Another Practical Guide to the Logic, Philosophy, and Thoughts of Christianity

Section 1 - Article 30

Three Holy Children – talks about Daniel's three friends as they were cast into the furnace. In it records the prayers of these three while in furnace. The prayers did not make sense to me as it included the appearance of an angel that loosened their bounds, however, the book of Daniel clearly mentioned that the fire burnt away their bondages. There was also a part of the prayer where the king was called the most evil. This goes against scripture that taught us to submit to authority and not utter bad things of our kings.

My review for this book is: No added value, no added knowledge. No learning points as well. Contradiction puts it at odds with the book of Daniel. Certainly not scripture.

Susanna gives the story of a Jewish woman who was framed by the elders for adultery when she refused to lay with them. Then came Daniel to the rescue. While a possible account, but it was said that Daniel rose to favor of the Jews through the display of his wisdom in the handling of the case. Yet the scriptures pointed to Daniel rising to fame in interpreting Nebuchadnezzar's dream. While certainly not mutually exclusive, no clear biblical or spiritual lesson can be drawn from the writings.

My review for the book: No edification of God, no added value, no added knowledge. Not necessary, certainly not scripture.

Bel and the Dragon are short stories including how Daniel exposed the mystical eating of food offered to Bel to be that of a deceit set by Bel's priests. It had the odd description of Daniel telling the King that Bel was but an idol right to his face. This is not likely the action of a slave considering that Daniel and his friends had to plead with the chief of eunuchs on their diet. To have the audacity to tell the king right to his face that he was worshipping an idol contradicts sense and the book of Daniel. The later part is where the king granted permission for Daniel to slay their god, a dragon (most likely a dinosaur). This contradicts sense and the portrayal of Daniel in the book of Daniel. The audacity of actively going against the King was not the accounts of not compromising as depicted in the book of Daniel. The actual accounts are doubtful, much less scripture.

My review for this book: Doubtful events, much less scripture. No edification of God, but rather that of Daniel.

The two books of Maccabees are accounts of the heroic acts of the Maccabees in the defense of Israel. There are some clear historic value where it sheds light on the culture and situation during the time, there is however, no spiritual value or lessons to be drawn from. The second book states the idea of ex nihilo creation of man rather than from dust (7:28), which may very well be the thought of many Jews at that time. However, it clearly contradicts Genesis. Unlike the book of Joshua where God was clearly edified, the books of Maccabees have no clear edification of God in the heroic wars. There are some accounts of heavenly horsemen which left un-interpreted is anyone's guess. In fact, in one account, the angels supposedly asked for the praise of the high priest (3:33).

My review for these two books: Has historical value and for understanding the inter-testament times, but no clear spiritual value to be regarded as Scripture.

Addendum - First and Second book of Adam and Eve

This pair is another set of non-canonical books. They are known to be fiction because they detail the lives of Adam and Eve after leaving the Garden all the way to the time of Noah. They make a fascinating read, but are clearly modern writings (peudepigrapha). While there is some credit to their affirmation of Jesus as the Christ being the Godhead, and the accounts give really good possibilities to the life and feelings of Adam and Eve after being exiled, there are many issues with it. Nonetheless, I feel credit is given to the account of Cain and Abel, and Seth. It clearly depicts the degeneration of Cain. And there is a clear divide in this account in the children of Seth vs children of Cain which has some credibility to the account in Genesis 6 on the daughters of men and "son of God". But while it is an interesting read, we can see how much Adam and Eve would have suffered in the face of the horror of their disobedience. We are fortunate in the sense that we cannot know and experience what we missed, but they could. And truly to witness the first murder, one between your children is truly a heart breaking event, and to know you are responsible because of the forbidden fruit, cannot possibly be easy on our first parents.

While it is a recommended interesting read, giving us insights into the early days, my work here is to justify its exclusion from the Bible Canon.

There are numerous accounts of Adam and Eve dying and being raised from the dead by the Word. We are not talking about once or twice, but multiple times. This itself is questionable and against scripture.

Being the perfect man and woman they once were, possessing great intelligence and physical, the accounts make them look like lost stranded people.

In one account, their bodies were suddenly altered so they could eat food, this contradicts Genesis where they were already eating (forbidden fruit).

Adam did not know if he were to marry Eve nor know if he were to copulate with her. Again, this contradicts what was clearly commanded to them by God while they were in the garden.

Moreover, there were far too many angelic interventions for a scriptural account.

Cain, as we know from Genesis, was banished to a faraway land, whereas in this account, he settled with his married sister Luluwa at the foot of the holy mountain while Adam, Eve, Seth, etc settled on the Cave of Treasures in the holy mountain. So this was another contradiction.

Seth was described to be very godly, leaving the earthly affairs of work but merely concentrating on fasting and praying always, to the point that both him and his offspring did not care for food or work, surviving only on fruits. This describes the lives of monks rather than what we are taught to do in the scriptures. Man was made to work. In fact, in the first day, Adam named all the animals.

Adam supposedly prophesied the flood, which is an interesting concept, but we were not told of any such prophecy until God told Noah what to do. Also, Adam supposedly wanted his offspring to take "treasures from Eden" on the ark. This was not recorded in Genesis, although its description is highly similar to the Ark of Covenant containing manna, the flowering staff, and the 10 commandments tablets.

Adam and Eve were described to only have 5 children, which were 3 sons and 2 daughters. But they were likely to have more given their long age.

While much credit can be given to this two books on shedding some possibilities on the life of our first parents, and of course credit in the emphasis of the Godhead and a good precursor to understanding the Genesis 6 mystery of "sons of God" copulating with "daughters of men", it remains largely fictional with irrelevant geographical places, with some inconsistency with the Genesis account.

As always, the test of a prophet and also scripture is that it has to be 100% accurate. If it is even just 99%, it is not good enough to be regarded as prophecy or God's word.