Expert: Cooper P. Abrams III - 4/13/2004

Question
Hi, first of all thank you for doing this. My name is June and I've wondering about 2 things. Paul talks about a third heaven in corinthians which I'm confused about.
 My bigger question is this. Why is the catholic bible and protestant bible different? In the council of N-something back in 300 AD they made a voting decision on what books should be included in the holy bible. Which bible came first, catholic or protestant? Why are they different now, who changed them? Thank you....so much.

June Yi

Answer
Hi June,
 Many have misunderstood this statement, but it is really simple to explain.
 The Bible speaks of but three heavens; and among the Jews in the apostolic ages, also, the heavens were divided into three:

(1st) The aerial, including the clouds and the atmosphere, the heavens above us, until we come to the stars.

(2nd) The starry heavens—the heavens in which the sun, moon, and stars appear to be situated.

(3rd) The heavens beyond the stars  meaning heaven the residence of God, of angels, and of holy spirits.

   It was this upper heaven, the dwelling-place of God, to which Paul was taken, and whose wonders he was permitted to behold—this region where God dwelt, where Christ was seated at the right hand of the Father, and where the spirits of the just were assembled.   
   In other words Paul says he was taken to heaven where God is.

    Briefly, our English New Testament was translated from Greek Greek manuscipts of the Bible.    The NT was written in Greek by the Apostles and writers God used.    By 95 AD all of the New Testament was completed....so the books that make up our NT came first and was the only NT.    
     Our English Bible is a translation of copies of copies of copies, etc these original writings called "autographs".    Thus the authentic NT is a Greek NT and the correct English Bible is one that is properly translated from the Greek texts.
     The Catholic Bible has 14 books added called the Apocryphal books, which are spurious books that claim to be scripture from God, but are not.   These 14 books contain unbiblical stories, events and teaching which clearly marks them as not being from God.
     The Cathotics except them as scripture because that is where they get their false doctrine of Puratory, Maryology and others unbiblical teachings which are not found in the 66 Books of the Bible.
      It is quite an involved process to explain as to how we got our English Bibles.  I have attempted to write an article that explains the basics of How we Got the Bible.  If can be found on my web site at http://bible-truth.org/Howwegot.htm .
   Other material can be found at http://bible-truth.org/FAQ-Bible.html  which addresses various questionsa about the Bible.
    How it was determined that the Bible was the 66 books is explained at  http://bible-truth.org/FAQ-Bible.html#B013 which on on the above page also.
    I know this is brief, so lets to this....read the material I suggested and then write again with your questions that will come from reading the material.  
     Thanks for your good questions and please if this does not answer the matter for you....I will take the time to write a more detailed answer...
Cooper Abrams