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Errors in the Apocrypha
CARM ^ | Matt Slick

Posted on 10/08/2014 5:36:44 PM PDT by Gamecock

The apocrypha (απόκρυφα means "hidden") is a set of books written between approximately 400 B.C. and the time of Christ that is rejected by the Protestants and officially accepted by the Roman Catholic Church in 1546 as being inspired.  These books are Tobit, Judith, 1 and 2 Maccabees, Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach (also known as Ecclesiasticus), and Baruch.

But if the Apocrypha is a Scripture, then it should not have any errors.  But since it does have errors, as will be demonstrated below, this puts into question whether or not the Roman Catholic Church has properly used its self-proclaimed position as the teaching authority of the Christian Church.  If it can error in such an important manner as what is Scripture, can it be trusted to properly teach the Christian Church?  The following references can be verified at http://www.newadvent.org/bible.

Problems in the Apocrypha

When we look into the apocrypha itself, we find numerous problems.  For example, we see it advocating magic where the smoke of a fish heart on a fire drives away devils. 

Condones the use of magic

Tobit 6:5-7, "Then the angel said to him: Take out the entrails of this fish, and lay up his heart, and his gall, and his liver for thee: for these are necessary for useful medicines. 6 And when he had done so, he roasted the flesh thereof, and they took it with them in the way: the rest they salted as much as might serve them, till they came to Rages the city of the Medes. 7 Then Tobias asked the angel, and said to him: I beseech thee, brother Azarias, tell me what remedies are these things good for, which thou hast bid me keep of the fish? 8 And the angel, answering, said to him: If thou put a little piece of its heart upon coals, the smoke thereof driveth away all kind of devils, either from man or from woman, so that they come no more to them."

Is it true that the smoke from a fish's heart, when burned, drives away evil spirits?  Of course not.  Such a superstitious teaching has no place in the word of God.

Teaches that forgiveness of sins is by human effort.

Salvation by works:

We know from Scripture that alms (money or food given to the poor or needy as charity) does not purge our sins.  The blood of Christ is what cleanses us--not money or food given to poor people.  "but if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin." (1 John 1:7).

Money as an offering for the sins of the dead:
2 Maccabbees 12:43, "And making a gathering, he sent twelve thousand drachms of silver to Jerusalem for sacrifice to be offered for the sins of the dead, thinking well and religiously concerning the resurrection."

Can anyone truly accept that money isn't offering for the sins of dead people?  Such a superstitious and unbiblical concept has no place in Scripture.

Historical Errors

Wrong historical facts:

The book of Judith incorrectly says that Nebuchadnezzar was the king of the Assyrians when he was the king of the Babylonians.1

Baruch 6:2 says the Jews would serve in Babylon for seven generations where Jer. 25:11 says it was for 70 years.  "And this whole land shall be a desolation and a horror, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years."

Conclusion

Obviously the apocrypha has serious problems.  From magic, to salvation by works, to money as an offering for the sins of the dead, and blatant incorrect historical facts--it is full of false and unbiblical teachings.  It isn't inspired of God.  Likewise, neither is the Roman Catholic Church, which has stated the Apocrypha is inspired.  This shows the Roman Catholic Church is not the means by which God is communicating his truth to his people, that the Magisterium has erred greatly, and that it is infested with man's false tradition rather than God's absolute truth.

 

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1 posted on 10/08/2014 5:36:44 PM PDT by Gamecock
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pong


2 posted on 10/08/2014 5:40:45 PM PDT by RBStealth (--raised by wolves, disciplined and educated by nuns.)
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To: Gamecock
I read no farther than this:

Is it true that the smoke from a fish's heart, when burned, drives away evil spirits? Of course not. Such a superstitious teaching has no place in the word of God.

The response is, is it true that water and a blessing can wash away the sins committed by a man? That sounds like magic, too, if you go by this guy's logic.

3 posted on 10/08/2014 5:42:35 PM PDT by Defiant (4 main US grps: conservatives, useless idiots (aka RINOs), marxists and useful idiots (aka liberals))
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To: Gamecock

“the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins”


4 posted on 10/08/2014 5:44:35 PM PDT by Telepathic Intruder (The only thing the Left has learned from the failures of socialism is not to call it that)
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To: Defiant
The response is, is it true that water and a blessing can wash away the sins committed by a man?

Nope. That's wrong too.

5 posted on 10/08/2014 5:45:43 PM PDT by Gamecock
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To: Defiant
If you're referring to baptism ... it is not taught to be magic

It is identification only

6 posted on 10/08/2014 5:46:36 PM PDT by knarf (I say things that are true .. I have no proof .. but they're true.)
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To: Gamecock

There are lots of apparent contradictions in many books of the Bible; atheists and skeptics have been pointing those out for years. Actually, those are the sorts of things that Bible scholars write entire books about.


