What are the lost books of the Bible?

When I was eighteen and had graduated high school, I made the decision to join the military. It was a great experience that opened my eyes up to the rest of the world and shaped me into the man I would become. However, one interesting thing that occurred during my early travels was that for the first time in my life it placed me amongst those who held different religious beliefs other than my own.

Now, this was back in the year 1997. The internet was still young and did not have the juggernaut of a presence that it wields in people’s lives today. Most people still did not own a computer, there was no such thing as social media, and cell phones weren’t a thing yet. In fact, it would still be years before the iPhone would be invented. Back then, if it wasn’t broadcasted on national television, chances are you didn’t hear about it. So with that being said, it was definitely a different time. Many ideas and concepts would not have been introduced to me, had I not left my culture and ventured out into the world. Then once I did, I was overwhelmed with all the things that everyone else was doing.

You see, until then I had never been exposed to those who believed differently than myself. Yet once I left my home, I immediately found myself eating, sleeping, working, and partying besides people from all over. Some were ten years older than myself. Others were from places I’d only seen on television. They brought with them so many different experiences and ways of life that were foreign to me. The most fascinating of those differences to me, were the different religions they practiced. 

I ended up spending time discussing and debating religion with Atheists, Muslims, Agnostics, Mormons, Wickens, and Christians of other denominations. Most of the time the conversations were friendly and respectful. Others not so much. But hey, it was religion, right? Of course, folks were going to be passionate about what they believed, the problem with that though is that in religion, in order for them to be right, that means you have to be wrong. This is where the conflict lies in discussing this topic with others. There’s no room for compromise with some people when it comes to their faith. Our Gods are absolute and if you are not with them, then you are against them. So of course this caused a certain level of hostility in the conversations. For me, it was the first time I ever had to “defend” my beliefs against others. In addition, while attempting to do so, it was also the first time that I realized…perhaps I didn’t know my bible as well as thought.

One discussion in particular that really caught me off guard at that age arose from the topic of the “lost books” of the bible. In the middle of one of these debates about the ethnic identity of the patriarchs, I was asked how I could be so secure in my faith. Especially when I didn’t even have all the information that spoke upon it? “What do you mean?” I responded, not really being sure of what he meant. I had known the Bible all my life and surely, as far as Christianity was concerned there was no higher authority than that right? He then went into his wall locker and pulled from his belongings an old, ragged book that he held up and asked, “have you ever seen this before?” I looked at it for a moment. The title read, “The book of Enoch”. “No, I haven’t seen this book before”, I admitted.

“Well now you see, that is my point. This is part of the bible as well and you’ve never even read it.” He said with a grin of satisfaction. “There are all kinds of things in this book, and what’s worse is that it’s not the only one. “What do you mean?” I asked perplexed about where this information was coming from. That’s right, there are at least ten other books that I know of and my father tells me there are others as well that I still have not seen. “So, what does it say?” I asked. Well, a lot of things, but to begin with it tells you that Noah was an albino! What!? I said in disbelief. I had never heard of any skin tone or physical feature describing anyone in the bible except for Jesus Christ himself. So, as you can Imagine I was anxious to see the proof of this scripture. 

Then he opened it up and turned to a page that he had already marked for future reference. The scripture was, 1Enoch 106:1-7. I looked at it as he read it aloud. Sure enough it was talking about the birth of Noah and his appearance. Well, it didn’t actually say albino though, it did say that his skin was white with rosy cheeks. However, at that point I wasn’t about to debate those details. What was more important was the fact that he had shown me other books belonging to the bible that I had no clue existed. Not to mention there are more of them?!

My mind was blown. I couldn’t believe that all these years I had been getting only “part” of the story. My family never said anything about these other books, nor did our preacher or anyone in the congregation. Did they even know? What was even worse was that I had no idea of how to get ahold of the other books, nor did I know their names or how many there were in total. I went from feeling secure in my faith to feeling completely lost again. I did get a chance to read a little more into Enoch. Unfortunately, it was so fantastical I felt like I was reading Greek mythology all over again. In the next few years to follow, that would be my first and last encounter, with the “lost books of the bible,” and as time went along, I eventually drifted away from even thinking about such things as my life went on in other directions. 

However, fast forwarding to today’s time. I now know and own the majority of the books of the apocrypha. Which I have learned is the name used for the lost books of the bible. After doing a little research, I also learned that the reason these books were left out of the standard King James Version of the Bible was because they were written during a time period of about three hundred years in between the creation of the Old and New Testaments. During this time, there was said to be no living prophets around to give us the word. Therefore, it could not be proven that the information inside these books were divinely inspired by God.

Now, having said that. There were many details found in those books that were worth reading for other reasons, even if only from a historic standpoint. I do feel as a Christian, that we owe it to ourselves to have access to all pertinent material related to our faith. So, to all my fellow Christians out there how do you feel about all the books of the apocrypha? Have you had the chance to read them? What is your take or experience regarding these books?

-J.G. Robinson