I was listening today on Catholic radio a
interview between Steve Wood and Al Kresta and the cannon of
the bible was discussed and how Protestants determine the cannon.
One
option was that after reading a book from the bible that you feel it is
canonical which Al Kresta called the “Holy Spirit buzz”. Obviously this is
problematic since the Mormons say that if you read the book of Mormon that you
will experience a “burning of the bosom” to let you know that it’s true. How
many people have read all the books of the bible, the deuterocanonical and also
all the writings that at one time were considered by some as
canonical.
The other option is that the Holy Spirit guides the Church in
determining the canon. Now how is it that the Council of Rome and the Council of
Hippo included the so-called deuterocanonical and then later under Martin Luther
they were rejected. In fact, if Martin Luther had his way we would be calling
the Book of James, Jude, Hebrews, and Revelation part of the Apocryphal
books.
It has amused me that those who call themselves Bible Christians
reject seven books of the Bible. Under truth in advertising laws they should be
called 89 percent Bible Christians. I understand that most people just accept
the Protestant tradition on the canon of the Bible and never fully evaluate the
implausibility of objectively determining the canon on your own.