Is It a Sin To Read The Book of Enoch?

[Jesus_is_Saint]

Can I read the book of Enoch?
How many percent of it is reliable God's word?

What should I believe and what shouldn't I believe in this book, do you know?

 

[7trees]

Can I read the book of Enoch?
How many percent of it is reliable God's word?

What should I believe and what shouldn't I believe in this book, do you know?

The book of Enoch seems to be derived from more than one book. Some of it to do with what storehouses the winds are stored in is ridiculous. Other parts seem to be a spiritual history of Enoch during the time of Genesis.

God did not bless it with doctrinal infallibility as he did the bible- as Enoch is a lesser inspired book, but some of it is inspired and holy.

Spiritual discernment and biblical knowledge will give you a framework of understanding. Divine revelation will give you clear and specific guidance if you have faith to receive it.

The first question is: Why does the NT quote from Enoch?

 

[BeStill&Know]

Have you started out first by reading the references to Enoch in the Old Testament?
And New?

 

[cannot be known]

i have read it many times and some of the information in it is truly astonishing.

for example, my brother recently asked.. how are you supposed to get married if mankind is not supposed to know what an oath is* (the reason God hates oaths is allegedly mankind was never supposed to know how to make one, Moses compromises and says, well if you're going to make a vow, you must make it in the name of YAWH. Jesus says "anything more than let your yes be yes and your no be no comes from Evil" yet, the bible has at least a few examples of the most High swearing an oath by himself.

anyhow, my answer to him was.. well, that's self evident. you don't need a pastor/priest/government agent to sanctify your union, he has no authority underheaven.. Jesus took it all back.... allegedly...

anyhow.. yes i do believe perhaps a dozen spiritual concepts that are spoken of in Enoch to be self evidently true. *the example i gave above is one of them. allegedly, one of the fallen angels taught man how to make oaths. another how to make war, another how to make mirrors, birth control.. etc, etc.

however, not everyone can handle it. and i say that, speaking of people who cannot read the book of Revelation without becoming physically sick at everything it implies.


i do believe the book of Jasher points towards a prior technological civilization..

"in those days some of the men took from the cattle of the earth and taught the mixture of the seed thereof"

some of this stuff falls under the category of "you can't make this stuff up"

then again, the Sanhedrin had made a ruling that applies to artificial insemination today.. 2000 years ago. so, a lot of this stuff is not hard to figure out, man has thought about it for eons, and its impossible to know if a text is valid or not unless the prophecy made in it comes true. and even if it does, its not good enough given the promise made in Deut 13, which is that God will test you with false prophets.


but where i disagree with the book of Enoch is i think the angels that left their first estate, were sent here by God to teach mankind various kinds of things. some of those angels sinned, leading to Gen 6 and a lot of chaos.

its difficult for me to be certain but it would practically be impossible for anyone to say that einstein, feynmann, or other "gods of this age" did not have help from God, for his purposes.

so if an angel gave man practical birth control for the purpose of preventing runway "bacteria in a jar" conditions.. but man abused it for his own purposes "to retain their shapely form" well, only the generation that survived the flood could have made that judgment. anyone living in those days would be forced to suspend judgment.. but who are you to judge a woman who sterilizes herself?


the 66 books of the bible only mention perhaps twice, why someone did something. the first of which is the rape of Jacobs daughter, the second is Lot's daughters, both are in genesis which might be a compilation of 4 books, compiled in the 6th century bc. the rest of the bible doesn't give any reasons why anyone did anything, unlike the "apocrypha" which are full of explanations and accusations.--for this reason i am skeptical of some of the stuff in the apocrypha, but their explanations sure make a lot more sense than speculating about what really happened when Esau killed Nimrod.. allegedly.

 

[Archie the Preacher]

Good heavens, yes!

It's a book of human origin and human 'inspiration', much like any other book of human origin.

I suggest one one take anything in the book as 'gospel' unless that idea or teaching is clearly shown somewhere else, and is presented in such a way not to conflict with any part of the recognized Bible.

I do not think there are demons hiding therein to sneak through your eyes and grab your brain or soul or such. Not any more than any other human work of literature or fantasy.

 

[Raggedyman]

Read it by all means, educate yourself
The OT points to Christ, all of it
If the book of Enoch points to Christ or parts thereof then accept what it teaches, if it doesnt, dismiss it

Its not about the book, it about the message of Christ

 

[Jesus_is_Saint]

How about other Gospels?
Like Gospels of Thomas, Peter, Mary etc.......... are they heresy ?

 

[Archie the Preacher]

How about other Gospels?

It depends on the message or messages contained.

To be "heretical" is to teach or hold a concept not just alien, but in contradiction to what the Bible teaches about a specific subject. This sort of thing includes teaching God does not exist, the nature of God, Jesus is not God, the Bible is unreliable and fictitious and so on.

