Is Christianity so devoid of things directly related to Jesus that it had to include a bunch of letters ...?

Question

... from people like Paul just to claim a New Testament scriptural canon of any size? That is weak.
When Thomas Jefferson edited the "Jefferson Bible," he ignored everything but the first four books. Makes sense.

Answer 1

Paul taught much Christian doctrine in his "letters". These "letters" are of immense importance to the Christian faith and were not included just to make the canon bigger. That is silliness.

What Jefferson did with his works is of no consequence to the Christian faith. Jefferson was certainly not a man of importance as it concerns the Christian faith and its theology.

Answer 2

It's not well known among Christians but there are up to 600 books (called the "Lost Books of the Bible") that were commonly read by both Christians and Jews prior to the canonization of the Bible.

Here's some more facts about the Bible:

Though there is no specific list or accounting of all the books that made up the complete Bible in scripture, there are over 20 books mentioned in the Bible, but not found there. This is proof that many have been removed and there is evidence that many more fell under the same fate.

In the Catholic Church, the Bible is the Douay Bible consisting of 73 books. In the Protestant church only the 66 books that were approved by the Synod of Dordrecht in 1618 are in what is known as the Authorized King James Bible.

15 of the books found in the original King James Bible, known as the Apocrypha; do not even appear in the "Authorized" King James Bible the modern Protestant Church opproves.

Eusebius, a little known figure in the Christian reality, was the first court-appointed Christian theologian in the service of the Emperor Constantine. Constantine commissioned Eusebius, personally, to produce fifty excellent copies of the sacred scriptures but gave no instruction what books Eusebius should include or, on what authority or criteria that decision should be made. He was given sole authority over this project and, therefore, became the first editor of the Bible we have today.

We know, which New Testament books he accepted because those books are in the King James Bible. The Shepherd of Hermas and the Epistle of Barnabas are in Eusebius' original Bible known as the Codex Sinaiticus. This leaves nine New Testament books that were used and accepted prior to this change, but excluded solely on the original judgment of one man, Eusebius. Those few books we actually know were purged, at this time, are:
The Acts of Andrew
The Acts of John
The Acts of Paul,
The Apocalypse of Peter
The Epistle of Barnabas
The Gospel of Hebrews
The Gospel of Matthias
The Gospel of Peter
The Gospel of Thomas
The Shepherd of Hermas
The Teachings of the Apostles
(There are several other "Gospels" rejected but not specifically named by Eusebius)

I won't bore you with any more facts... I think I've given enough info to answer your question. The answer is yes and no.

Yes, because Christianity today does not have access to all the books that were originally written about Jesus or were directly related to His ministry.

No, because as you can see, there were many other books that were left out of the official canon.

I hope this answers your question.

Answer 3

Jefferson also removed everything from the four gospels containing a healing or a miracle of any kind.

Remember that Jefferson was a NOT a Christian.

And Jefferson was sleeping with Sally Hemming a 14 year old slave girl. Let me make this clear in case you missed it.

Thomas Jefferson, our third President had a sexual relationship with Sally Hemming, a black slave girl. History tells us that Jefferson might have had six children with Sally.

One account tells us that Sally was 7/8 while and 1/8 black. And that Sally was the half sister of Mrs. Jefferson.

This sexual relationship began after the original Mrs. Jefferson had died.

So while we remember Thomas Jefferson as a great statesman, a great author, after all he's the guy who wrote the Declaration of Independence, he never claimed to be a follower of Jesus.

Jefferson was born in 1743 and Sally was born in 1773.

The sexual relationship began in 1787 when Sally was 14 and Thomas Jefferson was 44 years old.

History is pretty clear about these facts. And there is DNA evidence to prove it.

Pastor Art

Answer 4

In essence the Christian message should be only found in the Gospels and, perhaps Acts, although I would include the First Epistle of John because of its genius and exquisite beauty and because it seems to be an extension of John's Gospel. In fact for me Christianity IS John's Gospel and the Epistle.

