It should be stated at the outset, that I do not seek to put down the Bible.
The Bible (The Old and New Testament):
Contrary to the notion that the Bible is a single book that came directly from God, it is in fact a collection of 73 books written by several authors (some who remain unknown). It should also be noted that Jesus (pbuh) did not write and did not dictate to anyone what is written in the Bible.
As mentioned, the Bible is a collection of 73 books taken from The Old and The New Testament. The Old Testament is comprised of 46 books written sometime between 1000 and 100 BC, and the New Testament is comprised of 27 books written between 50 and 100 AD.
The list of the 46 books from the Old Testament (including the Deuterocanonical ones) and the 27 books from the New Testament were declared the official canon of Sacred Scripture for the Catholic Church by the synod (council) of Hippo in 393 AD, Carthage I & II in 397 AD and 419 AD. The letter of Pope St. Innocent I in 405 AD also officially listed these books, and in 1442 AD the council of Florence also definitively established the official list of 46 books of the Old Testament and the 27 books of the New Testament. (In other words, the church officially selected the 73 books which form the Bible).
Can the Bible be the divine word of God?
In order to answer this question, we must ask another one: Who are the authors of the 73 books that make up the Bible?
The Church believes the Holy Spirit inspired the authors of Sacred Scripture to write down God’s revelations.
In some cases the authors of these books are unknown, for example: Joshua (24 chapters, author unknown), Esther (10 chapters, author unknown), Job (42 chapters, author unknown), Samuel (1 & 2, author unknown), Ruth (4 chapters, author unknown), Nehemiah (13 chapters, author not identified but possibly Nehemiah or Nezra).
So if some of the authors are unknown, how could a combination of these books be put together and be called the divine word of God? And how could the church say that the Holy Spirit inspired the authors, when they don’t know who they all are?
Why has the Church left out books by well-known authors?
What criteria did the church use to select which books to choose and which ones to omit? They left out the infancy Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Mary Magdalene (some critics might argue that Mary Magdalene did not write a Gospel), the Gospel of James, the Gospel of Peter, the Gospel of Barnabas, the Gospel of Philip, the secret Gospel of Mark, the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, the Gospel of Nicodemus, and a lot more.
Why would the church choose to include 73 books (some by unknown authors) and exclude the ones whose authorship is known, like the Gospel of Mary Magdalene, a devoted follower of Jesus (pbuh), or the Gospel of Barnabas (an Apostle) written in his own hand? What was the church trying to hide? Was it because Mary Magdalene may have been married to Jesus (pbuh) as described in the Gospel of Philip? Or was it because it is written in the Gospel of Barnabas that Jesus (pbuh) never claimed to be God nor the son of God but a prophet sent by God like the ones before him? Or was it because the name of the prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was mentioned in it a number of times and Jesus (pbuh) prophesized that Muhammad (pbuh) will be sent as a mercy for mankind?
Not only do most of the Gospels whose authors were well known were not included in the Bible, a lot of them were burned between July 306 – Octobre 312AD during the reign of Constantine.
A copy of the handwritten Gospel of Barnabas was discovered with the Apostle Barnabas’ remains in 478 AD, a century before the birth of the prophet Muhammad (pbuh). The Gospel of Barnabas was declared a rejected book by Pope Gelasius [Pope of Rome 492-96] in the Decretum Gelasianum (see below).
Few centuries later, a friend of Pope Sixtus named Fra Marino found the Gospel of Barnabas in the Pope’s private library and decided to translate it into Italian. In 1738 the manuscript found its way into the Austrian National Library, where it remains today.
Note: The Apostle Barnabas was stoned to death for having refused to distort the truth about what he saw and about Jesus being the prophet of God (pbuh), to read sections of the Gospel of Barnabas (which was translated into English in London in 1907) please go to article “# 09 – the rejected Gospel”.
The Missing Books:
In addition to these mysteries, the Protestant version of the Bible has fewer books than the Catholic version. It has 66 books and no one seems capable of offering an explanation beyond the doubtful authorship of 7 books of the Old Testament (For more information regarding the Protestant and Catholic Bibles you can read The Missing Books of the Bible by Father William Sander, dean of the Notre Dame Graduate School of Christendom).
It is for these reasons that Muslims tend to believe that the original scriptures have been corrupted and don’t abide by them, choosing to follow the last scripture sent by God, the Qur’an.
The Decretum Gelasianum: (The list of the books not be included in the Bible)
At The Councils of Hippo (393 AD) and Carthage (397 AD), along with the Synod of Rome (382 AD), played significant roles in affirming the canon of the Bible, particularly in recognizing and confirming the New Testament books as authoritative. These councils focused on approving the accepted books, rather than rejecting others. The Decretum Gelasianum (495 AD) later clarified and listed both accepted and rejected texts, further defining the boundaries of the canon.
“Below is ‘Article 5’ from the ‘Decretum Gelasianum (the Gelasian Decree by Pope Gelasius) which outlines the specific books and writings that the Church officially did not accept and firmly rejected for inclusion in the Bible.”
To read the entire decret of Gelasianum, please visit the following external sources:
http://www.tertullian.org/decretum_eng.htm
Or
http://www.ntcanon.org/Decretum_Gelasianum.shtml
Or
http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/decretum.html
V. The remaining writings which have been compiled or been recognised by heretics or schismatics the Catholic and Apostolic Roman Church does not in any way receive; of these we have thought it right to cite below a few which have been handed down and which are to be avoided by catholics:
LIKEWISE A LIST OF APOCRYPHAL BOOKS
firstly we confess that the synod of Sirmium called together by Constantius Caesar the son of Constantine through the Prefect Taurus is damned then and now and for ever.
