bible orgins help???

Question

who was the firt leader?where was the bible compiled(made)?why was it compiled?who made the decisions as to what books go in it?and what books were left out and why?

Answer 1

The Jews compiled the "Old Testament" and most Christians use their selections. The major work on the New Testament canon was done by a meeting of church leaders at a few conferences, but it was evolving over several centuries. The “apocryphal” books were included in the LXX or Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, but were never accepted by the Jews as authoritative.

Some ask, "Do we have everything written by inspired writers?" The answer to this is definitely NO. Paul's letter called 1st Corinthians mentions a prior letter to that church. (5:9) That answered, do we have enough? See John 20:30 Jesus did many other miraculous signs in front of his disciples. They are not written down in this book. 31 But these are written down so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. If you believe this, you will have life because you belong to him.

The Gospels are sufficient to tell the story of Jesus, Acts tells us of the beginnings of the church, God's kingdom on the earth. From it we can learn how to become a Christian and what was important for Christians to learn.

Most of the remaining letters focus on correcting false teachers, like those who wanted to impose portions of the law on Christians... like many still are ;-) ... and establishing elders for the churches.

The things which are “left out” were either overly repetitive or of disputed authorship. There were a group of second century pseudo-Christians who claimed a special revelation gave them knowledge which contradicted scripture and wrote several books called pseudopigrapha or “false author.” They would attach the name of a prominent early Christian in hopes of the letter gaining acceptance.

Answer 2

Oh, boy, this is a big question! I'll get you started with some information and links below.

But first, I am not sure about your question regarding who the first leader was?? Perhaps the answer is the Biblical figure Ezra who many believe was a key person involved in collating and editing works together around 458 BC, but there was writing going on long before that happened.

As for the process of canonization, Wikipedia has a good article which someone has already posted for you.

The good news is that there is much material online for you to look at, and as well, there are many, many books available as well. Happy reading!! Good luck to you!!

I found this webpage that has a pretty good general summary:

"As far as the span of time involved, the earliest traditions that are incorporated into Scripture, probably oral traditions, likely date to the time of Abraham around 1800 BC. Probably the first written parts of Scripture were short pieces of poetry, such as the Song of the Sea in Exodus 15, dating to the time of the exodus around 1300 BC. There are also several references to Moses writing about various aspects of the exodus in this period, including some of the "laws" for the community.

However, it is likely that the Bible actually began to take shape as Scripture later as the earliest written traditions began to be collected into books about the time of Solomon, around 1000 BC. The Old Testament in roughly the form that we know it did not emerge until after the return from Babylonian exile around 500-450 BC. The first of the three parts of the Jewish canon, the Torah (what Christians would later call the Pentateuch), was authoritative for the community long before the time of Jesus. The Prophets were mostly in place by the second century BC, and the Writings (Psalms, Job, Chronicles; see Canons of the Hebrew Bible), would achieve that status not long after. The entire Old Testament canon, without any of the apocryphal books, did not reach an "official" codified form in Judaism until the Council of Jamnia in AD 90. This was largely a Jewish response to Christianity that was producing new writings (what we call the New Testament) to add to what was already authoritative in Judaism.

Likewise the New Testament underwent a similar process of development, although in a much shorter time frame. The first letters of Paul were written around AD 45-50, the first Gospel (Mark) around AD 60, and the last of the canonical Epistles around AD 90-100. However, the New Testament did not emerge as an entire body of collected writings until well into the third century AD. Even then, some of the books were debated (for example, Hebrews, James, the Revelation) and some sections of the church used books that were not accepted in other areas (The Didache, The Epistles of Clement, The Shepherd of Hermas, etc.).

So although the New Testament took shape over roughly 50 years and was virtually complete by the early second century AD, it took another two to three centuries for the church to begin defining the canon of the New Testament. However, the Christian canon was not "officially" closed until the tensions that erupted during the Reformation led to the exclusion of the Apocrypha by the emerging Protestants, which in turn led to the Catholic Council of Trent in AD 1546 that officially defined the Catholic canon including the apocryphal books. It is this debate over the basis of authority between the Catholic/Orthodox traditions and the Protestant tradition that has led to two similar yet different canons of Scripture for these two traditions."

Answer 3

stole this:

It is very important to clarify exactly what role the Emperor Constantine played in the Council of Nicea, what the purpose for the council was, what happened at Nicea, and briefly how the canon (the Bible as we know it) was formed. Constantine was a Roman Emperor who lived from 274 to 337 A.D. He is most famous for becoming the single ruler of the Roman Empire (after deceiving and defeating Licinius, his brother-in-law) and supposedly converting to Christianity. It is debated whether or not Constantine was actually a believer (according to his confessions and understanding of the faith) or just someone trying to use the church and the faith to his own advantage. Constantine called the Council of Nicea (which was the first general council of the Christian church, 325 A.D.) primarily because he feared that disputes within the church would cause disorder within the empire. The dispute in mind was Arianism, which was the belief that Jesus was a created being. The famous phrase they were disputing was, "There was when He was not." This was in reference to Jesus and was declared heretical by the council and thus resulted in the following words about Christ in the Nicene Creed: "God from true God…from the Father…not made." It was determined by the council that Christ was homoousia (meaning, one substance with the Father).

Answer 4

The Jewish bible was compiled in the first century AD by hellenistic Jews (Jews fluent in Greek) who had nothing else to do after they were kicked out of their homeland by the Romans. The Jewish bible is based on ancient fables mixed with some facts.

The Christian bible was compiled in the fourth century AD by politicians and religious leaders (all one and the same) who were supporting Constantine, the Roman emperor who decided to consolidate his power by switching the official religion from the traditional Roman theology to Christianity. The Christian bible includes the Jewish one, and a new section that is based on lots of fables and fewer than ten facts..

Answer 5

The bible in a form that most know it today was put together and parts written by roman monks under the direction of Emporer Constanstine in about 320 AD. Bottom line, it's purpose was so Constantine could control the ever growing christian masses. It was here and some a little later that the dates for the christian holidays were established....i.e. christmas, easter, etc......these were pagans holidays that Constanstine intergrated into his bible as a means of getting the pagans to except it

Answer 6

I wish I could give a simple answer, but there isn't one. I perused a few internet articles, and these two seemed pretty good.
If you don't mind a long, in-depth article, I suggest you check out:
http://www.bible.org/qa.asp?topic_id=87&qa_id=378

If a shorter version is more to your liking, try:
http://www.gnmagazine.org/issues/gn53/biblepreserved_bible.htm

If you are looking for a response to assertions about the Bible in "The Da Vinci Code," try reading "The Da Vinci Hoax" by Carl Olson, or just check out this website:
http://www.thetruthaboutdavinci.com/

Answer 7

You might want to read "The Oxford History of Christianity" as a start. Having done that, try "The Bible Unearthed" by Finkelstien and Silberman.

Answer 8

Many people wrote the books of the Bible and many translations and revisions were made.

Answer 9

All I know is the bible was written by many different people, from different time periods and countries, different backgrounds and languages and yet it all goes together perfectly and has prophecy that coincides so thats proof enough for me.

Answer 10

just type in [origin of the Bible] without the brackets, and you have several choices to read about the Bible.