Omitting Doubt It Books: A Discussion on Including the Deuterocanonical Books in the Bible

DAY 314 CHALLENGE “If the deuterocanonical books were doubted by some early on, shouldn’t we err on the side of caution and omit them rather than risk adding to the word of God?” DEFENSE This is based on a faulty premise that would lead to dramatic consequences. First, the deuterocanonicals weren’t the only doubted books of the Old Testament. At least five additional books were disputed in the Pharisee tradition but later included in the canon of modern rabbinic Judaism (see Day 255). These books—Esther, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, and Ezekiel—are sometimes referred to as...