Hi DHK,
I noticed that you are starting to escape the issue at hand and change it because your reasoning is fallicious.
You changed the subject from my question, "Just because the epistle claims apostolic authorship, you naively accept it as such?" to asking, "Could it be that the Catholics don't like this book because it is strong on sola scriptura?"
Of course, I completely accept the canonicity of the book, and I love this book as God's Word. I cherish it as His Word to me, and I have read it through in my personal Scriptural study, assimilating it to my Christian life.
With that said, your straw man only serves as a distraction to the question I asked, which you did not answer.
I commented that "there are numerous pseudepigraphal writings from this same time period that never made it into the Bible that too claim apostolic authorship" and you gave a response that is completely irrelevant to the reason why you accept 2 Peter as canonical when you wrote, "Quite true. That speaks for the intellectual capacity of the Apostles and early believers, not the early councils who were no smarter than they."
Eusebius of Caesarea, writing in 325 A.D., tells us that 2 Peter is not Scripture; thus, it was not written by Peter and is not to be included in the New Testament. Yet, you accept it. Why? You still have not answered this simple question.
And then I wrote, "One example is Paul's epistle to the Laodiceans: 'Paul, an apostle not of men nor by man, but by Jesus Christ, unto the brethren that are at Laodicea.'" to which you responded, "It is quite well known that Paul did write a letter to the Laodiceans in fact. Perhaps when you get to Heaven you can ask Paul why the Holy Spirit didn't have him include it in the canon of Scripture."
Quite well known? Where in the New Testament does it say that Paul wrote this letter, and where in the New Testament does it say that it isn't to be included in the canon of Scripture? If this information isn't in the New Testament, then where is it?
I then asked, "Is that enough evidence for you to accept Laodiceans as Scripture?" to which you responded, "No, it is no evidence at all. The Apostles knew which were inspired and which were not. They passed that knowledge down to the early believers."
They passed that knowledge down to the early believers?? No, that's tradition, and you can't rely upon tradition; you must stick to Scripture, not tradition. Unless, of course, you want to start defending the Apostolic Tradition that Laodiceans is not Scripture.
Now, you're using double speak. First, you tell us that we are not to adhere to Apostolic Tradition, and yet here, you tell us that we are.
God bless,
Carson
[ November 29, 2002, 07:23 PM: Message edited by: Carson Weber ]