on the question of canon, if you would not say a 65 book canon missing Hosea is deficient, then we are thinking about the canon in radically different ways. Also, I believe that Maccabees is canon, so I could use the same approach you use here and say "it is canon, so the point is moot." But the problem is that *you* don't believe that 1 and 2 Maccabees are part of the canon of Scripture. What would you say to a hypothetical person that rejects Hosea? Because I am speaking to a real person that rejects Maccabees, and I want to know what kind of argumentation might convince him.