Expert: Elder Greg Madden - 2/8/2007

Question
I have just been reading some of your past answers to questions. It is apparent to me that (a) you do not have adequate academic training to be answering some of these questions, and (b) lacking accurate historical information and interest, you sometimes answer on the basis of you own sect's traditional hostility to other expressions of Christianity.  For example, I quote your answer to a question about the quotation from the Wisdom of Solomon:


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Mariano,

I am uncertain what your question is. I will address what I think your asking, but I would appreciate it if you would write back a more specific question.

What I understand you asking is concerning the text out of the book of wisdom found in the apocrypha. The apocrypha is the name for 14 books written between about 200BC and AD100. Apocrypha, meaning �hidden� or �secret�, refers to the mysterious nature of their origin. Neither their authors nor the circumstances of their writings are known. Neither the Jews nor the early Christians accepted them as inspired scripture. The books themselves do not claim inspiration. There are no �Thus saith the Lord�s�. Although the New Testament has 263 direct quotations from and 370 allusions to the Old Testament, there is not a single reference to the books of the apocrypha. It was at the Council of Trent, on April 8th, 1546, that the pope declared tradition and the apocrypha to be canonical and authoritative. These books teach several false doctrines and contain many inaccurate historical facts.

Though these books were considered non-canonical, slowly over the years they came to be regarded by the Roman Catholic Church as part of the Bible, and were finally officially labeled as such. But the Historical Hebrew Religion, and the Historical Christian Religion growing from it, understood that these writings were non-canonical.

This is a division between Roman Catholicism and Christianity. Christianity, leaning upon God's Holy Word alone (the scriptures) as the ultimate Authority, and the logic in the Spirit of consistent dividing of Truth. And catholic�s leaning upon the word of man (traditions) as the Authority of the Church, and the non-logic in the spirit of inconsistency and rationalizations. The facts speak for themselves, Biblically, Historically, and Logically, and they all point to the same conclusion. The apocrypha books are not Canonical, and they never were.

Please let me know if this helps,
Elder Greg
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It is false to say that the OT apocrypha were never considered canonical before Trent. In fact, at the time of Jerome's fresh translation of the Bible into Latin, to replace older Latin versions that were used throughout the Christian West, he was considered something of a revolutionary because he considered the apocryphal books to be canonical only at a secondary level--that because the Jews on whose learning he relied did not consider them canonical. In fact many Christian writers both before and after Jerome treated a number of the apocryphal books as fully canonical. The Jews responsible for the translation of the Hebrew scriptures into Greek at Alexandria also considered the apocryphal books canonical: they included them in the Greek Bible.

The position of the council of Trent, which represents not an entirely new position but a hardening of a very old position, was a reaction against the decision of the Reformers to treat the apocrypha as noncanonical.

I could add further nuance and detail. My point is that your answer failed to refer to any of the pertinent historical data. Either you are unaware of it or you chose to suppress it because you prefer to spout your bluntly hostile opinions about the illegitimacy of historic forms of Christianity other than your own recently developed variety of Pentecostalism--which is of course part of the Christian family, but is not the only part of the Christian family.

Do you know anything at all about the history and contents of the Septuagint, the Vulgate, the formation of the Hebrew biblical canon, the formation of the Christian biblical canon, the writings of Origen, of Eusebius, of Athanasius, of Jerome, the origins and contents of the Wisdom of Solomon? Have you read them, either in their original languages or in English translation? If so, why did you not utilize any of that knowledge in your answer? If not, why did you not reply: "I do not know enough on that topic to answer your question"?

Answer
James,

Thank you for your questions. Let me quote to you what I listed as my area of expertise...

"Expertise:   I am a born again, Holy Ghost filled minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am available to answer questions concerning most all Biblical doctrines, the gifts and fruit of the Spirit, "Pentecostal/Apostolic" issues, and the history of the Pentecostal movement."

Now if someone asked me a question outside of that parameter, then I will do my best to give them the correct Biblical answer. Which in the case of the previous question you referenced, I did just that.

James, you may disagree with what I wrote, but that does not mean it is wrong. As to whether I, as you put it...
"...know anything at all about the history and contents of the Septuagint, the Vulgate, the formation of the Hebrew biblical canon, the formation of the Christian biblical canon, the writings of Origen, of Eusebius, of Athanasius, of Jerome, the origins and contents of the Wisdom of Solomon?"

Yes, I am familiar with these subjects. Briefly...

Septuagint; The Septuagint (LXX) is the name commonly given in the West to the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) produced from the third to first century BC.

Vulgate; The Vulgate Bible is an early 5th century translation of the Bible into Latin made by Jerome on the orders of Pope Damasus I.

Hebrew biblical canon, Christian biblical canon; these are the exclusive collection of documents in the Judeo-Christian tradition that have come to be regarded as Scripture. The Jewish canon was written in both Hebrew and Aramaic, while the Christian canon was written in Greek.

Writings of Origen, Eusebius, Athanasius, and Jerome; Yes I am familiar with them.

Wisdom of Solomon; The Wisdom of Solomon is one of the deuterocanonical books. Divided into 19 chapters and 439 verses. Although the author claims to be Solomon, many scholars believe that its language and ideas are of Greek origin and therefore the author is an Alexandrian Jew.

So in short, I am familiar with the subjects you asked about. Please let me know if this helps you understand my position. And a suggestion, if you do write back, be sure and erase the previous reply. I am unable to do that, and if you do not, then the answer becomes rather lengthy and hard to read. Thanks :-)


Elder Greg Madden