# Protestant Apocrypha **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 18, 2014, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protestant-apocrypha/707538 "2014-12-18T01:05:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protestant-apocrypha/707538/21 "2014-12-20T17:53:05Z")
Or even for which they do know the outcome. I’ve heard of Catholics “joining in prayer with St. Monica for the conversion of her son”. Monica’s son being St. Augustine, who it’s probably safe to say did convert. ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protestant-apocrypha/707538/22 "2014-12-20T21:56:08Z")
In my experience, Protestants do refuse to pray for the dead. They see it as something exclusively Catholic. This was true even of the relatively “high church” United Methodists I knew. It wouldn’t surprise me if Episcopalians more willing to do so. I never understood the objection, since as it’s been pointed out, there is more than one interpretation. If you can’t pay for the dead because their fate has already been decided (and that’s not universal doctrine even among Protestants; many believe the dead sleep while awaiting Judgment) what does it mean when pray for a parking space? What about praying for your conceived but unborn child to be certain gender? Individuals may object to such prayers on other ground, but I never heard it suggested that it was undoctrinal. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2014, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protestant-apocrypha/707538/23 "2014-12-21T18:54:24Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > Hmmm…I can’t understand how or why someone would pray for the dead if they’re already assigned to heaven or hell. It makes no sense to me, and the purgatory interpretation (or something similar) seemed pretty straightforward to me based on this passage. > > So, _why_ would a protestant pray for the dead? I didn’t know that they did that. They want to help Grandpa get a cloud upgrade. The clouds closer to Jesus don’t come cheap, y’know. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protestant-apocrypha/707538/24 "2014-12-22T02:59:45Z")
> [@handsomeharry](#): > > No, the books were generally not accepted by the main of the Catholic church as ‘canonical’ until said Council of Trent. Yes, they were. It’s true that they weren’t formally defined as canonical, but that’s just because there was no formal definition of the OT canon at all. In general Catholic Church Councils don’t start handing out formal definitions and dogmatic pronouncements and the like unless and until someone challenges the status quo, and they feel the need to settle the dispute. There were early arguments over the canon of the New Testament, and hence early pronunciations on the subject (which Luther, after some hesitation, did not challenge) but the contents of the OT had never been a matter of sufficient dischord to warrant any kind of ruling until Luther came along and said “hey, hold on a minute . . .”. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protestant-apocrypha/707538/25 "2014-12-22T14:29:58Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Some people believe that, since God is outside time, there’s no contradiction involved in praying about/for something that has already happened but for which they do not know the outcome. If you believe in Predestination, why would you bother praying for _anything?_ ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protestant-apocrypha/707538/26 "2014-12-22T19:55:59Z")
> [@Enola\_Straight](#): > > If you believe in Predestination, why would you bother praying for _anything?_ If you believe in materialist determinism, why would you bother _doing_ anything? ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2014, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protestant-apocrypha/707538/27 "2014-12-24T23:35:04Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > Yes, they were. > > It’s true that they weren’t formally defined as canonical, but that’s just because there was no formal definition of the OT canon at all. In general Catholic Church Councils don’t start handing out formal definitions and dogmatic pronouncements and the like unless and until someone challenges the status quo, and they feel the need to settle the dispute. > > There were early arguments over the canon of the New Testament, and hence early pronunciations on the subject (which Luther, after some hesitation, did not challenge) but the contents of the OT had never been a matter of sufficient dischord to warrant any kind of ruling until Luther came along and said “hey, hold on a minute . . .”. Previous to the CofT, the Catholic Church called them ‘apocryphal’. That means that they weren’t canonical/accepted/wtf. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protestant-apocrypha/707538/28 "2014-12-25T00:07:53Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > If you attend a Catholic mass, they’ll read passages from two non-Gospel books (usually one each Old and New Testament) and one Gospel. Go to any Catholic church, and you’ll get the same selection of readings (possibly edited for length) on any given Sunday. But you’ll _also_ get those same three readings in many Protestant churches. With apologies for the slight hijack, but: Wait, what? Does the pope send out a fax to all the churches on Friday, which the Protestants somehow steal? ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protestant-apocrypha/707538/29 "2014-12-25T05:31:12Z")
> [@LawMonkey](#): > > With apologies for the slight hijack, but: Wait, what? Does the pope send out a fax to all the churches on Friday, which the Protestants somehow steal? See post #15. ---
**Author:** ![Hector\_St\_Clare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5ac83/32.png) [@Hector\_St\_Clare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hector_St_Clare)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protestant-apocrypha/707538/30 "2014-12-25T05:55:37Z")
> [@LawMonkey](#): > > With apologies for the slight hijack, but: Wait, what? Does the pope send out a fax to all the churches on Friday, which the Protestants somehow steal? Revised Common Lectionary, dude. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protestant-apocrypha/707538/31 "2014-12-25T17:01:35Z")
In turn based on the [Ordo Lectionum Missae](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lectionary#Catholic_Mass_Lectionary_and_the_Revised_Common_Lectionary). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protestant-apocrypha/707538.md?page=1)