SIRACH IS A CLEARLY FABRICATED AND DANGEROUS SCRIPTURE AND DESPITE CRITICISMS THE CATHOLIC CHURCH PUT IT IN ITS BIBLE

A religion that is not man-made needs clear scriptures that were written by God in some real way.

When the Catholic Church found that many of her most important doctrines were not in the Bible instead of rejecting them she decided to resort to fraud to force the Bible to teach them. She put books in the Bible that did not belong in it and claimed her famous infallibility backed her up! The books in question comprise what Protestants call the Apocrypha.

The Book of Sirach is one of those books. 

The Book of Sirach claims that God made wisdom before all things (1). It personifies wisdom as is plain from the very first chapter. It means the abstract attribute not a being called wisdom. The author is unaware that wisdom cannot be created for it is abstract and not a thing. If God creates wisdom then what is moral is only an invention of God. The Church says that Sirach means that God made wisdom timelessly in the sense that God causes wisdom and always existed so the idea of God making wisdom in a moment of time is out. But that is not before! The author does not have the competence to realise the existence of eternity. The idea of timelessness or eternity came about among the pagans.

Sirach 3:2 says that he who honours his father atones for sins contradicting the New Testament dogma of salvation without good works. Almsgiving expiates sin according to Sirach 3:29.

Sirach 4:6 claims that God vindictively hears the prayer of a bitter man who wants revenge on you. This denies the doctrine of a God of unconditional love.

It naively asserts that you will be punished for every sin (7:8).

It denies life after death. It tells us not to be snobbish for what awaits us is worms (7:17). It is saying we are all the same for we have the same end. If we live on and some of us are holier than others then this point loses its force. We can be snobby then because we will not end up all the same. The prospect of losing the body would be all the more reason for pride if it means that we will be invulnerable and happy forever in the spirit.

Sirach 7:35 advises us to visit the sick for we will be loved for it – how selfish!

Cynically, it says that whatever you give to a more powerful person you must consider lost (8:12). And that a judge you insult will not be fair with you (8:14). It should be saying that the judge might, not will, be unfair with you.

It accuses the person who has a painful death of being evil (11:26-28). It says that God repays sinners in this world for their bad deeds not some of their bad deeds so it denies that sin deserves endless punishment and that there is retribution after death.

Sirach 12 condemns the love of enemies which Christ commanded. The reason it gives is that God hates sinners. But all experts agree that even if God hates sinners he forbids us to hate them for we do not know as much about them as God who sees all does. But that would forbid us to find anybody guilty which is the basis of the legal system as Christianity sees it for a God who hates has to let us hate too when we know the facts.

Sirach promises that sin will be punished by death. It tells us to turn away from sin because we can’t praise God when we are dead (17:19-23). If we live on after death and can praise God then this argument is stupid. It implies that death is the end and that there is no resurrection. Sirach 46:12 says that the bones of the judges return to life but that is only poetry. He declared that they come back to life in their children. In 48:14, it is said that Elisha did marvellous things after death. He means that God did wonders through Elisha after his death. If God does wonders though a statue and that statue is destroyed he can still do wonders through it, through its relics and its memory. The verse does not equivocally state that Elisha was alive after death. The author says, “May the twelve prophets return to life! (Sirach 49:10). He is only saying he wants this to happen not that he thinks it will happen.

Sirach 19:7,8 forbids the Catholic practice of confession for it says that telling your faults will probably make an enemy of the person who hears them. That is very cynical.

Sirach 19:25 advocates the prejudice of judging a stranger by his or her clothes and personality.

Sirach 22:10 says that the dead man is at rest and so not to be wept for as much as a live fool contradicting the Romish doctrine of purgatory. The doctrine of purgatory says that if you are there you need the living to help you get out for you can do nothing for yourself there – you are stuck there until you pay for all your sins. If Sirach accepted a purgatory the fool would be entitled to less sorrow for he can avoid it and the dead can’t.

Sirach 25 claims that there is nothing worse than an evil woman. How sexist!

Sirach 25:24 misinterprets the Bible as saying that a woman was the first sinner and it blames Eve for bringing death in on us all. Paul however blames Adam (Romans 5:12). Genesis is saying that the sin was Adams and Eve was fooled and implicated in it. Adam sinned and Eve had a part to play in it but it was his sin. One problem with her is that she told Adam God said not to touch the forbidden tree though the text only says he banned eating its fruit. So Eve was making mistakes. Adam sinned in not correcting her so he had been on the way to sin before he even touched the fruit. Also she listened to a snake though God had said man and animal is not equal and man and woman must reign over animals.

Sirach 30:1 wants men to beat their sons often so that they can rejoice in the results. Selfish! The men would have to pretend to do it for their sons and not for their own happiness.

Sirach 35 commands that rebellious slaves must be put in the stocks to have rubbish thrown at them. It says that slaves must be allowed no rest for they will seek to be free and so they should be forced to work and work and work. Then the book hypocritically boasts that this is treating them as brothers! It says that you need a slave – not true! The Church will say that it is not telling you that you need a slave as in should have a slave but that you need a slave as in living in those times when it was essential for survival. They are trying to make it look as if they had slaves not because they approved of it because they had to in those days. But even if you can only pay a person very little that is enough to make them an employee not a slave. They could have paid something. There was no excuse for slavery.

Sirach 38 says that grief for the dead is bad. Then it says we should forget about them two days after they die. Catholics say it means that we must put them out of our minds if it is too much for us to think of them. It does not for the author knew that this is impossible and that trying to forget only makes things worse. He wanted us to forget all the dead. He doesn’t want us to pray for them or anything.

Sirach 41:3 commits the popular fallacy of thinking that since all die that is a reason not be annoyed that you can die.

According to Sirach 42, a man has the right to lock up his wife to keep her from committing adultery.

Daughters are not to be allowed to be friends with married women or to be trusted with men. The author thinks that women think of nothing only sex.

Sirach commands that servants be beaten up for disobedience. Then, by implication, wife beating is allowed.

Sirach 45:15 contradicts the Catholic doctrine that the priesthood of Aaron is done away for it says it is as permanent as the heavens.

The Book claims to have been inspired by wisdom and therefore by God (51). The foreword was not written by the author but by his grandson. 

Baruch uses the prophecy of Isaiah about one crying in the wilderness for the paths of God to be made straight and every valley to be filled in and applies it to Israel. The New Testament allegation that it applies to John the Baptist is contradicted in this.

Rome has thrown the word of the Devil into the middle of the word of God.

A religion based on scriptures which endorse lies and err has no right to demand our faith. It may fake miracles to grow in popularity. Rome’s own Bible forbids faith in her for this Bible advocates prudence.