5 Myths about 7 Books

There are many good articles and websites that talk about the canonicity of the Deuterocanonical books of the Old Testament.  I am certainly not speaking authoritatively on the subject. I just hope that people will examine the evidence for themselves and at least understand why Catholics accept these books.

There is really little or no reason for Protestants to not at least read these books. They did have a lot of influence over the NT writers even if they are not inspired. I believe they are inspired, though, and have begun to see how NT writers used them.

For me, it is simple. Jesus and the NT writers used the Septuagint. The Septuagint has the 7 books. So, they didn’t have any problem thinking they were authoritative.

Many of the arguments against their inclusion in the canon are really arguments from silence it seems to me. Check into it. What have you got to lose? You may have something to gain. At the very least you will gain a better understanding of some NT references that may seem puzzling to you.

The whole story of the woman with the 7 dead husbands makes more sense to me now, for example.

Check out this article called 5 Myths about 7 Books by Mark Shea. He was a Protestant who left it to join the Catholic Church. I like his writing style. He shows intelligence and good humor. He is much more scholarly than I could hope to be. See what you think.

5 Myths about 7 Books by Mark Shea.

Here is the list of 5 myths. The article gives quite a detailed explanation of why each of these 5 objections are really myths. 

Myth 1 
The deuterocanonical books are not found in the Hebrew Bible. They were added by the Catholic Church at the Council of Trent after Luther rejected it.

Myth 2 
Christ and the Apostles frequently quoted Old Testament Scripture as their authority, but they never quoted from the deuterocanonical books, nor did they even mention them. Clearly, if these books were part of Scripture, the Lord would have cited them.

Myth 3 
The deuterocanonical books contain historical, geographical, and moral errors, so they can't be inspired Scripture.

Myth 4
The deuterocanonical books themselves deny that they are inspired Scripture.

Myth 5
The early Church Fathers, such as St. Athanasius and St. Jerome (who translated the official Bible of the Catholic Church), rejected the deuterocanonical books as Scripture, and the Catholic Church added these books to the canon at the Council of Trent.