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Manuel
wrote:
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Hi, guys —
I usually go to a Baptist church but I want
to be Catholic. I'm not clear though, about
certain things in the Catholic bible.
- Was there ever a Jewish Old Testament
canon before Jesus was born?
I've read in a Catholic bible (New American
version) that several centuries before Christ,
the pharisees reexamined some of their Scriptures
and eliminated them, so it seems to me that
their was a canon before Christ was born.
It also seems that people should follow what
the pharisees did since Jesus said in the
Bible, the pharisees sit on Moses' seat.
I'm confused.
Manuel
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Was there ever a Jewish Old Testament
canon before Jesus was born? }
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John
replied:
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Hi, Manuel —
Thanks for your question. I won't
go into too much detail because we've
answered this question in great detail
before and the answer can be found
in our knowledge base. Perhaps our
webmaster, Mike, can pull up the
relative web postings for you.
The rabbis did meet several decades after Jesus, not before, for the
purpose of setting their canon. This
meeting took place at Jamnia, a city
in the Palestine, in the year 90
A.D.
At this meeting they were concerned
with retaining their Jewish identity.
Therefore they eliminated any books
for which they had no Hebrew manuscript.
This meant that many books which
only existed in Greek were dropped.
Nevertheless, they did not stop believing
what was taught in these books and
indeed they retain these beliefs
to this day.
John
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Paul
replied:
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Manuel,
You said:
It also seems
that people should follow what the
pharisees did since Jesus said in
the Bible, the pharisees sit on Moses'
seat.
The passage you refer to comes from Matthew 23:1-3 and speaks to
the authority that God entrusted
to the Jewish people in the Old Covenant.
Nevertheless, the seat of Moses was
usurped by the seat of Peter, the
papacy, in the New Covenant between
God and man in Christ.
The successor
of St. Peter, the pope, now holds
the authority that Christ gave His
Church for the sake of our salvation.
Peace,
Paul
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Mike
replied:
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Hi, Manuel —
Per my colleague's John suggestion,
try these postings:
You said:
I usually go to a Baptist church
but I want to be Catholic.
I used to run a free program that sent Catechisms to seeking Protestants and non-Christians but I no longer have the financial or operational means to do this anymore. Nevertheless, if you wish to go deeper, consider buying a cheap copy of the Catechism of the Catholic Church to learn everything we believe as Catholics.
— If you, or any visitor, have been helped by our work at AskACatholic.com, consider financially supporting us today.
— If you can't right now, click on a few ads on our website. Every ad click brings in a bit more revenue that supports our work. Every click helps.
To add to what my colleague Paul
has said, Moses' Seat has become
Peter's Seat. His Cathedra
(or Seat) is what
we call the Magisterium of the Church.
Hope these help,
Mike
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