If so, what do you think? Do you think there's any reason why these books were left out of the Bible as we know it?
2006-11-02 02:44:22 · 12 answers · asked by tangerine 7 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
134: Yes and...?
2006-11-02 02:47:03 · update #1
The Gospel of Thomas, and a few other works, preached that everyone is God's son/daughter. Jesus was no different than the rest of us. Every last human has a bit of the divine within- a bit of God. If you worked and lived a life as prescribed by Jesus, who had tapped the inner divine and was more in tune with his divine nature than the rest of us, that was the way to salvation.
This was considered heresy because it contradicted Saul of Tarsus' teachings that Jesus was the only son of God, that Jesus WAS God, and only by placing your spiritual fate in Jesus' hands and believing wholeheartedly that Jesus was the only way to salvation would you be assured a place in the afterlife. Oh yeah and maybe doing good works. Maybe.
The other writings were all left out for the same reason- because they didn't conform to what the Council of Nicea considered "true" Christianity. MEN edited the Bible. MEN decided what Christians ought to believe in, hundreds of years after Jesus died. I prefer to evaluate for myself what I believe.
2006-11-02 02:54:41 · answer #1 · answered by E D 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The books, known by Protestants as the Apocrypha, have been part of the official canon of books of the Bible since the Canon was created hundreds of years ago, around the year 380. This is when the councils of the early church decided definitively which books belonged in the Bible, ie were inspired by God, and which did not. It was during the Protestant reformation that Martin Luther and others removed these 8 books, which all Christians up until that point considered part of the Bible, and which 80% today consider part of the Bible.
The correct term for these books is the deuterocanonical books, and the other books in the Old Testament are known as the protocanonical books. Luther removed these books because they were in opposition to his new theology, which he and some other people invented around this time. However, despite removing this portion of the True Bible, Catholic teaching can be fully supported using Protestant Bibles, including the King James Version.
By the way, the Bible nowhere teaches sola scriptura, or Bible alone. This was also invented around the time of Luther. It says hold fast to the traditions which you have been taught. Also, the Bible says the Church is the foundation and bulwark of the Truth, not the Bible. Plus, the canon, or collection, of books which are in the Bible, was decided by the Church. The Bible does not contain a list of books that belong in it, therefore it relies on an outside authority to declare this. Catholics believe in the authority of Scripture and Tradition, which is a fully Biblical way of look at things.
If you would like more information on this or other topics related to Christianity or Catholicism, please email me at philinaberdeen@gmail.com or go to holymotherchurch.blogspot.com Thank you very much and I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Philip Lynch
2006-11-02 11:03:10 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
I have read most of the apocrypha out there and I believe there is many doctrinal items that can expand the human understanding of God and His kingdom. At the same time there are some things that are interpulatants that man has changed. One needs to be careful when reading them.
2006-11-02 11:01:25 · answer #3 · answered by princezelph 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The Puritans removed them form the KJV along with the approval of the ABS.
The 2 book of Ezra tells about what happens when a person dies. The first thing that the person see's is GOD. He smiles, then frowns when he finds out he didn't cut the mustard here on earth.
Chapter 7:77
2006-11-02 10:48:39 · answer #4 · answered by Royal Racer Hell=Grave © 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yes, I have read them and I love them. I can only think perhaps they contain information that does not support the Protestant point of view on things like Mary and Confession and anything else that is Catholic. I would think the best way to win a war of Scripture where the Catholic might win would be to remove the Scripture itself. Very handy huh? Maccabees is my favorite.
2006-11-02 10:53:43 · answer #5 · answered by Midge 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yes, some of it. Don`t forget it is only Protestants who don`t include it in the Bible, Catholics do. It is interesting and sometimes inspiring. Here`s a quote from Sirach:
`Do not slight the discourse of the sages`. (8:8)
2006-11-02 10:54:30 · answer #6 · answered by andy c 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yes because they show a version of God and Jesus that does not support the judgmental punishing God paradigm.
For this reason they needed to be excluded.
Anything that does not support a thought system is seen as an attack on it.
Sadly their exclusion obscured the real God and invented a fictitious one.
Love and blessings Don
2006-11-02 10:49:11 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
I am Catholic, and these books are not left out of the Bible as I know it. My favourite is the Book of Tobit. Incidentally, Catholic Bibles tell the story of Chanukah - which ironically the Jewish Bible (Tanakh) does not. Just one of those funny things. :-)
2006-11-02 11:02:41 · answer #8 · answered by evolver 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yes and they are even more ridiculous fairy tales including Genies and magic enchantments. They read more like the 1001 Arabian Nights. they are still included in some KJV and the Catholic Bible.
2006-11-02 10:48:39 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
I think that the information contained therein would threaten certain seats of power that will not be easily removed...
2006-11-02 10:50:37 · answer #10 · answered by George A 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