The Bible of the Church
The Bible is the most widely
distributed book in history, with over 5 billion in circulation, and
over 100 million sold every year. There are no figures about how
often it is read or quoted from in churches, but certainly it must
be the most quoted book in history. As overwhelming as these
numbers are, very little has changed concerning the information
known about what the Bible actually says, despite the centuries it
has been in the public domain. (In 1536, William Tyndale was burned
at the stake for translating and printing the holy book in English.)
This can be attributed to many factors, but two reasons stand out
prominently. One very obvious reason is the rather unique language
in the King James Bible prevents English speaking readers form
having a clear understanding of the context of this rather extensive
book. Another more complicated reason is the doctrinal
interpretation of the Catholic Church and its spin-off religions
generally known as Protestant churches.
Through the centuries the strict conditioning of members of
the "Christian" church, by its leaders, has been constant and almost
all doctrine and practice of this church is seldom ever questioned.
Any such questioning is strictly forbidden and almost always results
in castigation, censure, or expulsion from the church. Close
examination reveals that there is good reason for this as the very
existence of the church is threatened by any objective research into
the book it claims as the foundation for its authority.
This book lists the names of hundreds of writings known as the
"lost books" of the Bible; those books associated with the Bible,
but not included in it. One must make a personal judgment about the
authenticity of those books, but to condemn all books not included
in the King James Bible as uninspired is to accept the Emperor
Constantine and the leaders of the early church he founded as direct
representatives of God. This book only uses one ancient writing,
the Book of Enoch, which is not included in the Bible, for its
clarification on certain realities about the flood and demons.
The Book Used in This Work
The Authorized King James Bible, the King James Bible without
the Apocrypha, is the book used for all references in this book
other than the one just mentioned. Many do not know that the
Apocrypha books were actually included in the King James translation
until the Synod of Dordrecht held in Holland removed them in 1618.
There was also a "Translators Preface" and a "Dedicatory Letter from
the Translators to King James" also missing from the original
translation. Neither the Translators Preface nor the Dedicatory
Letter are included here, but can be found on the internet or in
most libraries. These two missing sections provide little insight,
but the Apocrypha books do contain some 400 years of history missing
from the Authorized Version.
The King James Bible is used in this work for two obvious
reasons. First it is widely circulated and does not greatly
conflict with Catholic Douay Bible, which can also be used in
researching this work. The Authorized King James Bible is also the
book used for the Strong's Exhaustive Concordance. Strong’s is the
reference used for translation in this work. Strong's allows for the
cross reference of every word in the King James and simple
translation from all the original words in that translation. As a
work involving over 100 experts and 35 years of dedication, it is
unmatched for its accuracy and research value. The modern
translations are generally only translations of the King James, thus
keeping the mistakes and mistranslations of that book. Any modern
translations using any original works are impossible to check for
accuracy.
King James
Many claim that the Authorized King James Bible is the
inspired work of God, and that all changes and mistranslations are
the direct work of God and any research that questions it is wrong.
This is not supported by the historical reality. King James did not
encourage a translation of the Bible in order to enlighten the
common people; his intent was to deny them the marginal notes of the
Geneva Bible, the favored Bible of the time. The marginal notes of
the Geneva version made it popular with the common people and
contained over 300,000 words that questioned many concepts of
orthodox religion.
King James I of England was a devout believer in the "divine
right of kings", a philosophy claiming a king's power came from God,
thus the king then had to answer to no one but God. The reasoning
was that if a king was evil, that was a punishment sent from God.
The citizens should then suffer in silence. If a king was good, that
was a blessing sent from God. If one considers King James himself as
inspired by God, the public record must be considered carefully in
that judgment.
That record shows King James was a known homosexual, practiced
bestiality, proved himself to be a great coward, and was a sadist
who personally supervised the torture of those caught up in the
witchcraft trials of Scotland.
One very important consideration
must be weighed. If there were no translations or commentaries in
this work certainly some enlightenment would be missing. But, the
verses contained in the original form, as presented directly from
the Authorized King James Bible, are sufficient to back the concepts
in this work. It also must be understood that as the following
doctrines and practices of the church are examined, one glaring
reality will become clear. The church ignores the scriptures about
those doctrines, properly translated and explained, or not.
“It ain't the parts
of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me,
it is the parts that I do understand.”
