I’d like to hear if someone denies the fact that, through divine inspiration, the NT was written and compiled by members of the pre-schism Church.
You are two-thirds correct about facts. We can say that the various books and letters in the NT were written by members of the pre-schism church, and we can say the same for compiling the books that became the NT. However, the “divine inspiration” point is a matter of faith, not historical fact.
To
Bill Pick, re: Original Post.
Jesus did not write anything, He preached and taught. Neither did he command anyone to write, but he certainly had his disciples spread the Gospel, orally. These oral stories, sayings and traditions were eventually “put on paper” and became our bible.
The bible would be the “daughter” of the church since it came about as result of, and record of, faith experiences, first in the realm of Judaism, then in the context of Jesus. However, much of what we view as “church” today (taking into account all Christian faiths) is based on interpreting the bible so, in that regard, one could say the bible is the “mother” of some churches. But the “church”, the body of faith, existed first.
The bible does not contain a “list” of inspired books, other than the Table of Contents. The church over several centuries determined which books would be included. However, the great majority of the NT was accepted from an early date. There were only a few, specifically some epistles and Revelations, which were debated for a time. The story of how that came about is available in many church histories and has been recently discussed in other threads on this forum.
I am assuming you are asking these questions in this way under the “non-Catholic” heading to generate some discussion, or to make a point, since they have likely been tackled previously, as mentioned above. Since you do not explain your purpose in posting your query, I am wondering if you are seeking legitimate questions or trying to “pick” a fight?
