BIBLE, WHICH IS HOLY?
Hugh Fogelman
Which
Bible is "THE Bible"―the Holy Bible―the “Real Bible?”
I
am sure that if a Jew, a Catholic, and a Protestant were asked that question
the expected response would be "MINE!"
THE BIBLES OF JEWISH, CATHOLIC, AND PROTESTANT COMMUNITIES CONTAIN
CERTAIN BOOKS THAT FALL INTO FOUR BASIC CATEGORIES
TANAKH (Hebrew Bible)
The Christian Old
Testament.
New Testament
Apocrypha
Below
is a breakdown of the three basic Bibles:
Hebrew Bible or Tanakh:
translated into the Greek Septuagint
Catholic Bible: Greek Old
Testament, New Testament, Apocrypha
Protestant Bible: Greek
(Septuagint) Old Testament, New Testament
Notice,
that all three faiths (Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant) are all in agreement
that the Tanakh (The Jewish Bible) is an inspired document, but that is where
the agreement stops. Notice also that the Catholic and Protestant communities
are in agreement that the New Testament is inspired, but not the Jewish
community. But only the Catholic community considers the Apocrypha in the same
category as the Tanakh and the New Testament.
The
Bible as Jesus knew it, consisted of some twelve to twenty scrolls of different
sizes. Remember, the New Testament that did not exist at that time. Jesus’
bible would have been the SOURCE DOCUMENT, the Hebrew Bible, the Tanakh. It was
not until the fourth century that Christianity
had a defined orthodoxy ― anything kin to a New Testament.
The
writings Christians call the New Testament are grouped into the Gospels, Acts of
the Apostles, Epistles, and the book of Revelation. One Christian tradition
maintains that about five years after the resurrection of Jesus the apostle
Matthew wrote an original life story of Jesus in the Hebrew language. The story
was then copied into Greek and other languages.
Most
of the works attributed to Paul were in circulation prior to the writing of the
four Gospels. Paul's letters began to exercise a powerful influence upon
Christian life and thought. Nevertheless, it was a long time before Paul's
letters were publicly read in the church or considered EQUAL to the words of
the Tanakh. Paul's letters were the first step in creating the New Testament
canon! By the year 200 C.E. a great
variety of canons were in use, some fairly well defined others more informal.
Each reflected "local beliefs and traditions.”
Besides
relying on the Scriptures, the Gentile leaders of the Christian community,
particularly Irenaeus and Tertullian, did irreparable damage to "the
faith" by relegating the Scriptures to "second place" in matters
of doctrine and authority.
Tertullian
developed a universal antidote for all heresy in his argument which cuts off
heretics at the outset. He denied every right of appeal to the Holy Scriptures
on the grounds that the Holy Scriptures were entrusted to the
Did
you notice that Paul contradicts Tertullian by saying the Scriptures were given
to Israel and from Israel would come the Scriptures teaching concerning
covenants, law or commandments, services (worship), promises (again allusion to
Scripture), and who has been established as the "authority" over all
flesh by God―Israel!
Tertullian
is an example of "replacement" theology which is so violently
contrary to the Scripture of the Bible.
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