Is Possessing/Reading the Book of Enoch a Sin?

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The Book of Enoch is false, surely not written by Enoch himself, LOADED with forbidden names (of demons) which ought not be uttered, and is definitely not biblical even though the Apostles seem to quote the book a little (which doesn’t make it scriptural), I understand that.

However, is it a sin to possess and/or read the Book of Enoch? I collect books, you see, and the [First] Book of Enoch (perhaps even II Enoch [on Secrets] and III Enoch [on Metatron]) would be an interesting addition to my collection. I need not believe something if I read it, nor do I need to read aloud the names of fallen angels contained in that particular book.

If “Yes,” well that’s disappointing, but would I endanger myself in reading or even having this noncanonical text on my shelf?
 
No. Just possessing and reading a book to gain knowledge about the book is not a sin whatsoever. If you believe and/or venerate the book as more important or better than your other books from a religious perspective, then yes. I have copies of most of the world’s religious books and have read good chunks of most of them but just possessing and reading something is not a sin whatsoever.

God bless!
 
It certainly appears this book is just an interesting work of fiction.No different than reading Greek mythology.

From my brief scanning of the texts,they appear to be analogies explaining the existence of evil. It also touches upon the progress of civilization.
 
Of course not, otherwise we would be incapable of refuting any idea that is opposed to Church teaching.
 
If you possess or read the Book of Enoch simply for academic reasons, then no, I can say it is not sinful. I plan on eventually reading “A New Translation of the Dead Sea Scrolls” and “The Nag Hammadi Library” for academic/historical purposes. Think about it, there are modern day “Gnostics” and other unorthodox groups who actually believe in these texts. Wouldn’t it make sense to read up on these ancient texts so we can defend the faith? It’s also important to read them for historical reasons: we found them, therefore it’s in the best interest to study them. We can learn about why such people wrote and favored these texts, and the cultures in which they lived.

But if you plan on reading Enoch for example because you agree with everything it says as literal truth, then that could be a sinful action. I would think that if you start getting thoughts of “Enoch is superior to the Bible” or “Enoch is superior to Jesus” or “Enoch is superior to the Church” then my guess is it would be sinful. Anything that you read in which you start getting negative thoughts is probably not something you should be reading.
 
Judas_Thaddeus said:
even though the Apostles seem to quote the book a little (which doesn’t make it scriptural), I understand that.
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Yes, and it is very amusing that the one apostle who actually quotes a passage of the book of Enoch is Judas Thaddeus :o

I don’t see anything inherently sinful in having or reading the book, but I don’t recommend it either, given that a lot of friends in heaven are going to rightfully complain that we should focus on the Canon of Scripture and on some of their writings inspired by the Holy Spirit 😉
 
Is there not more than one version of “Enoch”? Including a fragmentary one in the Dead Sea Scrolls, which is different than the others texts.
 
Judas_Thaddeus said:
The Book of Enoch is false, surely not written by Enoch himself, LOADED with forbidden names (of demons) which ought not be uttered, and is definitely not biblical even though the Apostles seem to quote the book a little (which doesn’t make it scriptural), I understand that.

However, is it a sin to possess and/or read the Book of Enoch? I collect books, you see, and the [First] Book of Enoch (perhaps even II Enoch [on Secrets] and III Enoch [on Metatron]) would be an interesting addition to my collection. I need not believe something if I read it, nor do I need to read aloud the names of fallen angels contained in that particular book.

If “Yes,” well that’s disappointing, but would I endanger myself in reading or even having this noncanonical text on my shelf?
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No. 😉 I would in fact even encourage people to read extrabiblical literature like this in order to get an idea of some contemporary Jewish and Christian thought.
 
patrick457 said:
These are all different works actually. The only thing they have in common is that Enoch supposedly wrote them.
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I am aware of that, yes.
That’s kinda why I listed them.

Actually, I don’t know if Third Enoch is attributed to Enoch, but rather
I believe Rabbi Ishmael ben Elisa. I may be wrong on that however.
 
I have read that first book of Enoch on the list. It is clear that Moses himself knew the book by heart as he quotes from it. Within that book it clearly states that ‘This book is not for everyone.’

I like it and I think it gives a believeable account of life before the flood. It gives an account that would explain the fallen angels as being the basis of the false gods of many different ancient civilisations. Its very interesting.
 
Aussieman88 said:
I have read that first book of Enoch on the list. It is clear that Moses himself knew the book by heart as he quotes from it. Within that book it clearly states that ‘This book is not for everyone.’

I like it and I think it gives a believeable account of life before the flood. It gives an account that would explain the fallen angels as being the basis of the false gods of many different ancient civilisations. Its very interesting.
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I think you got it upside-down. The author of 1 Enoch made use of Hebrew Scripture.
 
Aussieman88 said:
I have read that first book of Enoch on the list. It is clear that Moses himself knew the book by heart as he quotes from it. Within that book it clearly states that ‘This book is not for everyone.’

I like it and I think it gives a believeable account of life before the flood. It gives an account that would explain the fallen angels as being the basis of the false gods of many different ancient civilisations. Its very interesting.
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Um…“Moses QUOTES from it” are your words? 1 Enoch was not written until around 300 BC, at the earliest, while the Torah is far older than that. Also, there are many books out there that give an account of things not explained in the Bible, but that doesn’t make them true, so I hope you are not insisting otherwise. It would be nice if we had inspired scripture explaining more in detail things regarding origin of false gods, angelic histories, etc, but God isn’t interested in us knowing these things.
 
Yes Moses quotes an Enoch prophesy which I compared to the book when I was reading that bit. I’m catholic so I don’t know the verse. I’ll try and find it.
 
OK sorry moses quotes Enoch but not necessarily the book of enoch. I’m not wrong but I don’t want to spend so much of my time going back over the ancient history when theres so much exciting stuff in the new testament that’s relevant to me in my life in the current time. At the end of the day it’s irrelevant or not important anyway. Good luck and thanks…
 
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