Quasimodo wrote:I'm pretty sure you don't know what happens when you die, either. You're just hoping. As far as the past and the Bible, It's unknown who wrote most of it. We do know that the Council of Nicaea put it together in 325 AD or so. Who some of those guys were and how they felt authorized to do the editing is a bit of a mystery. They left a lot of books out for political reasons. If you don't believe that the holy church was based on politics, you should be watching the Borgias.
Uh, no. The First Council of Nicea did not put the Bible together. They just voted to accept Canon law as binding on the Church and oh, came up with the Nicene Creed. The Council of Laodicea actually voted on the Canon of the Church. It would have been interesting to sit in on that one as the bishops debated the merits of what books should and should not be included in the Canon. Other books were also added to the Canon at the Councils of Hippo and Carthage.
The Canon law is interesting:
1. prohibition of self-castration
2. establishment of a minimum term for catechumen (persons studying for baptism)
3. prohibition of the presence in the house of a cleric of a younger woman who might bring him under suspicion (the so called virgines subintroductae)
4. ordination of a bishop in the presence of at least three provincial bishops and confirmation by the Metropolitan bishop
5. provision for two provincial synods to be held annually
6. exceptional authority acknowledged for the patriarchs of Alexandria, Antioch, and Rome (the Pope), for their respective regions
7. recognition of the honorary rights of the see of Jerusalem
8. provision for agreement with the Novatianists, an early sect
9–14. provision for mild procedure against the lapsed during the persecution under Licinius
15–16. prohibition of the removal of priests
17. prohibition of usury among the clergy
18. precedence of bishops and presbyters before deacons in receiving the Eucharist (Holy Communion)
19. declaration of the invalidity of baptism by Paulian heretics
20. prohibition of kneeling on Sundays and during the Pentecost (the fifty days commencing on Easter). Standing was the normative posture for prayer at this time, as it still is among the Eastern Christians.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Council_of_Nicaea
"You lack vision, but I see a place where people get on and off the freeway. On and off, off and on all day, all night.... Tire salons, automobile dealerships and wonderful, wonderful billboards reaching as far as the eye can see. My God, it'll be beautiful." -- Judge Doom