How did the Council of Nicea decide which books would be put in the Bible?

Question

Why not just put all the books in the Bible and let people decide for themselves what to believe?

Answer 1

They chose the books by wich ones relayed simmilar stories, Reflected the laws they wanted for their people, and which ones made the savior seem more god like than human.

So they erased the books where jesus had a wife and family as well as brothers and sisters.
They erased where jesus struck an annoying boy dead by looking at him (this was relayed by a Theologian/University Professor/ PRIEST in the theology class of a private roman catholic school, a few minuets walk from vatican, so tell me it's not true)
They erased where jesus breathed life into 1 dove made from clay because it was only mentioned in a couple books.
They waned to shape their society to have a common identity.

And it's really funny that kind Constaintine was a pagan untill the day he died (baptised on his death bed litterly) and his mother Helen was a christian, which is probibly why he made stronger laws to protect christians- as for making the bible, that was probibly a self preservation thing too. Back in the day christians were like wiccans now, many prophets many books many branches so every one picked on them- except in the day "picking on them" could end in vultures "picking" on them too. So to protect the christians he ordered them to get their act togeather. and they Fasioned the bible to show a perfect refelction of god and selfless sacrifice, strung togeather with the most well known legends of christ, and peppered it with the social norms they wanted, which later alowed total control over the people.
If the christians would have continued to go freely to decide their own relationship with god in the day they would have lost more people, but they gave up their freedom for their security. Today however many chrsitians are realising that not everything is between those pages and they can seek god on their own, and many are much more comfortable being simply "christians" rather than a specific branch, or some of us chose another religion and are content any way.

Answer 2

Pastor Billy says: well Luther removed it but couldn't get away with that dissection and had to return it but in a separated section of his bible. If Nicea had decided the Apocalypse (the real Greek title of the book) wasn't inspired and left out of the canon you and I wouldn't have doubted the chosen canon. All Christian bibles today contain a New Testament canon compiled and decided over by a Catholic council interesting don't you think. addition: good point(s) Father K yet I answered without thinking this to be a trick question. My mind was focused on the council of Hippo. I simply took the question at face value. If the council had decided the closed canon and left out Revelation. Christianity would know no difference including Protestants who already use a Catholic NT canon in all their bibles today.

Answer 3

The council did not decide what books to add to the Bible. Rather, they agreed which books they knew was an inspiration to the church. It is similar to when a record company assembled the Top 10 Hits of a era. They did not decide on their own what music they liked, but chose what was definitely popular for that time.

The council of Nicea assembled the books and letters that were already known and approved by the people. The books accepted were already the result of people deciding for themselves.

Answer 4

There were three main criteria used to determine which books should be included in the Bible.

1. Geography: Is this book widely known and used throughout the Christian world, or is this a book that is only used in one small community? Does the book have a wide relevance of just a local one.

2. Authorship: Do we think we have a good grasp on who the authors of these books were and are they worthy of respect?

3. Orthodoxy: Not every book written was in line with official church teaching. For instance, one of the NT apocrypha books has Jesus throwing temper tantrums as a kid and striking people dead.

The onus of figuring out what to believe was never left on the people by Jesus. He told them what to believe and how to act. Then he passed his authority on to the Apostle Peter before his death and general leadership to the rest of the apostles at Pentecost.

Answer 5

Some people crack me up with this church controversy and cover up stuff. The reason has everything to do with the fact that the books that were chosen all flow together in doctrine and spirit. Just because someone comes along and decides they want to write a story on Jesus from their point of view, doesn't mean it belongs in the Bible. If that were the case we would still be placing more books in the Bible to no end. This is the reason why books like the Gospel of Judas could not possibly be placed in the Bible, there are no other books or writings to support it's validity. The Bible is God's word of Truth, therefore only the truth can be placed in it, it's up to you to decide whether or not to accept it as truth.

Answer 6

There were/are hundreds/thousands of books written about Christianity, as it is even today. The churches of that time gathered to agree which books were to be used. They were accepted by the majority as inspired by the Holy Spirit for that purpose. These included the Jewish books of the OT, without the books of the Apocrypha that the Jews also agreed were not to be considered as scripture. The NT was primarily books by the apostles who were with Christ, and Paul's letters as he is considered Gods chosen apostle to the gentiles. The Catholic Church included several of the Apocryphal books as canon in their Bible at the Council of Trent in the 1500's.

Answer 7

constantine commanded the people there to create a “creed” doctrine that all of christianity would follow and obey, a doctrine that would be called the “nicene creed,” upheld by the church and enforced by the emperor. the bishops voted to make the full deity of Christ the accepted position for the church. the council of nicea voted to make the trinity the official doctrine of the church. however, the council of nicea did not invent these doctrines. rather, it only recognized what the bible taught, and systematized the doctrines

as far as "thomas" and "peter" gospels, no serious theologians really cared about these books because they were obviously written by people lying about authorship and had little basis in reality. that is one reason why a council declaring the canon was so late in coming [397] because the books that were trusted and the ones that had been handed down were already widely known.

Answer 8

The African Synod of Hippo, in 393, approved the New Testament, as it stands today, together with the Septuagint books, a decision that was repeated by Councils of Carthage in 397 and 419. These councils were under the authority of St. Augustine, who regarded the canon as already closed.[28] This list, given below, was purportedly endorsed by Pope Damasus I:

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Jesus Nave, Judges, Ruth, 4 books of Kings, 2 books of Chronicles, Job, Psalter of David, 5 books of Solomon, 12 books of Prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezekiel, Tobit, Judith, Esther, 2 books of Esdras, 2 books of Maccabees, and in the New Testament: 4 books of Gospels, 1 book of Acts of the Apostles, 13 letters of the Apostle Paul, 1 of him to the Hebrews, 2 of Peter, 3 of John, 1 of James, 1 of Jude, and the Apocalypse of John.

Answer 9

Excellent example of what Satan wants you to think.
Many easily are led astray by this type of thinking.
No offense intended, just pointing out that free will can lead you in the wrong direction.
In the case of the criteria used by the Catholic council, "threads" of thought which are consistent through-out the Bible's pages, is what determined what stayed and what was removed. Other thoughts were also used, but this is one of the most important.

Answer 10

All scripture is INSPIRED OF GOD and beneficial for teaching....in other words men were born along by the Holy Spirit (God's helper) to write and then choose which writings went into the book for the betterment and teaching of mankind about God.

Jesus and the other disciples quoted from the approved texts and scrolls long before they were in the book.