I was wondering if and how the apocrypha applies to modern day christianity. Any thoughts
_________________Luke
The apocrypha is generally considered and has been considered uninspired by all generations of believing Christians. I am not positive of all the History, but I have read that the early Christians read them like we would read Christian History or devotionals. It would be no different for me to read Spurgeon and have my mind and heart blown by the radical way he saw things. Yet I never would say Spurgeon is scripture. Even though he can help me grow...as can many from the great cloud.The book of Jude quotes from two apocryphal books, 1.) The book of Enoch, and 2.) The assumption of Moses. This fact still seems to be a burr in a lot of peoples britches. I think that some of the reformers wanted it ripped out of the bible, but then again some of them did not like the book of James either :)Personally, I think that the book of Jude is one of the most important Epistles in the Bible as it pertains to our current day and age. It is often overlooked but is jam-packed with probably the strongest language used in the entire Bible. It has been called by some the "Vestibule to Revelation." I like that. There are a lot of others whom have studied the topic far better than I though!
_________________Jeremiah Dusenberry
I recently picked up a copy by Edgar J. Goodspeed. From what I've been told its somewhat of a bridge between the Old and New Testament. I thought the books were written with the intention of relaying a moral theme, like "..and the moral of the story is...". Not to reduce it to a childrens story of sorts, but thats the jist of what I understood it to be.
Don't know if Jude considered the book of Enoch or the assumption of Moses inspired, but he must have believed there were lessons that could be learned from them, else he would not have quoted them. He must also have assumed the readers of his writing would also be somewhat familiar with them. I agree, Jude is a very important epistle. Travis.
_________________Travis
I have the book of Enoch and the Apocrypha. There are many other books like the book of Jasher for instance that is mentioned in the OT saying, "Is this not written in the book of Jasher". The book of Enoch is a fascinating book that resembles the book of Ezekiel.I consider the book of Enoch to be inspired literature, however the Apocrypha is a bit shady, accept for the first and second Maccabees which tells of the formation of the pharisees. It's more a historical document than inspired.Then there is the Pseudo Apocrypha which has such books as the book of Adam and Eve. Interesting information on how the temptation of Eve was conceived.You have to know the word of God when reading these extra materials. And they should be looked upon as literature, history and/or just plain stories that were fabricated by men.Though Josephus is not included in this ilk, it's a wonderful book of historical information that should be read by any person who wishes to further their understanding of the Jewish people from the beginning of the world to destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. One thing of note in his annals of the Jewish people is why God sent the confusion at the tower of Babel. God wanted man to repopulate the earth and they would not, they wanted to gather together into one place and be a "United Nations" as it were. God sent the warnings but they didn't heed, so he sent the many languages that confused their plans to be unified body. Thus they found those that spoke their language and dispersed.
