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Question #34 -
QUESTION:
Didn't the King James Bible when first printed contain the
Apocrypha?
ANSWER:
Yes.
EXPLANATION: Many
critics of the perfect Bible like to point out that the original
King James had the Apocrypha in it as though that fact compromises
its integrity. But several things must be examined to get the
factual picture.
First, in the days in which our Bible was
translated, the Apocrypha was accepted reading based on its historical
value, though not accepted as Scripture by anyone outside of' the
Catholic church. The King James translators therefore placed it between
the Old and New Testaments for its historical benefit to its
readers. They did not integrate it into the Old
Testament text as do the corrupt Alexandrian manuscripts.
That they rejected the Apocrypha as divine is
very obvious by the seven reasons which they gave for not
incorporating it into the text. They are as follows:
1. Not one of them is in the Hebrew language,
which was alone used by the inspired historians and poets of the
Old Testament.
2. Not one of the writers lays any claim to
inspiration.
3. These books were never acknowledged as
sacred Scriptures by the Jewish Church, and therefore were never
sanctioned by our Lord.
4. They were not allowed a place among the
sacred books, during the first four centuries of the Christian
Church.
5. They contain fabulous statements, and
statements which contradict not only the canonical Scriptures, but
themselves; as when, in the two Books of Maccabees, Antiochus
Epiphanes is made to die three different deaths in as many
different places.
6. It inculcates doctrines at variance with the
Bible, such as prayers for the dead and sinless perfection.
7. It teaches immoral practices, such as lying,
suicide, assassination and magical incantation.
If having the Apocrypha between
the Testaments disqualifies it as authoritative, then the corrupt
Vaticanus and Sinaiticus manuscripts from Alexandria, Egypt must
be totally worthless since their authors obviously didn't have the
conviction of the King James translators and incorporated its
books into the text of the Old Testament thus giving it authority
with Scripture.
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