How can it be plausible for Catholics to add books to the Bible?

Question

The Catholic Bible contains the Apocrypha. The Christian Bible does not. From what I remember from Catholic parochial school, these "extra" books were added at the Council of Trent. Why were the excluded in the first place? Why were they added? And can the Catholic religion justly/rightly add them?

Thanks in advance for the help!

Yeah, I know Catholics are Christians. What I should have typed was "Catholic" and "Non-Catholic" and realized it after I submitted the question. But I figured it wouldn't be too big of a deal for me to be politically incorrect. I was wrong. Sorry.

Answer 1

The Roman Catholic Religion, during the Council of Trent of 1546, proclaimed some of the apocryphal books as well a large amount unwritten Catholic traditions were of God. These apocryphal books include: Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch, 1st Maccabees, 2ND Maccabees, and additional chapters to the books of Esther and Daniel.

Catholic Doctrine is comes primarily from church traditions combined with a few cherry picked bible quotes to back it up. Remember that until the reformation the Roman Catholic Church Government made it impossible for the common man to read the bible. Until recently reading the bible was highly discouraged. Take Roman Catholic Doctrine and determine what the Bible says, usually a night and day difference.

There are other apocryphal books besides the above listed the Council of Trent rejected books like first and second Esdras or the pray of Manasses. Interesting fact Romans Cahtolics like to through around in defense is the fact when the King James was complete the Apocrypha was included, why? Becouse the Apocrypha is actually a decent source of historical knowledge and a pretty good read. Here is a quote:
“ And the other bookes, (as Hierome sayeth), the Churche doth reade for example of life and instruction of manners: but yet doth it not applie them to establish any doctrene [sic].” Philip Schaff, Creeds of Christendom. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1977, Vol. III, pp. 489-491.

It was finally completely removed in 1825 after much lobbying be Puritans and Presbyterians. Want to talk more or rebut email [e-mail].

Answer 2

The Bible has been written and rewritten many times. Man has removed book and add books on more than one occasion. Why? Well because the books that where added aided in proving the agenda of the church leaders at the time and those that were removed either did not aide or worse actually had things in them that would go against the agenda of the leaders of church. Even the books that they have kept they have changed and modified. Don't believe me look at the footnotes in the NIV. Need more proof, Jesus was a Hebrew, a descendant of David and yet the Hebrew language (alphabet) has no J or J sound in it. So what was that guys name again.

Buy the way Catholics are Christians. In fact all of the modern Christian denominations Lutheran, Baptist, Methodist, Protestant, etc. split from the Catholic Church over disagreements in the scripture and scripture interpretation.

So the question becomes are the Catholics adding books form the word of god or are Protestants removing books from it. And if it can be changed by man is it the word of GOD.

Answer 3

No the 7 additional Old Testament Books were approved by St. Jerome and the other scholars who decided which books were valid and which were doubtful. They have always been in the Catholic Bible.

At the time of Christ, old testament manusfscripts were in Hebrew and Greek. The 7 books in question do not have Hebrew manuscripts. Therefore Jewish scribes stated they were apocrypha meaning doubtful. St. Jerome was not certain at first if they should be included but they were. St, Matthew's gospel has more reference or quotations from Old Testament prophecies than any of the 4 gospels and I understand they all come from the Greek rather than the Hebrew.

At the reformation, at first Protestants kept them in the Bible under a separate section. Later they left them out.

The Council of Trent only reaffirmed that those 7 books are canonical.

I grew up on the KJV and became Catholic reading the KJV. I do not believe the inclusion or exclusion of those 7 books would make a person convert from Protestantism to Catholicism or from Catholicism to Protestantism.

Answer 4

The oldest Christian religion in the world is the Catholic religion. The Church began forming shortly after Christ and the Apostles were killed.

The apocrypha consists of the works of Jewish literature written approximately two hundred years before Christ. They make up part of the translation into the greek language of the Jewish scriptures known as the Septuagint. They are I and II Maccabees, Tobit, Judith, Ecclesiasticus (Sirac), Wisdom, Baruch, supplements to the books of Esther and Daniel, the prayer of Manasseh and I and II Esdras (these last two are not recognized as scripture by the Catholic church).

