Every single Christian answer I received to my last question agreed with this statement.
2007-07-23 15:33:33 · 12 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
It is "inspired by God" because Paul says it is?
Or because early Catholic leaders said so?
I can pretty much guarantee that a living Jesus never gave it the thumbs up :)
2007-07-23 15:47:25 · update #1
They are right to the extent that the word "hallucination" is probably a young word and that would explain why it doesn't appear in the Bible.
But we know more now and we have a place for people like that.
It's called the State Hospital! And I'm sure we could find many more books for the Bible buried in the files of the patients there!
2007-07-24 06:39:50 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Paul's extant letters are the Word of God because the Holy Spirit intended them to be so. Paul never once claimed to be writing scripture (though he wrote with authority and confidence). Those who received his letters discovered if they were Spirit inspired, or to put it another way, authoritative for all Christians in all times in all cultures. There were four other criteria besides being written by someone who claimed to be an apostle. There was widespread use throughout the empire, no contradiction with previous scripture (the Old Testament), universal application and I apologize but the fifth one escapes me at the moment. There was already an established canon by 367 when Athanasius gave his Resurrection Day sermon in Alexandria in which he listed the present day books of the New Testament. Neither he, nor any other bishop, could have stopped the individual local churches from regarding Paul's extant letters as Spirit inspired and authoritative for all times and places and people; neither could any have forced those churches to accept other letters that had not been read and taught for centuries as the Word of God. At Nicea 381, where the official canon was committed to writing, the major debate was not what to include but if certain books already included should be there: John's third epistle and Revelation on grounds that they were too different from his other two letters and his gospel account; and James on the grounds that it never once mentions the name of Jesus. But again, the bishops in attendence could not have stopped their congregants from using those books any more than they could have forced them to begin using a new one.
2007-07-23 23:39:30 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Pauls letters were inspired and guided by the hand of God and Jesus is by no means a hallucination i by no means agree with that statement
2007-07-23 22:40:25 · answer #3 · answered by loveChrist 6 · 0⤊ 3⤋
Thats of course assuming jesus was even real. If you take away the bible there is almost no mention anywhere of jesus. Other than a few local hicks the rest of the world seems to have missed him somehow. In the first century after his death outside the bible (or lost gospels) there are 2 mentions of him, 1 is a partial fraud, the other is a single mention of "christ" which isn't nessecarily attributed to him.
2007-07-23 22:42:00 · answer #4 · answered by Gawdless Heathen 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Well except for the hallucination part.
Jesus spoke to Paul.
Sorry I'm not limited by what my eyes can see right in front of me.
-B
2007-07-23 22:48:51 · answer #5 · answered by The Brian 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
twisted but I'll take a shot....Its" Inspired By God"
Inspirations,Visions and dreams have been used in the Whole Bible.
Call them hallucinations or whatever you may but as a individual I am not Catholic.
and I didn't catch your last question.
2007-07-23 22:46:01 · answer #6 · answered by Bobbie 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
No, Paul's letters are "God's Word" because Peter himself (remember him, the guy that Jesus picked to be one of the bedrocks of the new Christian church?) said that Paul's letters were "scripture" (I.E.: the word of God, for those unfamilar with the term).
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Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.
~2 Peter 3:15-16 (NIV)
2007-07-23 22:41:19 · answer #7 · answered by Randy G 7 · 0⤊ 3⤋
Where does it say Paul said he was hallucinating about Jesus.?Proof!!!
2007-07-23 22:39:09 · answer #8 · answered by ♥ Mel 7 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Paul did not say "he hallucinated Jesus." You should read the text before you make such unfounded statements.
2007-07-23 22:40:01 · answer #9 · answered by oldguy63 7 · 1⤊ 3⤋
No. At least that's not why I believe that Paul wrote scripture.
2007-07-23 22:40:08 · answer #10 · answered by Christian Sinner 7 · 0⤊ 3⤋