But the truth is that what went into the New Testament was decided centuries after Christ's death. All the Gospels, Epistles & other books were circulating in Europe and the Middle East along with a host of other works also purporting to be Gospels and Christian writings (eg Gospel of Philip, Gospel of Thomas, Gospel of Truth etc). It was only once Christianity became the official religion of Rome that there was a council which decided what was to be canonical or not. And in fact the latest scholarship tells us that the first book of the New Testament to be written was probably Acts, followed by the Epistles and later the Gospels. Even then all this was written down and made canonical because the established church was becoming worried about the proliferation of interpretations of Christianity and needed to stamp out ambiguity.

So its a moot point... But for me, the Gospels take precedence over the Epistles which are interpretations of the Christ message whereas the Gospels are collations of stories and sayings which are, perhaps, directly related to at least the spirit of Christ's teachings.

Answer 5

The other books in the New Testament show the birth and growth of Christianity. After the death of Jesus is was a very tense time for Jesus's followers let alone any new converts. Before the faith could be crushed Peter, John, Paul and many others enduring much persecution (torture and false imprisonment) spread the good news that Jesus had died on the cross for our sins. The exciting new part was that they could now tell others he had risen from the dead as he said he would. The other books are a continuation of the story of Jesus and also a glimpse into the lives of those who rescued Christianity from the jaws of death by sacrificing their lives for it.

Answer 6

I can't get to all your inaccuracies, however, I can say, that when Paul was writing his letters, there was no such thing as "Christianity," There was only groups of people supporting the teacher Jesus, and they were secret, home-based "churches" with no idea what to do. Some were gentile and most were Jews. There was a lot to work out. The Jews were afraid to ignore the laws of the TOrah and there were administrative difficulties. Modern Chrisitianity, well, there are too many denominations to generalize, but, most used Paul's letters to interpret these new ideas. Yes, there were committees that picked and choosed what was in and what was out as far as the bible went. The gnostic gospels are interesting in this respect. But you must separate people and politics from spirituality.

Answer 7

Jefferson was a brilliant man but spiritually devoid .What made him think Moses was the author of Genesis,Exodus,Leviticus,Numbers and Deuteronomy(There are 5 books of Moses). That's the same thing the Samaritans did.Only using the Penteteuch (1rst 5 books)And they were Morons.
Also he did rewrite(as if he had the authority) the New Testament and took out the miracles of Jesus.Even smart guys have their "pecadillos" and dopey ideas.He was wrong about a lot of stuff he did after he wrote the Declaration,including banging his wife's 1/2 sister(you know Sally Hemmings)

Answer 8

You sound like yet another guy who hasn't really read any of the material, otherwise you wouldn't be asking that sort of question.

Paul was an early convert who originally was one of the most fierce persecutors of Christians (he's first mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles as the young man Saul, who held the cloaks of the others as they stoned St. Stephen to death). He was a Pharisee and had a very sharp mind. He, along with John, the Beloved Disciple, explained our faith in such a way that it has been handed down to us over the centuries. The Pauline Letters and Epistles are the first theological writings of Christianity, and are more than just mere filler, as you charge. Really read them and get into them sometime - lots to consider.....

Answer 9

10

Answer 10

Let me get this straight: we're to accept that the passage below is "filler?"

Love is patient, Love is kind,
It does not envy, it does not boast,
It is not proud, It is not rude,
It is not self-seeking,
It is not easily angered,
It keeps no record of wrongs.

Love does not delight in evil,
but rejoices with the truth.

Love always protects, always trusts,
always hopes, always perseveres.

Love bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never ends.

....these words have been read at nearly every Christian wedding for a millennium. They are that powerful. Many consider them to be among the most soaring words ever put to pen.

But hey - I guess they fluff up 1 Corinthians a bit, huh? What a curious question.