2007-10-26 04:48:42 · 13 answers · asked by bandycat5 5 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
I've wondered also why Jesus didn't write it. It's authority would be more readily accepted, I think.
Constantine didn't really compile it, although he played a part in moving toward a universally accepted canon.
According to Reader's Digest, this is what happened:
Constantine asked Eusebius to produce 50 "Bibles" for church use in Constantinople. . Since there was no official 'canon' at that time, Eusebius compiled lists of three classes of Christian writings.
The first group were books that were universally accepted as sacred. The 2nd group contained seven books that were disputed, but are now considered as part of the canon. (Hebrews, Revelation, James, 2 Peter, Jude, 2 and 3 John).
The third group were less popular books that were considered canonical by some, but not generally considered to be inspired - Didache, Epistle of Barnabas, Shepard of Hermes, among others.
No doubt Eusebius' choices influenced future attempts at canonization, and in 367 Athanasius wrote an Easter letter agreeing with Eusebius' choices as to which books should be omitted, and supported including the books in the second category.
The canon was accepted and confirmed by the Council of Carthage in 397, but debate continued about the books of James, Jude, and Hebrews until 419 when the Council of Carthage formally reaffirmed the canon yet again.
2007-10-26 07:01:52 · answer #1 · answered by browneyedgirl 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Bandycat,
On pain of quoting a National Inquirer add, you may actually have…”an inquiring mind”!
As I see it, (reading people who studied the times), Constantine succeeded Diocletian, no friend of Jews who called themselves Christians. Diocletian had the Roman army search out and destroy any records and artifacts held by these pesky Christians; this was an apparent attempt to abolish the religious sect.
Since these writings were essentially the written down remembrances of various stories this organized destruction left Christians with their combined memory and teachings by word of mouth.
Two individuals, and no doubt several others, had a major influence on the re-creation of the new written stories; they were Eusebius and Origin. These two individuals provided the bulk of the material and recreated stories that became the gospels and many of the books of the Christian bible.
You may assume, if you like, that Constantine was…selected by god, as some claim but this assumption is not born out in scholarship. There is evidence that Constantine used Christianity to stave off a brewing civil war between Christians and pagans, the then common religion of Rome. The time was difficult for Constantine and he wanted to avoid conflict and attempts by his contemporizes to seize power.
Anyway, this is my best understanding which, by no stretch of anyone’s imagination can be considered factual. You must, as usual, do your own research.
2007-10-27 15:11:21 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
God had some serious negotiations with Jesus's agent, but after all that wine drinking at the Last Super, J.C. was just too hung over to care about all that book stuff.
They discussed the idea of having some homeless guy do the ghost writing, but that clown never could figure out when to use 'thou' and when to use 'thine'. He also struggled with 'cometh' and 'goeth', and 'go unto'
So Connie decided to give a go at it himself.
2007-10-26 06:30:49 · answer #3 · answered by big j 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
God trusted Constantine more than the Jesus boy.....
I reject all kinds of other explanations...
2007-10-26 14:57:02 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Your God didn't chose anything, Constantine converted to christianity and paid money to bishops to gather together all books and out put together a bible to justify his faith. Please do not bring the most high into the doings of man. Please seek the truth before you open your mouth.
2007-10-26 05:02:33 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
Guess it never occurred to him. Jesus probably would have edited out a lot of the stuff that ended up in there, anyway.
2007-10-26 04:53:13 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Constantine did no such thing. He was a sun-worshiping pagan who did not "convert" to Christianity until he was on his deathbed.
2007-10-26 05:34:16 · answer #7 · answered by LineDancer 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
God is Jesus. The Father, The Son and the Holy Spirit are one in the same - its the GodHead
2007-10-26 04:52:35 · answer #8 · answered by Nichole G 1 · 0⤊ 3⤋
Jesus has poor grammar and tends to ignore the spell check.
2007-10-26 04:54:57 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 1⤋
Something to do with needing to be real ie having fingers and opposable thumbs.
2007-10-26 04:54:55 · answer #10 · answered by Mike Oxlong 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