New Old Reading for Christians
September 12th, 2016The Epistle of Barnabas
I don’t have complete faith in the people who decided which books were to be included in the Bible. I believe all of the Protestant choices are valid, but the Catholics and Orthodox churches have included some bizarre items, and some of them are definitely wrong.
Example: the book of Judith. Even Catholics admit this one is full of errors. I assume Catholics don’t believe the Bible is inerrant. It is also believed that The Wisdom of Solomon is a forgery.
I went through most of the Catholic choices Protestants don’t like, and so far, I haven’t come across anything that appears to be inspired by the Holy Spirit. I haven’t read the books of Maccabees and Baruch yet.
Why did I do this? Because someone sent me looking for a book by Barnabas, an early apostle.
I found a Youtube channel belonging to a man named Billy Hobbs, and I’ve been watching his stuff. He understands things most Christians don’t get. For example, he knows demons are the spirits of the offspring of men and angels. Most people think they’re fallen angels.
He talks about extra-Biblical books, and he mentioned Enoch and Barnabas, so I had to see what Barnabas had to say.
At first I was very disappointed, because there is a bogus book called The Gospel of Barnabas, and that’s the first book I found. It’s a ridiculous forgery denying the divinity of Jesus. Muslims love it because they believe Jesus is not the son of God.
Looking at that book, I wondered if Billy Hobbs knew what he was doing. Then I came across The Epistle of Barnabas, which is a different book. I read it last night.
This one seems to be the real McCoy. Some of the Catholic books are clearly self-help and fables, and they don’t have the ring of truth. They are not moving to read, because they don’t resonate with the experience of a person who knows the Holy Spirit. Barnabas, however, is very consistent with the other apostles, and he teaches the way Holy-Spirit-led teachers teach, with insight that appears to come from God.
Barnabas mentions something which I thought was a modern revelation; he says the age of man is divided into thousand-year periods, and that these periods are like days of the week. The seventh period will be a Sabbath–a time of rest and peace–and the eighth period will be a time of new creation. This is consistent with what I believe. I expect Jesus to return for the seventh age and rule for a thousand years.
Here we are, in the Jewish year 5776, 223 years and change away from 6000. That makes me wonder: do we have 223 years of suffering in front of us? Is the end actually coming sooner, and is the Jewish calendar off by two centuries? Will the seventh period begin before 6000, just as Jewish days start on the preceding evening?
Jesus said only the Father knew when everything was going to wrap up, but it would be nice to narrow it down a little.
I can understand why God won’t be specific. For one thing, everyone would set a timer, sin like crazy, and then repent two minutes before the bell. You know they would; it’s not even debatable.
You can find Barnabas online. Check it out and see what you think.
September 12th, 2016 at 2:37 PM
I may be mistaken but I believe that only the Koran is considered by Muslims to be the inerrant word of God, received directly from God by Abraham the Child Molesting Mass-Murdering Warlord, which is why all of us infidels are required only to touch it wearing gloves, if ever.
The books of the Catholic Bible are considered to be divinely-inspired writings of fallible men, and are written in the many different forms.
And of course there have been so many translations down through the last almost 6000 years of the Old Testament and 2000 years of the New Testament, that there are bound to be a lot of changes from the original texts that were made because of the personal preferences and biases, political and educational agendas, among many other things.
September 12th, 2016 at 5:38 PM
Actually, the New Testament has been preserved really well. There are piles of old copies in the original Greek, and they agree.
September 13th, 2016 at 6:50 AM
I’ve read through many of the apocryphal “gospels” and I agree, they just “feel” different. They don’t provide that same sense of authority and depth. I, too, really liked Barnabus. It seemed the closest to canonical. I wondered at first why it wasn’t included, but if I recall correctly, while a great read, it is also seems to “hoe the same row” and cover some of the same things somewhat redundantly. Might be why.
Sharkman – I think you mean Mohammed, not Abraham.
September 13th, 2016 at 12:24 PM
Oops, I stand corrected on Abraham v. Mohammed. Apologies.
Did not know that the New Testament was so well preserved. That is reassuring.
September 13th, 2016 at 2:54 PM
There is a worn-out canard to the effect that the New Testament can’t be right because there are something like 23,000 ancient versions of it. In fact, the correct word is “COPIES.”
September 13th, 2016 at 4:02 PM
Pace to Bart Ehrman and the other Bible “Scholars” who are always trying to gin up the “alternate books of the bible that prove Jesus was gay, married, a Lithuanian cobbler, a Martian, blah blah blah” theories around Christmas and Easter, actually read that the New Testament is the most validated ancient document on Earth, which again is reassuring.
Steve H: If you have a P.O. Box that I can send to, I’d like to order and send a book to you that I have found to be Non-Catholic, and a great read. I think I mentioned it to you in an email some months ago. Death on a Friday Afternoon, by Richard John Neuhaus.
September 13th, 2016 at 10:06 PM
How can I be sure I am getting the best translation. Do you have a recommendation?
September 14th, 2016 at 10:10 AM
Sharkman, I appreciate the offer, but I don’t think that book is my cup of tea.
Ruth, I read the first translation I found on the Internet. The translation doesn’t matter all that much if you can hear the Holy Spirit.