Faith of the our Fathers: By the Book- A Revisiting At Nicaea- A Start For Evangelization

Recently I have been conducting some very interesting discussions with my protestant friends. After writing several of these articles about Nicaea and studying a great deal about the subject, I thought it would be fun to see what other people knew about the subject, so I decided to check it out.

Now, the rest of the story. I would not so subtly begin this conversation with some sort of pointed questions like, “I know you attend a protestant church, don’t you believe in the Bible?”

They would smile and reply back, “Sure, don’t you?”

“Good, of course we do.” I would add and then ask them, “
Don't you get your source of authority from the Bible?”

“Why wouldn’t you, it is the word of God isn’t it.”

“Exactly right.” I concurred with a large smile on my face and then asked, “Have you ever wondered if your author comes from the Bible, why does your Church not have all of the Bible?”

It was at this point that the conversation would turn slightly. The responses were very familiar and amazing. They would look very puzzled and say, “What? What are you talking about? I thought the Bible was the Bible. It could be black, red, or white but the insides were all the same.”

I would slightly nod my head and say, “ Yes, many people think that but you know that is not right. By the way if you hold the Bible to be true and my Bible had more books in it than yours wouldn't that be better?”

At this point you have them trapped in a logic trap. If they say yes- you win the argument because you got them to your side. If they say no, you win because they just took out their own argument. Basically you have a come to Jesus moment in which they realize that you have something there- isn’t more better when it comes to what the Lord has told his people?

This began an interesting discussion on the concept of the Bible. They had thought that sometime at the Council of Nicaea, the Emperor Constantine got the Bishops to vote on Books that didn’t belong in the Bible. These books were not traditionally accepted by the Church and it was only the Emperor Constantine who wanted them. This is a very revisionist view of history.

Actually the Bible as we know it today was not voted on at the

Council of Nicaea and these early Bibles were accepted before the Council took place. It was actually during Martin Luther’s rebellion from the Church and his tirades against the Pope that something a little illogical came to light. Luther didn’t like the idea of one person leading the Church like a Pope. He didn’t like that much power being rested in one person. However, it was Martin Luther who took it upon himself to take out books from the Old Testament. He deemed these books to be not important enough to be in the Bible.

My question to my friend after I told him about what Luther did, “Now your church is following Luther’s example correct?”

“I guess.” He admitted sheepishly and then asked, “Why?”

“Well no reason I guess, but I thought that you might be interested in what some of the books had to deal with?”

“Well, maybe would it change my faith any?”

I thought to myself, You know the truth will always come to the forefront at some time. That is when I explained, “Maybe if I tell you what some of things that were excluded from the Bible by Luther you can make up your own mind?”

I continued, “You know Jesus was a Jew and as such he went to the Temple and worshiped correct?”

“Yes.”

I continued, “Did you know that about 170 years before Christ came on the Earth, the Jews were in a terrible state. They had quit a great many of their practices and a group of the Jews under Judas Maccabeus revolted and took back over the Temple. Under the Maccabeus leadership- Judaism was cleansed from its Greek or Hellenistic influences. In 164 BC after the Maccabeus took over Jerusalem and the Temple- they cleaned it up and dedicated it back for Temple service. It is from this act we get the Menorah and lighting of the Candles each year. Does this sound important to you?”

“Why yes? Why?”

“It wasn’t to Luther’s standard. However, don’t you think something as important as cleansing the Temple from all Pagan influences is important? Can you imagine what would have happened if the Jews has been absorbed into the Pagan culture and lost their religion completely? That is really important correct?”

“Oh. I see. You know, would Jesus have come to the Jews if they were no longer Jewish?”

I smiled and added, “See you answered your own question. How important do you think these books are now?”

“Very important. You know I never thought about it before now. However, it only makes sense.”

“Of course it does. The Bible was meant to help us overcome some of the same problems we have today. We are not alone.”

Praise be to God Always.