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BOOKS AND TOPICS LEFT OUT OR KICKED OUT OF THE BIBLE

The canon of Scripture is the list of 73 books that belong to the Bible. (The word “Bible” means “the Book.”) The earliest writings of the Bible were likely composed in the 10th century B.C. The report of Scripture continued until the first century A.D. when Revelation was complete.

Seven books of the Bible, all in the Old Testament, are accepted by Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox but not by Jews or Protestants. These include 1 and 2 Maccabees, Judith, Tobit, Baruch, Sirach, and Wisdom, and additions to the books of Esther and Daniel. These books are called Deuterocanonical by Catholics and Orthodox and Apocryphal by Jews and Protestants. These were the last books of the Old Testament written and composed in the previous two centuries B.C. Their omission in Protestant Bibles leaves a chronological gap in salvation history.

The version of the Bible in use at the time of Jesus was the Septuagint (abbreviated LXX, for the 70 men who translated it from Hebrew into Greek by the beginning of the first century B.C.). This was the version of the Old Testament used by the New Testament authors and Christians during the first century A.D. This version of the Bible included the seven Deuterocanonical books.

With the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem by the Romans in the year 70 A.D. and because the Christians were seen as a threat, the Jewish leaders saw a need to get their houses in order. One thing they did was officially decide on the list of books to compose their Scriptures. They did this at the Council of Jamnia (about 100 A.D.), where they rejected the seven Deuterocanonical books because they believed they were not written in Hebrew. (In 1947, however, fragments in Hebrew of Tobit and Sirach were discovered among the Dead Sea Scrolls. In addition, most Scripture scholars believe that 1 Maccabees, Judith, Baruch, and parts of Wisdom were also originally written in Hebrew.) The early Church did not require all Scripture to be written in Hebrew, and the New Testament books were written in Greek.

The early Church continued to accept the books of the LXX version, although some debate about these books continued through the 5th century. This list, as accepted by the Catholic Church, was affirmed by the Council of Hippo in 393 A.D., by the Council of Carthage in 397 A.D., and by Pope Innocent I in 405 A.D. At the Ecumenical Council of Florence in 1442, the Catholic list was again restated against those who wanted to include even more books.

In the 16th century, Martin Luther adopted the Jewish list, putting the Deuterocanonical books in an appendix. He also set the letter of James, the letter to the Hebrews, John, and the Book of Revelation from the New Testament in an appendix. He did this for doctrinal reasons (for example). Maccabees 12:43-46 supports the doctrine of purgatory, Hebrews endorses the existence of the priesthood, and James 2:24 supports the Catholic doctrine of merit). Later, Lutherans followed Luther’s Old Testament list and rejected the Deuterocanonical books, but they did not follow his rejection of the New Testament books.

Finally, in 1546, the Council of Trent reaffirmed the traditional list of the Catholic Church.

  • WHAT TO LEAVE IN, WHAT TO LEAVE OUT.
• Specifically, the Book of Enoch ( who, along with Elijah, went to Heaven without dying) was out because the claimed authorship is unfounded and not inspired by God.
• The only complete copy known today is written in the Ethiopic language. • The “so-called” lost gospels refer to the 16 books of the Apocrypha and gnostic writings. • Gnostic means knowledge writings. • Their topical differences are: • BIBLICAL WORLDVIEW                           GNOSTICISM • ONE GOD/CREATOR, MULTIPLE CREATORS • BODY/SOUL/SPIRIT GOOD                WORLD/BODY EVIL • JC IS HUMAN/DEVINE                      HE WAS A SPIRIT • FAITH IN JC= SALVATION           SPECIAL KNOWLEDGE BRINGS SALVATION • Gnostic writings include the Gospel of James and Judas. The early Church knew of these writings because they contained fanciful and heretical ideas. • The Gnostic Christians claimed to possess the correct definition of “resurrection” based on the secret teachings of Jesus handed down by the apostles. • They stressed knowledge over faith. • They believed reincarnation to be the correct interpretation of resurrection. • The Roman Orthodox church ultimately wiped out the Gnostic sect. • The first-century Jewish historian Flavius Josephus stated that the Pharisees believed in reincarnation. • Justin Martyr and St Clement also taught the pre-existence of souls. • Origin, an early church father, refused to drop the idea of reincarnation. He thought that a soul has no beginning or end. • The Greeks believed in the transmigration of the soul. • The idea of reincarnation was in the oldest traditions of Western civilization and the Near East and Orient. • The Christian worldview is that the apostles never handed down anything on the subject of reincarnation of the soul, nor did it appear in Scripture. VERN BENDER     VERN BENDER      VERN BENDER
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