why did they take the Apocrypha out of the bible?

Question

i believe they should have left the bible alone it says do not add to or { take away}. have you ever read the Apocrypha? if so what book did you like the best?

Answer 1

Nothing was "taken out" of the bible. Some things were left out, but they were never "in" to begin with. The bible is a hodge podge collection of writings from many different people. Not one of those people ever meant for or expected their writings to become part of a holy book. Some of them are freaking letters, ffs, written specifically from one person to another, not for the purpose of being scripture. One day a bunch of priests got together and decided that some of it was "the word of god™" and some of it not. How do decide what's "the word of god™" and what isn't, you ask? You don't. You do what they did and pick whatever suits your agenda (power, money) and leave out the rest.

Answer 2

the books that we commonly associate with the Bible are the ones known to be authentic. There were a group of scholars in the second or third century called the Nicean Council who got together to basically discuss the topic of which writings were genuine irrefutable scripture and which weren't. As inspired letters came down from the original writers there became many other texts and stories that showed up as well. The Nicean Council, contrary to what the DaVinci code says, sort scripture from story.

The apocryphal books and scriptures were left out for several reasons, some being that they are more fables and stories than scripture, some because they are very vague, some because they only surfaced and existed in certain regions and some were written at later dates long after the inspired writers were dead and gone.

The think the apocryphal books are important from the standpoint that they paint a more clear picture of how the people viewed certain historical characters like Daniel. The books of Maccabees are important because they bridge a historical gap between Malachi and Matthew and give you an idea of the political climate leading up to the birth of Jesus. While I don't know that we can discount them as historically important, we as Christians must be very cautious about what we call Gospel. Rev. 22:18-19

There are several online resources on these books, really too many to reference here, that can paint a more clear picture for you on these writings.

Answer 3

I have read some of the Apocrypha. I can't say that I had a favorite one. There are 22 Apocrypha books. The Catholic church incorporates, I believe, 7 of them into their canon.
The books have been removed from canon because of several reasons. One is they just had contradictions in them. Another is that they were written too far after the time of Jesus and by others not recognized as Apostles or their disciples. There are other reasons for excluding them into canon. You can research it on the web.

Answer 4

Jenn the books were part of the Bible. What happened was the books you mentioned were mostly written by Jews living in Greek speaking part of the Roman empire. The Jews in those parts and indeed some Rabbis in Rome occupied Israel recognized them. After Jesus ascended back to Heaven the Christians were spreading fast, thus many Jewish leader were upset and called a council at Jamina. At Jamina by a small margin the books were voted out of the Jewish bible. The Christan kept the books in the New Testament. Martin Luther followed the error that if the were not written in Hebrew that they were no ment to be in the Bible. Of note Luther also yanked Revelation and the book of James which were not returned to the German translations for fifty years. When the dead sea scrolls were found the books were found indeed written in Hebrew as well as Greek. The Catholics and the Orthodox never took them out of their Bibles. I am a Catholic and believe these books should be in every Bible.

Answer 5

I assume you are talking about the New Testament Apocrypha. The Romans took it out because they decided they liked the four "Gospels" best. There were MANY alternatives to include.

Its a part of Christian history that most Christians choose to ignore.

The books in their Bible were chosen by Roman church leaders long after the death of Christ, and has been an ongoing debate. Again, most Christians are sadly ignorant of this.

Try the attached link for some basic info...

Answer 6

The "Bible" is a set of texts that were set to canon long after they were written in order to provide form for Christian theology by a politically motivated Church hierarchy. Christianity had/has many more texts associated with it than what was "canonized." And, by the way, the Apocrypha remains in the Bible--it just depends which denominational translation/edition you use.

Answer 7

Isn't the Apocrypha the book of Revelations and from my recollection it is still in the Bible.

My favorite book of the bible would have to be, Psalms. Beautiful verses! I bless God!

Answer 8

I think they took SO much out of the bible. Everything is tainted somehow when it is translated by man. Therefore, everything falls short to truth. If you look at why they took out so much, look at the time and what was going on in history at that time. It is all about power and control.
I haven't read it. But would love to! What have you learned so far? It is very interesting. Great question! Thank you, Tesra

Answer 9

Technically it wasn't taken out it was left out.
A council was convened. The council studied the different writings. They then decided which had more validation than the others. i.e. could the human author, language, authenticity, truly be verified.
The writings with a yes, was placed into what we call the Bible. the other writings we left out. This is call canonization.

Answer 10

Get your history straight. It was never part of the Bible. The Catholic church added it to their bible at the council of Trent in the 1500's-its still there-in the catholic bible.