Replies

The King James version leaves out several books that are still part of the Catholic vulgate, books that were considered Sacred Scripute by the Jews until after Mosada, when the Rabbis disowned them because they believed they were one of the reasons that they lost the revolt.

Catholics and Protestants use a different Bible. Do you, as a Baptist believe that I, a Catholic, have a right, if asked by an official to swear on a Bible, to swear only on the Bible version which I believe correct?

SURE(!) you have the right to swear on the "Bible" of your choice, and I would stand with you in defending that right. You have the right to read and propagate your faith from any translation, version, edition, or paraphrase you want to, and I would stand with you in defending that right.

I believe that you have been incorrectly advised concerning the origins and the authority of the apocryphal books, but you have a right to them. The original publication of the King James Bible had the apocryphal books all bound in the center, between the O.T. and N.T. They are of great historical value with regard to the Maccabean period. I do not believe that they are cononical or authoritative, but you have the right to believe that they are, and to use them. Count on me as a friend to just such rights.

Here's a thought: We believers (of every stripe) don't live by a book; we live by the Life of Christ, embedded in our hearts by union with His Spirit who indwells our spirit. The Apostle Paul points out that the "Law" (i.e., much of the written word) is a tutor that leads one to Christ. The book is important, as Paul points out in 2 Tim. 3:16-17, in that "Every Scripture is God-breathed (given by His inspiration) and profitable for instruction, for reproof and conviction of sin, for correction of error and discipline in obedience, [and] for training in righteousness (in holy living, in conformity to God's will in thought, purpose, and action), so that the man of God may be complete and proficient, well fitted and thoroughly equipped for every good work." The written word of scripture is to be respected and adhered to, but the word is a crushing burden if we try to apply its teachings to ourselves without the empowerment, and the guidance of the indwelling Holy Spirit. (A.W. Tozer called adherence to the written scriptures in a Spiritless Christianity as the "dead letter of textualism.")

Wouldn't you agree?

And as to the Protestant vs. the Catholic Bible, they are identical in regard to the New Testament, which is the fulfillment of the Old. Both point to Christ in their essential teachings.