The article addresses the hermeneutic of the early Church Fathers in determining the canon. Note that there are also internal links to earlier articles from the website on the same general issue that may also be of interest:

Hermeneutics and the Authority of Scripture
https://www.calledtocommunion.com/2009/09/hermeneutics-and-the-authority-of-scripture/

Solo Scriptura, Sola Scriptura, and the Question of Interpretive Authority
https://www.calledtocommunion.com/2009/11/solo-scriptura-sola-scriptura-and-the-question-of-interpretive-authority/

In sum, I think you'll get a good sense of the early Church's hermeneutic for determining the canon of scripture, and in passing, too, what passes for a Protestant hermeneutic, to wit, Scripture is self-attesting to the believer via the inward testimony of the Holy Spirit.

Calledtocommunion.com is an excellent Catholic website, btw. A lot of good stuff on there, including much high quality discussion in the reader comments.

>>17914226
There are secular sources attesting to these details. In any case, the various documents of the Bible WERE contemporary sources, before they were pulled together some 500 years after Jesus' death to form the Bible as we know it

>>17187097

>>17162190
>66 books
No

>>16952967

>>16943401
The Bible was compiled so many years after the death of Christ, the Saints in those images are affirming the Traditions which were the sole means of faith practised by the early Church.

The Catholic Church was the ***ONLY*** Church in the world for ~1500 years after the death of Christ. If you think it's a false Church, then you effectively believe Christianity didn't exist legitimately on earth for hundreds and hundreds of years. Catholicism has the laying on of hands, and can trace apostolic succession back to St Peter himself.
Martin Luther removed books from the Bible, Henry VIII broke away because he wanted a divorce. Now you have thousands of Protestant sects differing on their beliefs, vs the Catholic Church which teaches the same ONE truth it always has. In spite of all the bad people who have passed through the Church, doctrine has never been contradicted which is a miracle in itself.

Try read a little Augustine or Aquinas. I used to be a hard line Protestant but it really is true that to know history is to become a Catholic. Any other position is nonsensical and falls in on itself.

>>16709955
>>16709968
>>16709988

I'm by no means an expert but if anyone has any sincere questions about Catholicism I will be happy to answer.

>>16499446
Because faith alone is not enough to be saved-- or rather, not the only component to salvation. James 2:14-26, James 2:19 and Matthew 7:21 just off the top of my head. Faith without works is dead.

Different Protestant churches have different teachings, due to different interpretations of scripture. This is inevitable, as while the Bible has been transmitted fairly faithfully through the ages (see pic related), the context and translation of the text is also hugely important and not at all obvious to a lay person. For example, Jesus says that people who indulge in what is frequently translated as "sexual immorality" will not enter the kingdom of heaven (regardless of faith). I have heard people who say they are Christian use this as justification for premarital sex with someone you love, since it isn't as immoral as, say, a one night stand.

However, sexual immorality is translated from what used to be fornication, which itself comes from "porneia" in the original Greek-- a word which, in Jesus' time, was used to describe ANY sexual relations or acts outside of marriage.

There were so many different interpretations in the early Church that Peter and Peter's successors were given authority (papal infallibility, which does NOT mean the Pope can do no wrong, as is commonly minterpreted) to declare doctrine - what the correct interpretation is. This is how so many heresies were defeated back in the day. It makes sense that God would want a Church with ONE teaching, a teaching that once declared infallible could NOT be changed, as truth is eternal in all ages.

>>16477229
The Dead Sea scrolls dispel the myth that Catholics altered the Bible over the years. It's remarkably unchanged.