Hello Kathleen. I'm unsure why you think that the Books of the Maccabees were removed from the Bible; as far as I know, they, alongwith the other apocryphal books, were never in the Bible.
These apocryphal books, as also the great number of other writings & manuscripts, have been around throughout history and particularly in the inter-testamental period (i.e. after Malachi's prophecy & the entrance of Jesus Christ at Bethlehem). Some of these writings were known to the Jews, but ultimately they only accepted the Word revealed through Moses (i.e. the Torah: the five Books of Moses); the Nevi'im (or, the Prophets), and the Ketuvim (or, the Writings). They never accepted any of the other books. And within those broad divisions, we get our Bible (i.e. the same books as in the Tanakh (the Jewish Bible), but variations in order of appearance, & other minor changes).
So, the Jews rejected the apocrypha & other spurious writings as being the Word of God, from God, & likewise, when the NT Canon was brought together, similar rules were applied, where authors, textual examination, falsehoods, etc., were reasons for post-New Testament writings being rejected. Now some Churches, e.g. the Roman Catholic & orthodox, do accept the apocryphal books as valid, but in mainstream Christianity, we believe that what we have now is God's Word, and that to fully accept these other writings, severely prejudice the Truth, as revealed to us.
This book is very interesting historically, but it is not profitable for doctrine. It is not part of the Bible. Look at chapter 12 on praying for the dead. Don t think that just because a book is ancient or sounds stylistically similar to the Bible that it is the Bible.
Raimundo, just because one verse doesn 't make sense to you, you are planning to throw away the whole book? What about passages like this in the Bible that you have And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. Genesis 6 6 And then you read this God is not a man, that he should lie neither the son of man, that he should repent hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? Numbers 23 19 If you don 't understand, then pray to the Most High Ahayah to give you understanding, because if you have this thinking, then you should throw the whole Bible away. Just because Jehovah is in the Bible, while I know in my research that "Jehovah " is "Jahbulon ", the God of the Masons, Lucifer called the Devil, does that mean I should throw away the Bible? Lol The Bible itself says that the scribes have manipulated the word of God for their own profits, but that doesn 't change the fact that the word of God is the will of God. Only the Most High can guide you in His word to understand fully what is written in the Good Book!
First time I read in the Bible a statement that makes me wonder about the authority of God's inspiration of a book. God will never apologize to men what He wants to communicate through scripture."And if I haue done well, and as is fitting the story, it is that which I desired: but if slenderly, and meanly, it is that which I could attaine vnto." First of all - God said in Genesis when He created the world that everything He done was good because He is perfect and He knows everything because He is in control of everything and do whatever He wants. Second: God will never do something slander or meanly which mean(Deficient in amount or quality or extent). Having said that I can't accept this book as the Word of God.
I was praying for my husbands job, after he lost his job, many times I was guided to read Esther from both the texts and I took it as a promise from God for our situation, claiming such blessing for me. Today is very important, after prayers I asked for a verse for me and opened this reading, I never knew this story before, when I read the full thing, it really looked like for me and also the mention of Mordecai, which was always given for my husband
These apocryphal books, as also the great number of other writings & manuscripts, have been around throughout history and particularly in the inter-testamental period (i.e. after Malachi's prophecy & the entrance of Jesus Christ at Bethlehem). Some of these writings were known to the Jews, but ultimately they only accepted the Word revealed through Moses (i.e. the Torah: the five Books of Moses); the Nevi'im (or, the Prophets), and the Ketuvim (or, the Writings). They never accepted any of the other books. And within those broad divisions, we get our Bible (i.e. the same books as in the Tanakh (the Jewish Bible), but variations in order of appearance, & other minor changes).
So, the Jews rejected the apocrypha & other spurious writings as being the Word of God, from God, & likewise, when the NT Canon was brought together, similar rules were applied, where authors, textual examination, falsehoods, etc., were reasons for post-New Testament writings being rejected. Now some Churches, e.g. the Roman Catholic & orthodox, do accept the apocryphal books as valid, but in mainstream Christianity, we believe that what we have now is God's Word, and that to fully accept these other writings, severely prejudice the Truth, as revealed to us.
Do you have a Bible comment or question?
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