Why the Protestant View of the Canon of Scripture Should Make Them Catholic

How did we get the Bible we have today?  This is a critical question and of course many Christians have asked it before.

One key aspect is "canonization" meaning the official recognition of which books are divinely inspired and deserve a place in the Holy Bible. 

This question goes all the way back to the heretic Marcion who died in 160 AD and was excommunicated in 144 AD.  Marcion proposed a canon of only 11 books, including only Luke and some letters of Paul!

A common Protestant story goes like this:

"We have the canon of Scripture because the Holy Spirit guided the Church over time, and gave clear discernment, so that the Church could come to a consensus about what books belong in the Bible.  That was settled a long time ago and is infallible because it was guided by the Holy Spirit."

Hmm, apparently Protestants do believe that the Church can make divinely inspired decisions that are binding for all Christians!  Isn't that interesting?

Wow, so if the Church can make infallible judgments...how much sense does it make that there would be only ONE such judgment in the entire history of Christianity?

The Catholic claim is simply that this authority to make infallible judgments, which Protestants accept in regard to the canon of Scripture, is not limited to that one single topic! 

Some Protestants also accept the authority of the ecumenical councils in Church history, starting with the council of Jerusalem in the book of Acts (chapter 15), the council of Nicea (325 AD) and so forth.  But Protestants today can't have an ecumenical council and they have never had one since Martin Luther despite tons of disagreements and controversies causing division.  (notice the Eastern Orthodox also have never had one)  They never explain why they selected a certain point in history to say "After THIS particular year, the Church authority to make infallible judgments is gone!"

So, in conclusion, Protestants do indeed affirm that Jesus established a Church that can make infallible judgments for all Christians!  So once they drop the assumption that this authority was limited only to a single topic (the canon of Scripture) then they can enter into the fullness of our Christian faith in the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church!