Book of Enoch

An interesting article from http://www.ucg.org/ about the Book of Enoch. This follows this post about marijuana being legalized in states such as Colorado and Washington.  For a free magazine subscription or to get the book shown  for free click HERE! or call 1-888-886-8632.

Book of Enoch


 Is the book of Enoch valid? Should the apocrypha be held on the level of scripture?



[Steve Myers] A question came in from our BeyondToday.tv website from Dan. He asked this, "Is the Book of Enoch inspired writing that Christians should study like the Bible?"



It's a good question Dan. The answer is no. The Book of Enoch is in a group of various books that's called pseudepigrapha and that name used by scholars describes these books and the Apocrypha for that matter very specifically. Here's what that word really means. This "pseude" means false. And the "pigrapha" part means writings. So here we are with a description of these words as false writings.



Now they sound very official because nobody knows who the real authors are, but they use titles like the Book of Enoch or the Book of Beirut or the Book of Solomon, and Moses, and Adam, and names like this when in actuality we don't know who wrote them. And they're described in an interesting way in Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary. Here's what Nelson says, "The pseudepigrapha are a collection of Jewish books containing various forms of literature using names of famous people in Israel's history for the titles of the books." Now the interesting part is that these books have many false concepts that go contrary to the inspired word of God, many things that are in direct contradiction - probably too much then we can even discuss in this short daily today.



But as you look into these books you'll find there are many errors. One in the Book of Enoch specifically is about angels. Now it proposes that angels somehow took human wives for themselves. Now that goes directly against what Jesus Christ Himself taught in the book of Mark where He said that angels don't marry, and they are not given in marriage. They are not sexual beings, and so that would be impossible. So many instances throughout the Apocrypha and the pseudepigrapha are just non-biblical.



So be careful when it comes to these things. Don't let anyone sell you something that doesn't match with the true inspired word of God. In fact there's an interesting passage over in the book of Hebrews that's a good reminder for all of us. In Hebrews 13:9Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.



See All... it says, "Do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines."



In other words stick to the truth of God. Stick to God's inspired word, then you'll never go wrong.



That's BT Daily . We'll see you next time.

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What is the Apocrypha? Should these books be part of the Bible?

An interesting article from http://www.ucg.org/ about the Christian Bible. This follows this post about gays in the Boy Scouts. This follows this post about Christianity in Britain.  For a free magazine subscription or to get the book shown  for free click HERE! or call 1-888-886-8632.

What is the Apocrypha? Should these books be part of the Bible?


Are books like Tobit, Judith, the Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach (Ecclesiasticus), Baruch and 1 and 2 Maccabees inspired parts of Holy Scripture?



Answer:



The Apocrypha or Deuterocanonical books are a group of books written after the principal books of the Old Testament and the New Testament were finished. Most scholars do not believe they belong in the Bible. Unger's Bible Dictionary has a good explanation of why these books should not be considered to be Scripture.



"Old Testament Apocrypha. In its final quasi-technical meaning of ‘noncanonical,' in common use since the Reformation, the term specifically refers to the fourteen books written after the OT canon was closed and which, being the least remote from the canonical books, laid strongest claim to canonicity. The OT apocryphal books…have been rejected as inspired for the following reasons:



"1. They abound in historical and geographical inaccuracies and anachronisms.



"2. They teach doctrines that are false and foster practices…at variance with inspired Scripture.



"3. They resort to literary types and display an artificiality of subject matter and styling out of keeping with inspired Scripture.



"4. They lack the distinctive elements that give genuine Scripture its divine character, such as prophetic power and poetic and religious feeling.



"New Testament Apocrypha. The apocryphal books of the NT, unlike those of the OT, have never claimed the faith of the Christian church, except in a few isolated instances. There are more than one hundred of them, and it is doubtful whether one of them appeared before the second century of our era. Most of them portray a much later date. They are valuable as an indication of the growth of thought and the rise of heresy in the age just subsequent to that of the apostles. None of them ever received the sanction of any ecclesiastical council" (1988, "Apocrypha").



Jesus said "the Scripture cannot be broken" (John 10:35If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken;



See All...), which means that genuine Scripture consistently agrees with itself throughout. Since these books are filled with inaccuracies and disagree with the plain teachings of the Bible, they could not be a part of God's Word.



Jesus also affirmed the three sections of the Hebrew Scriptures preserved and accepted by the Jews. He said, "All things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me" (Luke 24:44And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.



See All...). The apostle Paul explained that God committed to the Jews "the oracles of God" (Romans 3:2Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.



See All...). The Jews did not accept the Apocrypha, and so neither did the Church.



For more information, please read our free booklet, "Is the Bible True?"