7 posted on 10/08/2014 5:49:35 PM PDT by Steve_Seattle
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To: Gamecock

So as we Christians debate about the number of angels dancing on the head of pins, radical Islam is spreading their vile theology around the world. Please let us unite.
God bless


8 posted on 10/08/2014 5:55:56 PM PDT by Shark24
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To: Gamecock

The early Church fathers included these books at the same time as they included the rest of the Old Testament. They stayed there until Luther decided that they did not fit his world view and he excluded them. He went back to a set of OT scriptures established in I think about 400 AD. So he relied on a bunch of Jewish scholars instead of the men who were basically the grandchildren of the apostles.


9 posted on 10/08/2014 5:58:49 PM PDT by Mercat
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To: knarf

The Progressive Liebral breed would ask if the fish felt any pain as its heart was bbqed,, must take alot of fish hearts to make a meal.

Makes me wonder if a smelt cries as it deep fries

I agree,, can you identify with it?

We haven’t had any great enlightenments in a long time, oh well.


10 posted on 10/08/2014 6:05:52 PM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi - Revolution is a'brewin!!!)
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To: Gamecock

Did I miss something? Is there some band of evil Catholics somewhere that is trying to force the writer to accept these parts of the Catholic Bible?


11 posted on 10/08/2014 6:06:44 PM PDT by Bigg Red (31 May 2014: Obamugabe officially declares the USA a vanquished subject of the Global Caliphate.)
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To: Defiant

Airborne Omega-3,, ingested in smoke and fumes.?? Ever inhale a lot of bacon smoke?? Lol


12 posted on 10/08/2014 6:07:40 PM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi - Revolution is a'brewin!!!)
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To: Gamecock

Look, if you Westerners not in communion with Rome, whether you call yourselves Protestants, “Biblical Christians” or whatever, want to debate the status of the books occurring in the LXX but not the Masorete amongst yourselves on the basis of the hypothesis that the Scriptures are a Christian Qu’ran (that’s what “inerrancy” with the strong notion of divine inspiration popular among advocates of the “inerrancy of the Bible” amounts to) that’s fine and well for you. But, stop with the rubbish about “officially accepted by the Roman Catholic Church in 1546 as being inspired.”

The Latins at Trent merely reiterated the content of the Canon of Scripture that they, in common with us Orthodox Christians, had held from long before their schism from the Church (commonly dated to 1054, though one can argue for 1009, or, as an Antiochian Orthodox Christian, I could argue for 1098 when the Crusaders forcibly replaced the Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch who had still been in communion with Rome, the unpleasantness between Rome and Constantinople.)

The books you and the article object to are in the list of the Canon of Scripture given by the Council of Carthage in 397, which was given ecumenical force by the disciplinary session of the Sixth Ecumenical Council (which the Latins call the “Trullan Synod” or “Quinsext Council”) in 692. (The Latins regard the Council of Carthage as having fixed the Canon on the basis of their ecclesiological theory that an assent by the Pope of Rome gives a council universal force.) The were always in the canon of Scripture, which when bound together in a codex is called The Bible. The fragmentary Old Testament in the Codex Sinaiticus, which manuscript contains the oldest extant complete New Testament, dating to the mid-fourth century (before the Council of Carthage!), includes fragments of most of them.


13 posted on 10/08/2014 6:08:24 PM PDT by The_Reader_David (And when they behead your own people in the wars which are to come, then you will know...)
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To: The_Reader_David

Please mentally insert the word “notwithstanding” following “Constantinople” in my last post.

(Would that I were a better proofreader!)


14 posted on 10/08/2014 6:10:59 PM PDT by The_Reader_David (And when they behead your own people in the wars which are to come, then you will know...)
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To: The_Reader_David
Istanbul, not Constantinople!
15 posted on 10/08/2014 6:22:06 PM PDT by SoFloFreeper
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To: Gamecock
Is it true that the smoke from a fish's heart, when burned, drives away evil spirits? Of course not.

How do you know? Have you tried it? Does it make a difference if an emissary of the Great God YHWH tells you so?

16 posted on 10/08/2014 6:28:09 PM PDT by hinckley buzzard
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To: Mercat

“They stayed there until Luther decided that they did not fit his world view and he excluded them.”

More importantly, the canon has been reexamined multiple times since then and the early errors of including these books has been corrected.

Errors and witchcraft/divination rule these books out for a great many believers in Christ. They reach this decision without regard to Luther.


17 posted on 10/08/2014 6:28:45 PM PDT by aMorePerfectUnion ( "I didn't leave the Central Oligarchy Party. It left me." - Ronaldus Maximus)
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To: Mercat
Luther relied on St. Jerome, one of the Fathers of the Church. Your bigoted ignorance of basic Christian history is unbecoming.
18 posted on 10/08/2014 6:31:07 PM PDT by hinckley buzzard
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To: Defiant

Jesus told a blind man to go wash his eyes with mud. I guess Jesus didn’t get the “no magic” memo.


19 posted on 10/08/2014 6:34:37 PM PDT by SoothingDave
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To: The_Reader_David

Duh,,,,, gee yer so smrt.


20 posted on 10/08/2014 6:38:06 PM PDT by Old Yeller (D.A.M.N. - Deport All Muslims Now! Starting in the White House.)
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