“What are the Apocrypha / Deuterocanonical books?”……Answer: Roman Catholic Bibles have several more books in the Old Testament than Protestant Bibles. These books are referred to as the Apocrypha or Deuterocanonical books. The word apocrypha means "hidden," while the word deuterocanonical means "second canon." The Apocrypha / Deuterocanonicals were written primarily in the time between […]

“What is the book of Enoch and should it be in the Bible?”……Answer: The Book of Enoch is any of several pseudepigraphal (falsely attributed works, texts whose claimed authorship is unfounded) works that attribute themselves to Enoch, the great-grandfather of Noah; that is, Enoch son of Jared (Genesis 5:18). Enoch is also one of the […]

“What are the Gnostic gospels?”……Answer: The Gnostic gospels are writings by early “Christian” Gnostics. After the first century of Christianity, two primary divisions developed – the orthodox and the Gnostics. The orthodox Christians held to books we now have in the Bible and to what is today considered orthodox theology. The Gnostic Christians, if they […]

“What is the gospel of Philip?”……Similar to the gospel of Thomas, the gospel of Philip is a collection of sayings, supposedly of Jesus. The gospel of Philip focuses a great deal on the "sacrament of marriage" as a "sacred mystery." The gospel of Philip does not claim to have been written by Jesus' disciple Philip. […]

“What is the Book of Jubilees and should it be in the Bible?”……The Book of Jubilees, sometimes called the "Lesser Genesis," was probably written in the 2nd century BC and records an account of the biblical history of the world from the creation to Moses. The book divides history into periods or "jubilees" of 49 […]

“What is the Book of Jasher/Jashar ,should it be in the Bible?”……Also known as the "Book of the Upright One" in the Greek Septuagint and the "Book of the Just Ones" in the Latin Vulgate, the Book of Jasher was probably a collection or compilation of ancient Hebrew songs and poems praising the heroes of […]