Be very careful of those who believe in and attempt to tout the extra-biblical books of the Catholic Bible called the Apocrypha!
The Apocrypha consists of books such as Judith, 1 and 2 Maccabees, Jasher or Enoch, and a couple of others. Those are books that the people who canonized the Bible, didn't include because they either contained doubtful authenticity, or they had unknown authorship, were of doubtful origins, or were historically or geographically off the mark - and therefore we can't really pick and choose what to believe in them.
We simply have to remember, they are NOT part of the Bible for a reason! Yet, many people who find their way to Torah, FLOCK to these books, because they think they contain "secrets" that have been kept from us – one example being that the angel called “Gadreel” is actually Cain’s father… never mind that SCRIPTURE says Adam and Eve had Cain: Genesis 4:1.
The reality is, veering from your study of Scripture to pursue knowledge from those EXTRA-Biblical, UNCANONIZED books, is like coming upon a massive, bloody car pileup on the freeway. No matter how gory, your mind WANTS to see .... and then you have nightmares because you can't un-see people’s brains and guts all over the road.
Unfortunately, most people seem to be conspiracy theorists, drawn to things that aren't necessarily true or are somehow "forbidden knowledge." Reading those books gives people the idea that they're privy to "something they shouldn't know" - and, to them, it becomes way more important than actual Scripture. As a matter of fact, once they start reading those books, they don't even know if they're reading an actual copy of Jasher or Enoch, or whatever, because there are many “fakes” of those books out there….
Just for the sake of discussion. Many of the apocrypha you listed, and many more not listed, have been around for thousands of years.In fact, what we call the "cannon" has changed or been modified several times over thousands of years. Granted, at least to of the reworked cannons have been totally discarded.
ReplyDeleteAs far as some of the apocrypha contained in the Catholic bible is concerned, it dates back at least as far as the Dead Sea Scrolls; Jubilee, Enoch and Tobit to name a few. The book of Jasher is mentioned in the Torah. Although there is no way to confirm if the one in extent today is comparable. We also still recognize an event described in Maccabees in the form of Hanukkah. An event that is hinted to in the Gospels as the feast of dedication.
While I disagree with the harshness of your stand, I don't disagree with the fact that many, if not all of the apocrypha are NOT Torah. And should not be treated as such.
Those are some really great thought, Sonsofnunn! Thank you!
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