- Is the Catholic Bible wrong?
So we're going to look at one of the differences
between Catholics and Christians is actually the Bible.
But you may say, "But Catholics have the same Bible
as Christians?" Yes, they do; and no, they don't.
And so, I have a different video where I go through
ten differences between the Protestants and the Catholics
but in this video I want to dive in into the topic of Apocrypha.
Extra books that are added to the Canon and why they were added
and why as Christians we don't accept them
as part of God inspired Books.
Now Apocrypha refers to 15 books
that are of doubtful authenticity and authority
that the Roman Catholic Church decided that belong to the Bible
some times after the Protestant reformation.
So the Catholic Bible contains about five books
that are not included in the Protestant Bible
in addition to Daniel and Esther.
These Books are Sirach, Wisdom, Tobit,
1 Maccabees, and Judith.
The Catholic council of Trent from 1545-1563
canonized these books pretty much in response to Martin Luther
who was criticizing the Catholic Church
and saying that some of the practices of the Catholic Church
were not scriptural. For example, like praying to dead people
and some of the other practices.
And so, what the catholic Church did is they pretty much took
the Apocrypha which are the books that contain
a lot of these practices,
and make references to a lot of these practices
that Catholic church put into their religion
or into their practice; and they allowed these books now
to become part of the Canon to justify their practices.
Roman Catholic Church argues that Septuagint
which is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible
contained Apocrypha meaning they contained these extra books.
And also they argue that early church fathers
used these books in worship setting in the church services.
But the truth is actually a lot of other church fathers
rejected these extra books as part of the Canon.
They also say that St. Augustine is the one that encouraged
use of Apocrypha.
But if you study the history you'll find out that later
in his years, St. Augustine actually rejected Apocrypha
as part of the Canon and he pretty much no longer encouraged
the use of it in church gathering.
One of the biggest arguments that we have against these books
being part of the Canon is the fact that no New Testament author
quoted from any of these books.
And they did not give a slightest sense of authority
to these books as being inspired by God.
In the New Testament, we see from 263 to 295 quotes
from the Old Testament yet not one mention
of any of the books of Apocrypha.
Not one mention of any of the books that Roman Catholics added
into the Old Testament Canon.
The Jewish people, 90 years before the coming of Christ
rejected Apocrypha as the scripture.
Now Jewish people treated Apocrypha with respect
but they never gave Apocrypha- these extra books
the same honor and the same reverence as the Scriptures.
So the Jewish people didn't treat it as the Scriptures,
the New Testament authors never referenced these books
and another problem with Apocrypha being part of the Canon is
actually there are errors, historical errors in Apocrypha
as well as it contains unbiblical doctrines
that do not belong in the Bible.
For example, like praying for the dead,
like petitioning saints in heaven for their prayers,
worshiping angels,
and giving alms for atoning for your sins.
And these doctrinal errors, they contradict the message
of the whole counsel of God.
And therefore, these books - Apocrypha books, you can read them
but they shouldn't be, and they are not allowed to be
part of the Canon; and they were not part of the Canon
even in the Roman Catholic Church until Martin Luther
really rose up with his thesis and said, "Hey, Catholic Church
what are you guys doing?"
And so to justify these practices like praying to the dead
giving alms for atonement of sins
and a lot of these other practices, what they did is
they simply canonized, and they made them part of the Canon.
There is no claim in any of the books in Apocrypha
to divine inspiration.
There is no prophetic words there.
There is no, "Thus says the Lord."
So there is no spiritual divine inspiration in these books.
Therefore we as Christians don't allow these books
to be part of the Canon because Jewish people didn't,
early church writers,
the ones that we have right now as New Testament
the disciples and Jesus Christ's apostles and Apostle Paul
they did not quote the books in Apocrypha.
And they contain doctrinal errors,
and they contain historical errors.
Therefore we as Christians do not treat Apocrypha
as part of the Canon, which makes us have a difference
with Roman Catholics.
And so, if you are a Roman Catholic
just giving you that information.
If you are a protestant, well, you also need to be aware
of why we don't have these extra books
or why Roman Catholics have their proof or explanation
for some of the things that they do
that are against the Scriptures.
It's because they added things to the Scriptures.
They added these writings as part of the Canon.
It's kind of like this:
Let's just say that you like my book 'Break Free', okay?
And let's say that my 'Break Free' book is amazing,
and it's impacting people's lives, and we recommend it
and people use it in their small groups
and it's an amazing book. Okay?
And then after a while maybe certain things there
don't necessarily come in agreement with
the whole counsel of God, but it's widely accepted,
people are getting blessed on it;
and then we start developing practices based on the book
but they start contradicting the Bible.
And then to justify the practices,
instead of putting aside the practices and these extra books
we simply take the 'Break Free' book and we make it
part of the Bible.
That's really kind of what happened in the 15th century
when Roman Catholic Church adopted Apocrypha
as part of the Canon so that they don't have to change
the practices that Martin Luther really opposed,
and practices that are not really supported in the Scriptures.
This is what Apocrypha and that's why Roman Catholic Church
has more books in the Bible.
It's because they added them at that council.
Hey, drop that in the comments. What do you think about this?
Have you ever read these books - Apocrypha books
that has those books and maybe you are Catholic watching this?
Hey, thank you for watching this video.
I appreciate you being here.
We can have a disagreement and we can have a discussion
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