Jazzns writes:
Considering that he is one of the primary voices used to establish the canon in the first place, yea I would say that a liar and story teller picking which books are holy could matter.
well it doesnt really work like that. Evidence of canonicity was not dependent upon men who lived 300 years after the fact.
The RCC may claim responsibility for the canon but the opposite is true, because the canon, including the list of books making up the NT was settled long before they made their official list.
The testimony of later noninspired catalogers is valuable only as an acknowledgment of the Bible canon, which God’s spirit had authorized.
Jazzns writes:
I am not just assuming something here. We have evidence that he was influential over the early church. He was the one appointed to produce/reproduce sacred scripture for the emperor. HIS history was accepted and preserved.
the point about the trinity was that he was not all that influencial at all. He wrote 'against' the trinity teaching, yet he was influenced by the church to write in favor of it. So how influencial was he really? Certainly not when it came to teaching and doctrine.
All he really did was write an account of the history of the church as it was in his day. Perhaps he was asked to do this or perhaps he took the initiative himself....it certainly doesnt prove that he held influence over the church.
Jazzns writes:
Or he just read the winds of change and didn't have the integrity to stand up for his own beliefs and be labeled a heritic for it. Remember, this guy had a line straight to the emperor, he had a lot to loose being on the wrong side.
yeah i agree
but this has no bearing on the NT writings that had existed for 3 centuries before he lived
Jazzns writes:
But you will accept their canon?
thats because there are a number of 4th century catalogs of the NT that date prior to the council who approved the canon and these agree almost exactly with our present canon.
the RCC church hold no authority over what already existed among the christian congregations...they may have assumed responsibility for it, but the fact is that it had been in existence prior to their formation.