Question:
Is the Apocrypha part of the Bible? Are there more than 66 books?
Answer:
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Some wrongly claim there more than 66 books of the Bible
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Apocrypha – a book translated when they translated the King James Version Bible but it was NEVER considered part of the Bible
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Sometimes in the addendum or other places because it was not canonized
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The Apocrypha books were rejected for multiple reasons
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None were written in Hebrew (the Old Testament language)
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No authors claimed Divine Inspiration (ex. “Lord spoke” or “word of God”)
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Those books never even claim to be the word of God
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No allusions to the Old Testament
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Cp. King James has 263 direct quotes and 370 allusions to the Old Testament
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Judaism never acknowledged the Apocrypha as sacred
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The 1st to 4th Century Christian church never regarded it as sacred
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It contradicts Biblical Doctrines
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Includes “Prayers for the dead” – ex. in 1st & 2nd Maccabees, Antiochus dies 3 different deaths
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Anti-doctrinal writings from the Apocrypha:
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Tobit 6:5-8 – “If the devil, or an evil spirit trouble anyone, they can be driven away by making a smoke of the heart, liver, and gall of a fish … 17 and the Devil will smell it and flee away, and never come again anymore.”
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You cannot cast out devils with fish livers or hearts
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Tobit 12:8-9 – “It is better to give alms than to lay up gold; for alms doth deliver from death, and shall purge away all sin.”
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Ecclesiasticus 3:30 – “Water will quench a flaming fire, and alms maketh atonement for sin.”
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2 Maccabees 12:43-44 – “Two thousand 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.”
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It promotes & condones immorality
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Ex. lying, magical incantations, suicides
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The Apocrypha was never and is not part of the Bible – don’t let anyone deceive you
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The Bible we have is the word of God
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The prophecy in there is greater than any word you’ll ever get from heaven (2 Pet. 1:17-21)
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