There are several different versions of the Bible. There are three main versions: Jewish (Hebrew) Bible, Catholic Bible, and Protestant Bible. The Jewish Bible contains only the old testament. The Catholic Bible contains the Old Testament, Apocrypha, and the New Testament. The Protestant Bible contains the Old Testament and the New Testament.

The Reformers actually removed books to form the Protestant Bible.

Answer 5

The Apocrypha / Deuterocanonical books teach many things that are not true and are not historically accurate. While many Catholics accepted the Apocrypha / Deuterocanonicals previously, the Roman Catholic Church officially added the Apocrypha / Deuterocanonicals to their Bible at the Council of Trent in the mid 1500’s A.D., primarily in response to the Protestant Reformation. The Apocrypha / Deuterocanonicals support some of the things that the Roman Catholic Church believes and practices which are not in agreement with the Bible. Examples are praying for the dead, petitioning “saints” in Heaven for their prayers, worshipping angels, and “alms giving” atoning for sins. Some of what the Apocrypha / Deuterocanonicals say is true and correct. However, due to the historical and theological errors, the books must be viewed as fallible historical and religious documents, not as the inspired, authoritative Word of God.

Answer 6

Actually, those "extra" books were REMOVED by Protestants during the Reformation, not added by the Church. The seven books you ask about had been part of the Holy Scripture up until the Reformation. It was only with the rise of Martin Luther and that ilk that those books were torn from the Bible.

You may also find it interesting to note that the following books were added to the Bible as ALL Christians know it quite some time after the Catholic Church had established the Bible it used:

* The Book of Hebrews
* The Second Epistle of Peter
* The Second Epistle of John
* The Third Epistle of John
* The Epistle of James
* The Epistle of Jude
* The Apocalypse of John (also known as Revelation)

(reference for that was at Wikipedia, so you may want to take THAT with a grain of salt - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_canon )

(Question to the guy whose wife prayed the Rosary ten times each night: where on earth did she find the time? It takes about 45 minutes to pray the Rosary ONCE! This false testimony puts your testimony about your child's baptism to question as well. No priest would refuse to baptize your child because one of the parents was protestant - UNLESS the protestant parent did not consent to the baptism.)

Answer 7

No, it's not right for them to add them to Scripture when they are not Scripture. The Apocrypha is as inspired as my concordance and the map in the back of my Bible. There were never part of the canonized Bible. The term apocryphal, according to Merriam-Webster, means "of doubtful authenticity; spurious".

You're right about the Council of Trent though. (1546) they tried to confirm that the Apocrypha is part of the word of God.

"Apocrypha" was also applied to writings that were hidden not because of their divinity but because of their questionable value to the church. According to some the Apocrypha was not originally part of the Bible, and it is entirely possible that the Apocrypha is a cursed scroll, to quote a verse from Revelations 22:18 "I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this scroll".

Answer 8

The catholics put the Bible together in the first place. The Council of Nicea, under Constantine the Great. Before that there was no Bible as we know it today. From hundreds of documents they decided through vote what books went in and which were left out. the christian Bible is a Catholic creation in the FIRST place.

Answer 9

I think they have just as much justification in adding books as an other group had in adding a 'new' testament. Both sides...wait....ALL SIDES always feel like their way is the right way. Their truth is the REAL truth. A bunch of guys from the 2nd century wrote a bunch of stuff and told everyone that a god had dictated it to them. Lots of people chose to believe them. Lots still do. I don't, but that's because I'm naturally a little dubious when people make claims about gods talking to them. Call me a skeptic, call me incredulous, just don't call me late for dinner.

Answer 10

Who added Matthew, Mark, Luke or John? How about Ephesians? Leviticus?

Somewhere along the lines...someone made a decision what books to be added and what to drop....remember the book of Judas?

Men wrote the Bible...eventhough, inspired by God...man is fallible...and I am sure egos and politics got in the way....

Look for God's direction on the Bible ...not man's religions...they will fail you.