Quote Originally Posted by Byzantine Mercenary
hmm maybee i should start a thread on this subject, i always figure that the safest thing to do is to follow the four gospels as for the other new testamnet books, well, as you say jesus himself said that false teachings will come and be accepted and so perhaps some elements of the other new testament books are questionable as such i would prefer to base my beliefs on the teachings of the gospels, (wasn't the book of revelations nearly not in the bible?)
Of course limiting one's canon to the four Gospels doesn't speak to the fact all were written by someone other than the Christ. In fact, the traditional names associated with some of the Gospels is more a matter of convention than anything noting authorship in the texts themselves. The other issue is one needs to explain the seeming arbitrary quality of admitting some books and not others. For example, why are Paul's Epistles on the outs? Why include the Gospel of John, but not the Gospel of Thomas?