For something to be useless is not heretical. Without going into detail on every 'other' Gospel, the main points to consider are: Is the information contained correct? Does the information conform to the rest of the Bible regarding theology and doctrine? Is the information germane?

A secular history of the Jews moving into what is now Israel may not mention God at all, but it may be correct in the deeds done and the times of those deeds. It is then valuable as history, but may not have any theological or doctrinal value.

 

[cannot be known]

How about other Gospels?
Like Gospels of Thomas, Peter, Mary etc.......... are they heresy ?

i do recommend reading Clement, Barnabas.

the gospel of thomas seems to be a lot of fishy stuff.. but i find nothing "gnostic" in it.

the humane gospel of James is interesting but it seems to have been edited by someone else, and the stories of what Jesus did in it, don't really pass the smell test.. but there is a prophecy in it that is recently fulfilled.

 

[FundyJohn]

So long as you do not read it as if it is part of the Canon I see no harm in reading it.

 

[Uber Genius]

Can I read the book of Enoch?
How many percent of it is reliable God's word?

What should I believe and what shouldn't I believe in this book, do you know?

Absolutely.

But take it as context of what the second temple Jew would have thought in terms of the evil that caused the flood, and sin in the world in general.

Though not scripture, it is quoted by Peter, Paul and Jude in the NT. It is also quoted by Iraneaus, Clement, and Tertullian at least, probably dozens of other church fathers as well.

This is a video of a Hebrew Scholar who is on staff at Logos Bible Software. He has published a book to help the layman gain context for the Second Temple period in Judaism 523 BCE- 70CE

Enochian worldview plays a role in Pauls view of sin in Gal 3 and 4 as well as his strange discussions in 1 Cor 11 about the angels.

 

[JoeP222w]

Can I read the book of Enoch?

Yes.

How many percent of it is reliable God's word?

None of it. It is not part of the canon of scripture.

What should I believe and what shouldn't I believe in this book, do you know?

It is not God's word, thus it should not be read with an understanding that it is absolute truth.

 

[7trees]

It is not God's word, thus it should not be read with an understanding that it is absolute truth.

Does this included the verses from Enoch quoted in the bible?:
(Jude 1:14-15)

 

[Archie the Preacher]

Does this included the verses from Enoch quoted in the bible?:
(Jude 1:14-15)

Trees, this wasn't my statement, but allow me this: Not everything which makes sense or is useful comes from the Bible. The Bible is unmatched for connecting with God in a proper and positive manner, but isn't completely exclusive of life in the world.

None of the following (non comprehensive examples) is directly in the Bible, but still worthwhile to know. Mathematics, General Relativity, and "...never draw to an inside straight!"

I would expect the Book of Enoch to contain some valuable stuff, even if not specifically Biblical canon.

 

[versavia]

I love this book.
I understand this book.
But this is Apocrypha, that is why we should be careful and we should not accept everything in this book. We can know this book, but this is NOT the Holy Bible.
Let's better know EVERYTHING but OBEY the Holy Bible.

 

[Archie the Preacher]

I love this book.
I understand this book.
But this is Apocrypha, that is why we should be careful and we should not accept everything in this book. We can know this book, but this is NOT the Holy Bible.
Let's better know EVERYTHING but OBEY the Holy Bible.

I'm with you. The more one knows about anything, the better one can do everything. "Everything" includes surrender to and serving God through Jesus Christ.

 

[Yahu_]

Can I read the book of Enoch?
How many percent of it is reliable God's word?

What should I believe and what shouldn't I believe in this book, do you know?

Personally, I do believe many parts of Enoch to be inspired and historical. I do have a problem with the section on the passages of the winds and such and disregard it as a later addition by someone else.

The book of Enoch is and has always been part of the Ethiopian bible.

In the western canon, Augustine was opposed to Enoch because it contradicted some of his pet doctrines. He also wanted to exclude the book of Jude for quoting Enoch.

I particularly like the animal dream of Enoch. In that dream Israel is portrayed as 'sheep' while other nations are portrayed as other animals. That same thing is carried out throughout scripture and explains the source of those references.

Enoch gives a lot of insight and it was among the common knowledge of the writers of the NT and appears to have been known to the OT writers as well since they used the same animal references.

So my advice is read it and let the Holy Spirit guide you into what is or is not inspired truth but remember Enoch is far older and was not treated in copying the same as later holy texts. It has a far greater chance that error or corruption has been added.

 

[Sean_Bancroft]

good book everyone should read it!

 

[auwebber23]

good book everyone should read it!

Of course, read this book. Then you yourself will understand what to believe and what not. I often go to church with my family, sometimes I don't even go to school. Because of this, I pay for essays, I use great site for this. But lately, I would like to devote more time to school. I feel like I'm doing something wrong.

 

[Semper-Fi]

Parts of the Book of Enoch Teaches Heresy, here's one.

'Phanuel' is the angel of repentance unto hope
of those who have inherited eternal life..