Mark
Twain
The Basics
There are 66 books in
the Authorized King James Bible containing 1,189 chapters, 41,173
verses, and 774,746 words that were authored by approximately 40 men
and women, and written over a period of 1,600 years. The word
"Bible" comes from the Greek word "biblia" which means "little
books". There are about 6,800 distinct languages in the world; the
Bible has been translated (at least in part) into around 3000 of
those languages.
The Authors
· The
first five books, Genesis through Deuteronomy, were written by
Moses.
· Joshua
is the author of the book of Joshua.
· Judges
was written by the prophet Samuel, as was I Samuel 1-24. The
remainder of I Samuel and all of II Samuel was written by Nathan the
prophet and Gad.
· I
and II Kings were probably written by Jeremiah who compiled older
records made by prophets contemporary
with the events.
· Isaiah,
Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum,
Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi were all
prophets who wrote the books bearing their names.
· The
Psalms had various authors. David wrote about half; other authors
include Asaph or his descendants, the sons of Korah, and Moses.
· Proverbs
1 through 29 belong mostly to Solomon. Chapters 30 and 31 are
respectively ascribed to Agur and
Lemuel.
· The
author of the book of Job was most likely Job himself.
· The
Song of Solomon was written by Solomon.
· The
book of Ruth is attributed to Samuel.
· Lamentations
was written by Jeremiah.
· Ecclesiastes
was written by Solomon.
· Esther
was written by Mordecai.
· Daniel,
Ezra, and Nehemiah wrote the books which bear their names.
· I
and II Chronicles were written by Ezra.
· Matthew,
Mark, Luke, John, James, I Peter, II Peter, I John, II John, III
John, and Jude were written by the men whose names they bear.
· Acts
was written by Luke.
· Romans,
I and II Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians,
I and II Thessalonians, I and II Timothy, Titus, Philemon, and
Hebrews were all written by Paul.
· The
book of Revelation was written by John.
Canon of Scripture
One of the terms used in describing the books that belong in
Scripture is the word canon. This comes from the Greek word ‘kanon’,
meaning reed or measurement. A canonical book is one that measures
up to the standard of Holy Scripture. Thus, the canon of Scripture
refers to the books that are considered the authoritative Word of
God. It was the leaders of the early church who determined which
books were canonical.
What criteria were used
in determining which books belong in the Bible?
· Prophetic
Authorship - For a book to be considered canonical, it must have
been written by a prophet or apostle or by one who had a special
relationship to such (Mark to Peter, Luke to Paul). Only those who
had witnessed the events or had recorded eyewitness testimony could
have their writings considered as Holy Scripture.
· Witness
of the Spirit - The appeal to the inner witness of the Holy Spirit.
Clark Pinnock writes: The Spirit did not reveal a list of inspired
books, but left their recognition to a historical process in which
He was active, God's people learned to distinguish wheat from chaff,
and gold from gravel, as He worked in their hearts (Clark Pinnock,
Biblical Revelation)
· Acceptance
- The final test is the acceptance of the people of God.
Again it must be realized that it
was the leaders of the early church that made all the above
determinations about authorship, whether the Holy Spirit approved
it, and who the "people of God" were who accepted them. No input
was ever accepted from the "common" people.
Who decided which books should be
placed in the Bible?
The number of books originally considered for inclusion in the
Bible is uncertain. We do know Constantine ordered 50 copies of the
Bible to be produced by Eusebius in 325 AD to end any dispute over
this, which basically left this important decision to Eusebius
alone. This collection set the standard. The first ecclesiastical
councils to classify the canonical books were both held in North
Africa-at Hippo Regius in 393 and at Carthage in 397.
Jews and Christians use the same Old
Testament.
The King James Old Testament consists of thirty-nine books
according to the Protestant reckoning, but only twenty-four
according to the Jewish reckoning. The books are the same; the
difference is in the way they are divided. The division of the
Protestants' Bible is as follows: Seventeen historical books:
Genesis-Esther, five poetical books Job-Song of Solomon, seventeen
prophetical books: Isaiah-Malachi.
The Hebrew Bible numbers these as twenty-four: The Torah or
law contains five books, Genesis-Deuteronomy; The Prophets contain
eight books, Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah,
Ezekiel, and the twelve minor prophets are grouped into one book;
The Writings or Kethubim contain eleven books, Psalms, Proverbs,
Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel,
Ezra-Nehemiah, and Chronicles. The Hebrew Bible combined 1 and 2
Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles. The twelve Minor
Prophets were combined into one book. Thus, the books are identical.
The only difference is in the way they are divided.
The
Bible of the Church Part 2
A Guide to This Site
What's here and how to get there.
Text version of this site
An easy to read black and white version.
