A favorite lie of the KJV critics is that the original KJV of 1611 "included the Apocrypha," which no serious Christian today accepts as Scripture. The Apocrypha is a collection of several pagan writings which the Roman Catholic church accepts as inspired Scripture. In fact, the Council of Trent (1546) pronounced a CURSE upon anyone who denies that these books are inspired. The King James translators did NOT consider the books to be inspired Scripture, nor did they include them in the canon as such. They included the Apocryphal books for historical value, not as Scripture. Their reasons for not accepting the Apocrypha as Scripture are listed on page 185-186 of the book "Translators Revived," by Alexander McClure. The seven reasons are basically as follows:
1. Not one of them is in the Hebrew language like the rest of the Old Testament books.
2. Not one of the writers lays any claim to inspiration.
3. These books were never acknowledged as sacred Scriptures by the Jewish church, and therefore were never sanctioned by our Lord.
4. They were not allowed a place among the sacred books, during the first four centuries of the Christian church.
5. They contain fabulous statements and statements which contradict not only the canonical Scriptures, but themselves also. For example, in the Books of Maccabees alone, Antiochus Epiphanes dies three times in three places!
6. It inculcates doctrines at variance with the Bible, such as prayers for the dead and sinless perfection.
7. It teaches immoral practices, such as lying, suicide, assassination and magical incantation.
McClure's work has been published for over 150 years, and it has been quoted and referenced many times by various Bible-believing authors, including myself. Our "Fighting Back" booklet has contained this information for nearly twenty years, in print and on various web sites. Dr. Gipp's "The Answer Book" contains this information, and has been published since 1989. There is simply NO EXCUSE for the continuance of such misinformation. It is a LIE, plain and simple, and those who spread it are liars, whether they know it or not. They need to get their heads out of the sands of Laodicea and start doing some reading.
