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The books of the New Testament are in our bible because they were accepted by the early church as the true teachings of the Christian faith because of their general circulation among all the churches. Each letter or book was read in the local churches. Eye witness accounts confirmed that the content was true and the document continued in general circulation. Letters that included material which the listeners knew not to be true, simply stopped being read and circulated. I believe there were likely many copies of an original letter in circulation. Some copies may have been inaccurately produced and so the churches stopped reading and circulating them. The bible was finally put together in a big conference of all the churches. A few of the last books to be added were wrestled over by the scholars to verify the harmony of the teachings with the books already accepted. Another letter was not included. Paul refers to a letter he wrote to the church in Laodicea which is not in the bible (Colossians 4:16). We need to remember that the Holy Spirit is the Author of the whole bible. He decided exactly what would be included to tell God’s salvation story.
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