Who decided what scrolls and writings went into the bible?

Question

And if God did, exactly how did he go about doing it. Who did he tell exactly?

I ask this question to find out if people will blindly say that God simply decided. There was a lot more to it than God showing up one day and saying hey here's the bible, have fun. It was under the direction of men, hopefully inspired of God.

Answer 1

actually the churches did. they control what went in, how to print it and what they wanted. when the scrolls and the recent discovery of a prophet written was wriiten by one of the twelve. the church will not allow it in.

Answer 2

The first five- The Pentateuch (or the Torah) were dictated to Moses directly from G-d, so no question there. The next section, called the Prophets (or Nevi'im) were written by men who had prophecies as what to write. (Note that this only works if you go with the original Jewish order. The Christian order of the Old Testament is completely different, for reasons I won't get into here unless asked.) The third section, called the Writings (or K'suvim) were divinely inspired and were put in for that reason. The "deadline," if you will, was with the building of the second temple, and the end of The Great Assembally (or Anshei K'nesses Hagedolah) which included the last of the prophets.

The New Testament, to my knowledge, was put together by Emperor Constantine by the Council of Nicea. He himself was a pagan, but he saw that Christianity was gaining, so he made it the state religion to keep peace in the Empire.

I'm sorry if this answer sounds biased. I tried to keep it neutral, but I apalogize if something came out.

Answer 3

I believe that this was done around the third or fourth century of the common era, and was an exercise connected to Constantine's adoption of Christianity as the "state religion" of the Roman Empire (hence the Holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church - catholic meaning universal). Many "gospels" that were in circulation and preached by Christians prior to this exercise were left out.

The Gnostics, or mystic, branch of the faith which was as widespread prior to this exercise, was completely wiped out as part of this process -- violently in many cases. The suppression of texts contrary to the official view was ruthless, by and large. The Gnostics believed that what was important about the Chistian faith was not the history of one man - Jesus Christ - but the overriding message that the holy spirit or Christos existed within all of us and through that spirit we could become more like God. I am paraphrasing all of this wildly, by the way.

Further revisions to the Bible were made at the time of the reformation and the rise of Anglican Protestanism and Lutheranism, resulting in versions of the Bible not exactly the same as the one the Catholics use.

Answer 4

Emporor Constitine, a ruler of Roman conquests was having gads of trouble with a bunch of disjointed groups of people who claimed to be following Jesus, so he hired a bunch of men to set up a standardized religeous guide and a Church. After those men put together what is called the Christian Bible, all other religous writings were gathered and destroyed; all those who did not accept the new writings and church were made into heretics and killed. This is why the Catholic church is based in Rome today. Oddly enough shortly after this church was established the dark ages fell upon civilization and not even time was recorded correctly. The remaining followers of the new chruch retreated into monistaries. The world was ruled by warlords and this church who put 14 books of the anti-christ into the Bible because those books made people easier to manage and they could look forward to a better life after death, rather than one here.

Answer 5

Human beings did. If everything in the Bible is 100% truth, then why did other books almost make it into the Bible but which had differing accounts? It was decided by man which books would best fit the needs of his religion. Anybody can say "God did. God wrote the Bible." But I say "God wrote this answer through me." Who's right now?

Answer 6

The short answer is "Tradition".

The long answer depends upon which Canon for which group, for which period of time you are asking about.

Somebody wanted my second paragraph clarified.

The Samaritans hold the Torah, and Joshua to be Canonical. This decision was arrived at, because it was witnessed as being written by moses, and coming directly from God. [There are textual differences between the Samaritan Torah, and the Hebrew Torah.] This is the shortest canon of the Abrahamic religions.

_The Coptic Canon of Eighty One_ (Narrower Canon) contains the most books. _The Coptic Canon of Eighty One_ (Broader Canon) contains slightly fewer books, but has the same number, because they combine books different ways. These are the two largest canons of the Abrahamic religions.

Marcion, who drew up the first list of canonical Books for the New Testament, included the Epistles of Paul, and the Gospel of Luke. The Tanakh was rejected, as it no longer applied. The other NT books were usually rejected as being heretical writings.

The Syriac Church originally rejected Revelations, 3 John, 2 John, 2 Peter, and Jude on the grounds that they were Greek forgeries.

There are roughly another sixty canons that one could go thru. The reason for inclusion of a book in the canon, depends upon the organization for whom the Canon was being defined. There is no general history for the inclusion, or exclusion of books in any canon.

IOW, most of the above answers refer only to the Fundamental Evangelical Protestant Christian Canon of 66 books, or the Canon of the Holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church. [For example, the inclusion of Revelations in the Canon of Lutherans was a compromise that Luther made. His personal position was that it was apocryphal. He did manage to get one book excluded from the Canon.]

Answer 7

Ditto per a number of the earlier responders, in terms of history.

Aside from the Apocryphal writings (that are included in the Roman and Orthodox Catholic bibles. . .and several Protestant denominations). . .the only two books that were excluded. . .but had their varying degrees of support from a few of the early Church Fathers are: Gospel of Thomas (NT) and Book of Enoch (OT). . .both of which are available today. . .although it's uncertain if these are the exact translations that the Counsel of Nicea had at their disposal. (And if you took the time to read and study them. . .you may also get a sense why they were excluded, especially Enoch!)

Btw. . .aside from various conspiracy theories. . .and the charge that the Emperor Constantine was a clever and opportunistic pagan regarding his agenda for Christianity. . .there are many reasons for modern readers to "concur" with the Nicean decisions. . .regardless of one's denominational bent.

What we have today is truly remarkable. . .and has withstood the test of time!

Answer 8

It would be the New Testament only. The Old Testament is best on the Torah. The new testament was decided at the council of Nicaea under Emperor Constantine.

Answer 9

God did. But I believe there was a meeting in Nicea around 325 AD to help determine which books. They asked God to help guide them, that is why you know the end product is from God.

Answer 10

Rabbi over many many years decided the Pentateuch.

Centuries late Scholars over years argued as to each and every scrolls value in telling the stories and attributes of Jesus.

The Roman Cult have a few additional still in their Bible.

MY FAVOURITE OF WHICH IS ""Bell and The Dragon"" !

Answer 11

It ultimately was voted on by religious scholars at the Nicean Council (or Council of Nicea) in 325 A.D. There, it was debated as to what beliefs were legitimate and agreeable and thus, these are the beliefs that have been taught for centuries.