Lost books of the Bible?

Question

Do you believe that the stories in these versions are true? What is your basis for believing or not believing in them? Why believe in one book just because it is included in the Bible, but not in another just because it was left out?

Just curious to hear your thoughts. I'm not a Christian, but I think the early history of Christianity is very interesting and I would love to hear your thoughts on this issue.

Thank you for your answers.

Thank you to the first person who answered for the recommendation.

Answer 1

The canon of the Old Testament that Catholics use is based on the text used by Alexandrian Jews, a version known as the "Septuagint" and which came into being around 280 B.C. as a translation of then existing texts from Hebrew into Greek by 72 Jewish scribes .

The deuterocanonical books were, though, debated in the early Church, and some Fathers accorded them higher status than others (hence the Catholic term for them: "deuterocanonical," or what St. Cyril of Jerusalem called "secondary rank," as opposed to the other books which are called "protocanonical"). But all the Fathers believed as did St. Athanasius, who, in one of his many Easter letters, names the 22 Books all Christians accept and then describes the deuterocanonicals as "appointed by the Fathers to be read by those who newly join us, and who wish for instruction in the word of godliness." Church Councils listed and affirmed the present Catholic canon, which was only formally closed at the Council of Trent in the 16th century.

In the 16th c., Luther, reacting to serious abuses and clerical corruption in the Latin Church, to his own heretical theological vision ,see articles on sola scriptura and sola fide, and, frankly, to his own inner demons, removed those books from the canon that lent support to orthodox doctrine, relegating them to an appendix. Removed in this way were books that supported such things as prayers for the dead (Tobit 12:12; 2 Maccabees 12:39-45), Purgatory (Wisdom 3:1-7), intercession of dead saints (2 Maccabees 15:14), and intercession of angels as intermediaries (Tobit 12:12-15). Ultimately, the "Reformers" decided to ignore the canon determined by the Christian Councils of Hippo and Carthage and resort solely to those texts determined to be canonical at the Council of Jamnia.

It is the Church that is the "pillar and ground of Truth" (1 Timothy 3:15)! Jesus did not come to write a book; He came to redeem us, and He founded a Sacramental Church through His apostles to show us the way. It is to them, to the Church Fathers, to the Sacred Deposit of Faith, to the living Church that is guided by the Holy Spirit, and to Scripture that we must prayerfully look.
Luther wanted to remove the Epistle of James, Esther, Hebrews, Jude and Revelation. Calvin and Zwingli also both had problems with the Book of Revelation, the former calling it "unintelligible" and forbidding the pastors in Geneva to interpret it, the latter calling it "unbiblical".

This Council, among other things, simply affirmed the ancient accepted books in the face of Protestant tinkering. How could Luther have relegated the deuterocanonical books to an appendix if they hadn't already been accepted in the first place?

Answer 2

The idea of "lost books of the Bible" is a misnomer. These books were not of the Bible. They were excluded from the Bible. The Bible is the Cannon of the Church. What that means is that the Church officials sat down and went over all the writing that were available and decided which were and were not to be included.

This is what the Church means when it talks about Divine Intervention in compiling the Bible. It is their belief that God inspired them to select only certain writings to be included in the Bible and accepted as Canon or belief system of the Church.

It does not matter if I believe or you believe these stories are true or not. It only matters that a person believes the stories in the Bible, the Canon, if one wishes to be a member of that church.

It is not just Christians, however. The Torah or Jewish Bible is basically the same as the Old Testament. There is no Jewish New Testament because they do not accept that Jesus was the Messiah. So for Jews, the Torah is their Canon.

The Curran is simply a book written by Mohamed. It contains only what he wanted it to contain. Mohammad lived about 500 years after Jesus. His followers believe he was a prophet and was speaking Gods words. For the Muslims, the Curran is their Canon.

No one knows how accurate any ancient writings are but I agree they are interesting, especially the Book of Enoch. But, the operative word for religion is "belief".

.

Answer 3

If you read up on the history of the Bible, you would've answered your own question.

When the Bible was compiled, those other books were already out and in circulation. Christianity was in danger because there were so many heretical writings out there that many of the laity didn't know what to believe.

Thus the compilation of the Bible as we know it today. Every piece of suppossed inspired writing was taken into account and thoroughly looked at. They matched dates, cross referenced and looked at the styles of the writings. The Gospels for example, despite being written at different times, the four gospels are written in the same style. While the Gospel of Thomas is written completely different from the other four. Same for the others left out.

