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Why does the Catholic religion include the Apocryphal books in their version of the Bible?

The word "apocrypha" means "of questionable authenticity." These are called non canonical books because when the canon of Scriptures (the sixty six books of the Old and New Testaments) was accepted by the early Christians they recognized that these books contained spurious material and therefore were not inspired of God. Other names for these books are "hidden" or "deuterocanonical" books. These books are also called "pseudepigraphal", meaning "false writings" to designate them as spurious and unauthentic books of the late centuries B. C. and early centuries A. D. These books contain religious folklore and have never been considered inspired of God by biblical Christians from the earliest times of churches.

In a nutshell, the Roman Catholic church has never had any biblical support for its teachings such as purgatory, prayers for the dead, works for salvation, etc. The events of the Reformation brought the Roman Catholic heresies into question and they had not scriptural authority for teachings. However, these false teachings are found in the Apocryphal books, so the Council of Tent in 1546, canonized them proclaiming them to be "sacred" books. This ruse gave them support for there erroneous teachings. It is always the clear mark of a cult or false church to add extra biblical revelations to the Bible in order to seek to justify their false teachings. Historically, the Roman Catholic church did not accept these books for the first 1300 years of their history. Clearly, the reason they changed their position was that during the Reformation the teachings of Catholicism came under scrutiny by people who were studying God's word, they could find no mention in the Bible of a place called Purgatory, prayers for the dead, paying of indulgences and other practices of the Roman church.

The Apocryphal books themselves show they are not inspired of God and mostly fictional works. They have never been truly accepted by biblical Christians as part of God's word. The Roman Church practice of accepting of money, called "indulgences" for the payment of sins especially came under attack as being unbiblical. History shows that accepting indulgences brought a great deal of money into the coffers of the Roman Catholic Church. A Roman Catholic could actually purchase a indulgence in advance and then go out an commit his sin.

It was this unbiblical practice that was one of the reasons that Martin Luther wrote his "Ninety-five Thesis" and tacked it to the door of the Wittenburg church door. His action sparked the Reformation which began in 1517 which was the also the beginning of Protestantism. There is a statement found in 2 Maccabees 12:43-45, which says "2,000 pieces of silver were sent to Jerusalem for a sin-offering...Whereupon he made reconciliation for the dead, that they might be delivered from sin." On this brief statement the Roman Catholic church has hung its teachings of Purgatory and paying for indulgences for payment of sins.

However, nowhere in God's word is there found any mention of a prayer or a sin offering for the dead. Hebrews 9:27 says "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment" (Hebrews 9:27. In God's word, there is no place called Purgatory or any prayers offered for dead men. When a man dies his fate is sealed. If a man is a believer, he as a child of God, goes to heaven, if he is a lost man he will go to hell. There is no second chance after death. Paul clearly states that a Christian goes immediately into the presence of God when he dies, "We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord." (2 Corinthians 5:8) The false doctrines, historical, cultural, and scientific error, which are contrary to the teachings of the sixty six books of the Bible, show the Apocryphal books are not inspired of God. The inclusion of the Apocrypha in the original printing of the King James Bible strictly for historical reasons. They were included like the materials in many of our modern Bibles for reference. These books were written during the Inter-testamental period between the Old and New Testaments. They contained for example the books of 1st and 2nd Maccabees which record the of rebellion of the Jews against Syria leading to Roman occupation of Israel during the time of Christ. During this 400 year period many changes occurred among the Jews such as the beginning of worship in synagogues, the rise of the sects of the Pharisees and Sadducee's, the rabbinical writings of the Talmud, etc.

"Why does the Catholic religion include the Apocryphal books in their version of the Bible?"

Contortionist rants aside, the answer is obvious to anyone not whistling past the graveyard.

Those books were included in the most widely available, most commonly used, Greek version of the Scriptures when Jesus Christ Himself incarnate taught on earth, quoted from several of them, and never once implied in any way they had any lesser status than other Scripture.

Nor did any of the Apostles who also quoted from some of those books ever, in any way, imply those books had any lesser or different status than other Scripture.

Of course, those who prefer the authority of anti-Christ, anti-Christian, Pharisees to the authority of both Jesus Christ Himself and all of the Apostles are free to argue that anti-Christ, anti-Christian, Pharisees who could not possibly have had any legitimate authority comparable to that which had been granted to those who accepted the Septuagint in the first place, are the proper authorities to obey rather than Jesus Christ.

The alternatives are to either argue that Scripture was unimportant to Christ and the Apostles and is therefore unimportant to this day, or to accept the same Scriptures Jesus Christ accepted.

Personally, I side with Jesus Christ in these matters and accept the canon as it was for several hundred years prior to His birth and never questioned by Christ Himself.