Dear Catherine:

There is an old saying, "Curiosity kills the cat." We need to be careful with our curiosity as it can get us in trouble and lead us to doubt things.

What some people call the "Catholic Bible" is the only genuine bible that exists. The Old Testament in the Catholic Bible is the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament translated in stages between the 3rd and 2nd century B.C.).

This was the edition of the Bible that Jesus knew, loved, and read.  Some seven books in the Old Testament found in the Septuagint, called the Deuterocanonical books, did not have Hebrew counterparts, but were written originally in Greek. The Jewish authorities around A.D. 100 rejected any scriptures originally written in Greek. One of the reasons for this is that the rabbis knew that this knew sect, called Christians, were using the Deuterocanonical books to support what they considered to be heresy against the Jewish faith. Thus, they removed the Deuterocanonical books producing what is called the  Palestinian Canon.

It is the Palestinian Canon that Protestants (Martin Luther) decided to use in their bible, which is why the Protestant bibles are missing seven books in their Old Testament.

The Catholic Bible, on the other hand, uses the same Old Testament version as Jesus and the Apostles read. In fact, the writers of the New Testament quoted or referred back to the Deuterocanonicals around 300 times. They obviously thought the Deuterocanonicals were Scripture.

A very good article on this is found in This Rock Magazine: How to Defend the Deuterocanonicals by Jason Evert.

Thus, the Catholic Church changed nothing, but used the very same version of the Old Testament that Jesus used. It is the Protestants that changed the Old Testament and ripped out seven books from the Bible.

As for the New Testament, the Catholic Church also changed nothing. This is proven by the many extant manuscripts of the New Testament (early manuscripts of the New Testament that still exist today). The Catholic Church altered nothing.

Martin Luther, on the other hand, wanted to rip out of the New Testament books such as James, Hebrews, and Revelations. He did not succeed in doing that.

For example, Martin Luther hated the book of James because St. James contradicts one of the basic doctrines of the Protestant revolt, sola fidei (faith alone). The only place in the Bible where the phrase "faith alone" is written is in the Book of James, who says, "You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone" (James 2:24).

Thus, Luther, in his unmitigated arrogance, called the book of James, the epistle of straw.

But, Luther's monumental pride and arrogance knew no bounds. He did not stop with criticism of New Testament books that contradicted his personal man-made doctrines. He added the word "alone" to the passage in Romans 3:28 in his German translation.

Luther, in fact, was confronted at the time on why he had added the word "alone" to Romans 3:28. His response is very revealing. To the criticism of adding the word "alone" to Romans 3:28 Martin Luther replied:

"You tell me what a great fuss the Papists are making because the word 'alone' is not in the text of Paul. If your Papist makes such an unnecessary row about the word 'alone,' say right out to him: 'Dr. Martin Luther will have it so,' and say: 'Papist and asses are one and the same thing.' I will have it so, and I order it to be so, and my will is reason enough. I know very well that the word 'alone' is not in the Latin or the Greek text, and it was not necessary for the Papists to teach me that. It is true those letters are not in it, which letters the jackasses look at, as a cow stares at a new gate...It shall remain in my New Testament, and if all the Popish donkeys were to get mad and beside themselves, they will not get it out."

Thus sayeth the "humble" Martin Luther.

This quote is cited in the 1922 book, Rebuilding a Lost Faith by John Stoddard. This book is about Stoddard's 40 year search for truth going from a Protestant seminarian to an agnostic to a Catholic (late in life).

I also found a comment on the website of the Lutheran Wisconsin Evangelical Synod admitting to this quote from Luther and making this comment about it:

It's too bad that Luther seems to imply that he has the right to add the word alone if he chooses to do so. It would have been better if he had answered by saying that the Greek text indicates that the idea of "alone" though not stated explicitly is implicit in the words Paul used.

In verse 27 Paul says that boasting about anything I contribute to my salvation is totally excluded (emphasis on "totally" which is expressed by the prefix ex- on the Greek verb). Then in verse 28 Paul says that a person is justified (acquitted) totally apart from anything he does to keep God's law (emphasis again on "totally" which is expressed by the Greek preposition choris which means "completely apart from"). So one could translate the meaning of the Greek by saying "a person is acquitted by faith totally apart from doing what God requires in the law" or one could translate "a person is acquitted by faith alone apart from doing what God requires in the law". Either translation would bring out the emphasis of the original Greek text. This would have been a better answer on Luther's part.

Lutherans don't accept every interpretation Luther wrote, nor do they defend everything he says. Rather, Lutherans thank God that through Luther he restored to the church the only proper way of interpreting the Scripture, namely, letting Scripture interpret Scripture (instead of tradition or reason - or Luther - being the final arbiter of meaning).

By the way, this last comment about "letting Scripture interpret Scripture" is another Protestant unbiblical notion. The Bible itself says that Scripture may be difficult to interpret and thus the Apostles made interpretations (2 Peter 1:20; 3:15-16). The Church is the official interpreter of the Bible. By Church, we mean the Church that Jesus founded, which is the Church lead by the Chair of Peter (something also proven from the Bible and the Bible alone).

God did not leave us to the mercy of human opinion. The Protestant way of interpreting the Bible has lead to 30,000 different Protestant sects all saying they interpret the Bible correctly, yet contradicting one another. What a mess.

It is the Catholic Church, and the Catholic Church alone, that has maintained the accuracy of the Biblical texts without change, and has taught the doctrines of the Faith without change. All Protestant groups have not only changed from historical Christianity, but have changed doctrines even within themselves.

For example, before 1930 all denominations taught the doctrine that contraception was sin. In 1930 the Anglicans broke ranks from the rest of Christianity and permitted contraception. Since then every denomination has followed in the Anglican's foolish and arrogant footsteps. Only the Catholic Church stands resolute without change in the dogmas of the faith.

If one wishes to belong to a Church that Jesus founded, that remains locked without change to that faith and Church that Jesus founded, that has never changed Scripture or any dogma of the faith, then one must turn to the Catholic Church (defined as the Church under the leadership of the Chair of Peter, the Bishop of Rome).

The Bible itself proves that the Catholic Church is the true Church. This is why I converted from a Baptist preacher to a Catholic. If we are to respect the Bible, then one must be in communion with the Pope and Magisterium of Christ's Church (see the Q&A, Why the Catholic Faith?).

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary