Apocryphal= of doubtful authenticity what makes one gospel doubtful and the other legit?

Question

The decision of a bunch of Emperor Constantine's lackeys is what black listed some gospels. This was the opinion of men centuries after the fact, all Gospels are equally doubtful and fit the definition of apocryphal crap.

asinine novoangel, your definition of apocryphal is wrong

Answer 1

Absolutely correct.

It was the people with the most power that had to decide what was gospel and what was apochrypha.

Answer 2

One thing is if they suspected it was written pseudonymously - that is, under a false name. For example, the Gospel of Peter was most likely not written by Peter, and the early church knew this. So if they suspected it was not written by who it said it was, they considered it apocryphal.

Another issue was of course orthodoxy. If the writing contained teachings that were against the orthodox position, it was considered heretical. Here, I do not mean the Greek Orthodox Church. By "Orthodox" I just mean "Right Belief" which is the literal meaning of the word.

Who decides what is "right belief"? Well, the "winners." Gnostic writings abounded, and of course, they were considered right by Gnostics. But the Gnostics did not end up winning. In fact, the ones who did end up "winning" are probably historically right about their rejection of Gnosticism. Jesus most likely did not teach gnosticism. And the Gnostics held that Jesus did not have a physical nature, only a spiritual nature. This is not historically accurate. So in some ways, the view that won out is probably more accurate than some of the competing views.

Another issue was when the writing was thought to be written. Those who decided what was canonical wanted the oldest texts, that were written by Apostles or close associates of the Apostles. A later writing may be very well-loved and considered right doctrine, but if it was not written by an Apostle or close associate of an Apostle, then it was not accepted into the Canon. A good example of a work like this is the Shepherd of Hermas.

Answer 3

Well you should get your facts a little closer to right. The gospels that were not included in the canon of scripture were known to be fraudulent early on. The 66 books in use today are the same 66 books used in churches at the close of the 1st century. The other so called gospels were written up to 200 years after the purported authors died.

Answer 4

Constantine had absolutely nothing to do with the compilation of the Canon of Scripture. The Canon of Scripture was finalized once and for all time by the bishops of the Catholic Church gathered in Council at Carthage, North Africa, in 397 AD. The Holy Spirit, Who had provided inspiration for the initial writing of the various scriptural texts, likewise provided inspiration for the infallible selection of the 73 texts which are in fact divinely inspired, and which God intended to be included in the Bible. The divinely inspired decisions of these Catholic bishops are the only way anyone on earth has of knowing which texts are God's inspired Word and which are not.
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Answer 5

Actually, it means "those having been hidden away". Periodically, writings have been rejected on many standards.

Answer 6

I think that all you atheists should change your designator of atheist to trolls.