Why is the Catholic Bible questionable?

Answer 1

Actually, it's not. No bible is "questionable." Each Bible reflects the sincerely held beliefs of that group. The traditional Catholic version is called the Douay Bible. Non-Catholics (especially some evangelical Protestants who disagree with Catholic teachings) question it because it includes as sacred scripture some books that are not included in most Protestant translations-- books called the Apocrypha. Many Protestants believe the Apocrypha is not revealed or sacred, and should not be included in any Bible. But historically, Catholics have disagreed and it remains in their version of the Bible, between the Old and New Testaments.

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Catholic Answer

Aside from the Deutero-canonical books in the Old Testament (there are Deuterocanonical books in both the Old and New Testament, the protestants have rejected the Deuterocanonical books in the Old Testament since the time of Martin Luther) there are several important textural differences in the Catholic and non-Catholic versions. The Catholic Old Testament is based on the Septuagint, which is the Greek Old Testament which is the Bible that Our Blessed Lord, Jesus Christ used. This is unassailable fact for two obvious reasons: 1) nearly all of the quotations from the Old Testament found in the New Testament are from the Septuagint, which agrees exactly with the New Testament that we have today and radically differs from the Masoretic text. The Septuagint was translated in the fourth century B.C. and used throughout the Jewish world, aside from a few sects which did not accept the Old Testament as used by the rest of the Jews. 2) the Masoretic Text, which is the Hebrew Scriptures used for the protestant translation did not exist until a century or so after Christ and was put together by the Jews who had rejected Jesus as the Messiah in order to give no quarter to specifically Christian beliefs.

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Finally, it is important to note that no Christian accepts the Apocrypha, which means texts which pretend to be Scripture but are false writings. Unfortunately, protestants of today mistakenly use "apocrypha" to refer to the Deuterocanonical Scriptures of the Old Testament. Deuterocanonical means "second" canon and means that such scriptures are every bit as canonical as the protocanonical books; Deuterocanonical books in the New Testament include Hebrews, James, II Peter, II and III John, Revelation, and Mark 16:9-20. Protestants rejected these for the same reason that the Jews did, the teach specifically Christian teachings which neither protestants nor Jews will accept. THE DEUTEROCANONICAL BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT ARE IN NO WAY APOCRYPHA. The only "questionable" Bible is that used by the protestants as it uses an Old Testament which was made up from whole cloth by Jews who rejected Jesus, and it mistranslates the New Testament according to preconceived protestant notions. Further, it did not exist in any form until protestants made it up fifteen centuries after Christ. The only ones who would find the Catholic Bible "questionable" would be those who don't know any better and are accepting testimony from others equally ignorant of Christian history.