Books that do not belong in the Bible?

Uhhh, maybe the table of contents.

Seriously, I know a few people who are of the opinion that Song of Solomon/Songs should go, due to the abundant use of erotic imagery and sexually graphic content. I personally like the book myself. I honestly can't think of any of the 66 books that warrant omission. However, there are several books in the Apocrypha that, having read them, I think might be worthy of inclusion in the canon. But since I wasn't consulted about the canon, it's not my call, now is it?

 

No. They should all stay..

Now the book of tinytim.... that's another issue!

 

They should all stay and to clarify what Martin Luther actually said about James was that it was a "strawy" book (whatever that meant).

He had problems with it because he felt that it appeared to push a "works" salvation rather than grace, which was the entire fight he had with his church. It just wasn't his favorite book, but he did not deny it.

 

Since the canon was established by GOD, I don't feel I have any right to even think that any of the books don't belong there.

However, the books used least by me are Ecclesiastes & Song of Solomon.

Perhaps God includeed the SOS to show racism is wrong. I dunno; I just accept it belongs there.

 

I really like Ecclesiastes! It really spoke to me during my earlier skeptical phase. I thought, "except for being the king and incredibly wealthy, this book is how I look at things; I could have written this." Thankfully, God wrote it to "get to" people like me.

I'm with you on Song of Solomon, though. I guess that one is designed for a different kind of person!

 

actually, I think SOS was placed in the bible to show that God designed marriage to be a beautiful thing.

It is perverted so badly today that many people grow up thinking sex is bad. It isnt. It is one of the greatest gifts God gave us, and he gave us a desire for it as well. Therefore, I think SOS is showing that in the confines of marriage, sexual intimacy is in fact a spiritual thing, and God delights in it.

 

Early Jewish Writings : Enoch 1
Early Jewish Writings : Enoch 2
Early Jewish Writings : Enoch 3

Jewish Encyclopedia : Books of Enoch
Wikipedia : Book of Enoch

 

I thought The Bible as we know it was established by The Council of Nicea. ?

 

That bible translator is awesome! I just read a bunch of Psalms from the Geneva Bible. Great stuff.

 

nevermind that.

 

the bible as we know it was established by the CHURCH through God's Providence.

All the council did was acknowledge what God had already done.

 

When was it so established?

 

I'm pretty sure Luther described James as a straw letter compared to some of Paul's letters and not as a blanket statement.

Personally, if we are talking about adding I've always had a thing for Judith and Tobit.
If we are talking about substracting, a lot of the more genocidal stuff in the OT does not do much for me.

 

npetreley
"he felt that Revelation was so cryptic that it was useless. I don't find most of Revelation all that cryptic, personally. Maybe it's because we're approaching the end times"
"
You are also living in a sub-culture (American Evangelical Christianity) that is fairly End Times obsessed and has many intricate explanations of John's Apocalypse readily available.
Martin L. on the other hand grew in an environment in which the only present form of Christianity was staunchly A-millenialist and thus less interested in Revelation.

Just saying that that could also be a factor.

 

I am certainly not interested in paring down the canon, but isn't it true that most of us have our own private canons? That is, there are books and passages which appeal to us and to which we turn frequently, and then there are others which are used so seldom as to be virtually excluded from the Bible. When I was preparing to retire from my pastorate, I looked through my database of hundreds of sermons preached, and noticed that there were several books of the Bible I had never used in sermons -- among them some of the most negative of the minor prophets, like Zephaniah and Nahum. I had really excluded them from my canon.

 

Joseph M. Smith
"I looked through my database of hundreds of sermons preached, and noticed that there were several books of the Bible I had never used in sermons "
"
This always strikes me as weird. I'm pretty certain that most churches preach through the whole Bible in a 1-3 year cycle.
So how do you skip whole books without the regulars piping up?