James.

[huntington]

Dear All,
i have a serious question that i need to ask and i hope that you do not believe me to be contentious but i need to ask.
We believe on this forum that all things are predestined by God and that no detail, no matter how small is unplanned by God yet some of our members believe that James should not be part of the canon of scripture. Now, the question is obviously God did want James to be part of the canon of scripture or else why is it there? Paul told Timothy that All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and that includes Jame's Epistle.
Would God have predestined all the books of scripture to be there but James got there by accident? If James isn't part of the canon then why is it there? was it outside of God's control?
If James is in our Bible, it is because God wanted it there and we should consider it to be a part God's Word. If God didn't want James to be there then it would not be there.
William Huntington considered James to be a part of the canon of scripture. He preached a sermon " And not by faith only, the unanimity of Paul and James". I have read that sermon and i have every reason to believe that James was inspired of the Holy Spirit.
John Huntington.

[Mrs. Gill]

Of course it is no accident...nothing is.
There are obvious conclusions you could draw as to why James is there if you do not believe it to be a book of truth( I will let others explain if they wish due to my lack of time here). Also, the whole argument that some use as to "well, it is there...it must be inspired and truth" is ridiculous. I mean, the bible was put togehter by a bunch of fallible men....Rome, so to speak. Yes, every piece of "scripture" will stand, but who is to say this is "scripture? " A bunch of so called scholarly men? Nah, I will decide for myself....

[Brandan Kraft]

Hi John,

We've had MANY discussions on James in the canon for several years now. Please read through those threads in full if you would like to understand our position more in depth. The larger ones are as follows:

What is Dead Faith?

Calvin's 66 book Canon

The Multi-Level Canon

Determination of the Canon and Sola Scriptura

Now out of courtesy, I will answer your questions and then close this thread. If after you've read those threads and still have questions, I will be happy to correspond with you on this subject again.

Now, the question is obviously God did want James to be part of the canon of scripture or else why is it there?

Yes, I agree with that statement completely. James is in the canon because God wanted it in the canon.

f James is in our Bible, it is because God wanted it there and we should consider it to be a part God's Word.

This is where you are wrong. The idea of a "canon" is actually not to be found in Scripture itself. Further, we believe that books of the bible are true not because it's a collection of books that has been handed down to us by the roman catholics and other protestant organizations, but because they are authenticated by the very Gospel itself.

If God didn't want James to be there then it would not be there.

Again you are right. But we don't believe "the bible." We believe the Gospel, and then we believe most of the books of the bible are true because they are consistent with the Gospel. I don't accept anything as truth just because everybody else says it's the truth.

I personally believe James was included in the Bible by God to deceive millions of people into believing the lie of auto-salvation. That's just one reason out of many that I believe God wanted James in the Bible.

- Brandan