Amen Ted - I read the Apocrypha a number of years ago, and it's good literature but not "God-breathed" like the "books" that make up the OT and NT of our Holy Bible. Like you noted, "I haven't yet found anything within them that isn't already testified to among the 66 books that we have." On top of that, I saw some strange ideas in some of the Apocrypha that didn't align with the core doctrines of our Christian faith. Our doctrine needs to be firmly rooted in the Bible.
That doesn't mean we can't gain insight and wisdom from extra-Biblical works like the Apocrypha and Jasher as @FollowerofShiloh expressed. I was so blessed to have an excellent pastor during my formative undergraduate days who encouraged me to devout serious study of the Bible and make it my "foundation of knowledge" that everything else I learned should be built upon. That was great advice, and I have learned so much from great Christian writers like Tennyson, Lewis, and Eliot through the years.
As much as I enjoy reading other literature, I still spend the bulk of my spare reading/study/writing time to the Bible. It never fails to offer new insights and inspiration, and frankly I need it to survive this crazy life and world. It is food for our whole being, and coupled with the Holy Spirit, there isn't another "book" out there that is living and active for strengthening us to think and live like Jesus Christ.
That doesn't mean we can't gain insight and wisdom from extra-Biblical works like the Apocrypha and Jasher as @FollowerofShiloh expressed. I was so blessed to have an excellent pastor during my formative undergraduate days who encouraged me to devout serious study of the Bible and make it my "foundation of knowledge" that everything else I learned should be built upon. That was great advice, and I have learned so much from great Christian writers like Tennyson, Lewis, and Eliot through the years.
As much as I enjoy reading other literature, I still spend the bulk of my spare reading/study/writing time to the Bible. It never fails to offer new insights and inspiration, and frankly I need it to survive this crazy life and world. It is food for our whole being, and coupled with the Holy Spirit, there isn't another "book" out there that is living and active for strengthening us to think and live like Jesus Christ.
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