As the Gospel of Thomas is the most popular of the heretical writings, I will call to mind one part I read in that book that lead me to believe it heretical. I cannot, unfortunately, remember where it is written there, but there is a part that states that for a woman to enter the kingdom of heaven, she must be a man. So pretty much, heaven is full of sex changed women and men...wonderful.

I would write more, but I don't want to take up half a page. I'll finish this with asking you to research the history of the Bible and it's compilation, all your questions will be answered there. It's really interesting how they did it too...

As for wbusykat4's answer: If you look at the Bible, there's the books of Judith, Ester and a few others that were about women. So for the Gospel of Mary to be withheld because it's about a woman doesn't hold up. Sorry.

Answer 4

They are not lost, most people never hear about them, that is all and wrongly name it lost books. The books was excluded for the Bible because they are obviously heretical, also they do not have a historic context needed to understand properly the words of Christ.

My church (catholic) choose some books between a lot more not so exact and with strange beliefs. Then we made our Bible as you know it.

Almost all other christians beliefs come after religious schism, so they are after that sorting of holy books.

Then there are a lot of books but the beliefs inside them are very different of ours. Some books are the gnostic gospels for example, a very different approach from religion than ours. In short, that books do not accept Jesus as a true god, or other ideas very different or heretical to us.

Even christians not catholics of today will not accept that books if they have the opportunity to read them, so think they are very different and not all are interesting beliefs.

There are some beliefs in that books that many people will think two times before even accepting believing that is possible.

Answer 5

One of the things that confirmed my rejection of Christianity. The apocrypha show so clearly how the gospels are all just more stories about this fictional character, Jesus.

Of course you won't find a lot of Christians who will even consider them rationally. I asked a similar question and had my head ripped off. Few if any seem to really understand the process and the politics behind how the bible was chosen and the early church was formed.

Answer 6

First answer is actually wrong. The Apocrypha is in the Catholic Scriptures and that book is not part of the Apocrypha.

I am not familiar with any book I doubt simply because it was "left out of Scripture." There are many books that are not in Scripture that were not included for several reasons. For example, Genesis tells us that the earth is good. Why would we include something like the Gnostic texts which are a direct contradiction to that?

What book are you thinking of? I can possibly help you understand why it is not in Scripture. But don't you think it'd be a little hard for me to go through EVERY written text and explain why it's not in Scripture? :)

Matt

Answer 7

The Wisdom of Solomon and the Odes of Solomon, "true" or not are among some of the most beautiful works of human spirituality I have ever read.

The other stories? They are as "true" as any other stories in the Bible. What they lack is the immense psychological, spiritual and archetypal power and resonance of what was selected for the Old and New Testaments. For me the Bible is not literal truth but profound spiritual allegory and metaphor. Some of Lost Books are rather dull and lack the deeper insight contained in the canonical scriptures.

Answer 8

Lost Books of the Bible, Forgotten Books of Eden, The Gospels of Mary and Thomas, etc. The Book of Enoch, the Dead Sea Scrolls. There are lots and lots of other Inspired Scriptures (writings) and books that were not selected to go into the Christian Bible. Not to mention writings from the other Asian Countries...

God is eternal, omnicient, omnipotent, and omnipresent. He inspires many people's works, and not all of them are in the Bible.

Answer 9

Book of the Covenant, Ex 24:four, 7, Book of the Wars of the Lord Num21:14, Book of Jasher Josh 10:thirteen, Sam a million:18, A Book of Statues a million Sam 10:25, Book of the Acts of Solomon a million Kings eleven:forty one, Book of Nathan and Gad I chron 29:29 two chron nine:29) Sayings of the Seers two chron 33;19 An epistle of Paul to the Corinthians a million cor five;nine of Paul to the Ephesians Eph three:three, of Paul to the Laodiceans Col four:sixteen, Epistle of Jude Jude three and prophecies of Enoch Jude 14. Enoch was once this kind of pleasant prophet wo took approximately three hundred years to transform an overly colossal populace organization, was once effective, and town of Enoch was once taken to Heaven. That could were a pleasant booklet to learn. Since Christ visited folks throuough the sector after his ressurection. I am definite there are lots of extra lacking books.

Answer 10

I have a book that has all the gospels that were left out of the Bible in it. Very interesting! As a free thinker I love to read what others might close their minds to--or what might be considered heresy. The Gospel of Mary is very good reading. It was probably left out because she was a woman and in that time women were not approved leaders of the church.