I’m posting this with a heavy heart… I wrote it several days ago and left it saved to see if it was something that I really needed to say as it is very strongly worded and not perhaps as coherent as I’d like despite repeated work. It has not only been constantly a burden of sorts, but the issue has come up yet again, with yet another comment by a Christian who said that the reason homosexuality gets such a bad rap in scripture is not because it was sinful, but because the Romans were hedonistic, which, she claimed, is very different from a loving homosexual family. This simply can not stand. This in direct opposition to what God teaches us in sacred scripture, both about what constitutes a family and what is sinful in the way of sexual relations. It is because of this… because everything in me cries out against this false belief and I can not get rest over it, that I publish this post. This horribly distorted faith I have just described IS one of the fruits of the reformation.
This is probably common knowledge to everyone here but is there a particular reason that the protestants removed books from the Christian bible? And how did they choose which ones to remove or keep?
This quote was taken from the homeschooling forums I frequent (one of them anyway). In an attempt to answer quickly I posted the following from Dave Armstrong…
Protestantism, following Martin Luther, removed the deuterocanonical books from their Bibles due to their clear teaching of doctrines which had been recently repudiated by Protestants, such as prayers for the dead (Tobit 12:12, 2 Maccabees 12:39-45 ff.; cf. 1 Corinthians 15:29), intercession of dead saints (2 Maccabees 15:14; cf. Revelation 6:9-10), and intermediary intercession of angels (Tobit 12:12,15; cf. Revelation 5:8, 8:3-4). We know this from plain statements of Luther and other Reformers.
Luther was not content even to let the matter rest there, and proceeded to cast doubt on many other books of the Bible which are accepted as canonical by all Protestants. He considered Job and Jonah mere fables, and Ecclesiastes incoherent and incomplete. He wished that Esther (along with 2 Maccabees) “did not exist,” and wanted to “toss it into the Elbe” river.
The New Testament fared scarcely better under Luther’s gaze. He rejected from the New Testament Canon (“chief books”) Hebrews, James (“epistle of straw”), Jude and Revelation, and placed them at the end of his translation, as a New Testament “Apocrypha.” He regarded them as non-apostolic. Of the book of Revelation he said, “Christ is not taught or known in it.” These opinions are found in Luther’s Prefaces to biblical books, in his German translation of 1522.
… and then this from myself…
Generally speaking, the easiest way to answer is just that they removed the bits that taught things they didn’t like. In our current era, they don’t remove them, rather just redefine what it means to suit their own beliefs. Over time, more and more is ‘defined’ away until some who claim Christianity resemble it not at all.
Feathers got ruffled to say the least. I apologized as I didn’t INTEND to ruffle feathers or cause offense. That said, I did not mean that I was sorry for the basic content of the post. Luther DID remove the ‘bits’ that taught things he didn’t like, that he didn’t agree with. In fact, he WANTED to remove far more than he DID! Some people excuse that as oh, he was a sinful man and wasn’t right about everything. HUH? How does one say that it wasn’t ok for him to do that, but it WAS ok for him to break his vows to God and his superiors and refuse to submit to the authority over him? It comes down to ‘it was ok for him to leave the RCC because we don’t like her and don’t want to obey either.’ Double-minded men, sinful men, just as Luther was sinful… who do what is RIGHT in their own eyes. God forgive us…
Also, the fact that in our current era we don’t remove but instead redefine is an undeniable fact. All one has to do is look at the number of protestant denominations. Over and over in discussions people say “I don’t believe it says that.” What they MEAN is “I don’t want it to say that” and they set about explaining how it can’t possibly say that which they find offensive or that which might require that they take action. I was guilty of this as well, at least to some extent… while I was protestant.
At the end I said that so much of this had gone on that there are those who claim Christianity but do not resemble it and I stand by that as well. Just on this set of forums in the past few months I have read of several such belief systems. One focuses on the deity of Christ to the exclusion of God the Father or the Holy Spirit. The other claimed that homosexuality was not a sin, that God didn’t mean that it was a sin when He called it an abomination. Yet another called circumcision sexual mutilation, and by default, God a sexual mutilator as He had ordered circumcision for His people (thinking specifically of the Jewish here, not going into the whole NT disposition).
I do not see how these beliefs are REMOTELY compatible with Christianity. One might agree or disagree on any number of things which don’t contradict sacred scripture outright and claim the faith… but to blatantly claim beliefs that are in direct opposition to teachings which have left NO room for misunderstanding or confusion is just beyond my ability to comprehend. NEVER, in my WORST moments as a protestant did I read anything God made absolutly crystal clear like ‘for a man to lie with another man is an abomination’ and pretend otherwise. NEVER did I call what God said was right for His people to do was an abomination. These are just beyond even what I have ever seen a devout protestant dare!
Don’t misunderstand… not for ONE MOMENT do I think that as a protestant I was sinning any less for my own particular brand of heresy than they are in theirs. Certainly, I am just as guilty… and despite the absolution for my sins… it grieves me still. That is perhaps why I get so frustrated by all this… I didn’t know any better… they don’t know any better… we are ALL (protestants, whether current or former) paying the price for the sins of our forefathers. The truth of the faith, the fullness of the faith was stolen from us… and as a result we sin greatly, and grieve God who extends mercy in spite of it all.
That said, I do NOT want to be guilty of continuing that and not about to lie and say that people AREN’T calling interpretations the way they want them to be! Perhaps this is more uniquely true in the American church… I don’t know… but there was a time when almost everyone I knew, even as a protestant, held themselves accountable to what God said was right and wrong. That is no longer true… many still do, true… but many are remaking the faith to fit their own desires, their own sense of right and wrong, their own comfort, their own idea of what makes a good faith/religion. Some in outright contradiction of God’s word… how does one NOT take a stand on this? How can it NOT grieve anyone truly seeking God?
Conversion to the Catholic Church has been a great blessing in my life… God truly knew better than I did what was right and best. Part of my conversion has been giving UP what seemed right and good and true in my own eyes and being obedient instead to what God said. Many of these things have come to make sense and I can see the joy and blessing obedience brings. Other things are difficult, I understand even as I demand obedience from myself despite the costs and suffering, despite whether or not I think it is just or fair. Is this not what we must do? Is it not always we who must move to align ourselves more fully with God?
Over and over protestants say ‘that is what you choose to believe’ and inside I’m yelling ‘NO! It WASN’T!’ but they don’t understand… and no wording will change that. How do you explain a burning bush… holy ground… following because you must… because there lies the only path to Life? Only those who have walked this ground seem to understand and it is so hard to look at those who remain where I was, to have a heart for them, to want them to share the beauty and joy and riches God has shown me here… and find myself unable to reach them when trying to answer their questions. It is as though I speak a different language… and yet I feel more love for my brethren than ever before.
In some ways I am more completely a part of the Body of Christ than I have ever been… and in some ways I feel more alone, rejected, vilified, and misunderstood. It is not without much struggle, this narrow way… It was much easier when I had ‘my own’ interpretation… no protestants were offended by it, there was no struggle… certainly nothing like this and yet…
Even so Lord, lead on…
