God: "I looked for someone to take a stand for me, and stand in the gap" (Ezekiel 22:30)
Even when God deems it necessary to discipline us for persistent disobedience, He always does so out of love to restore us to the way of obedience (see Hebrews 12:4-11).
[What about the books in the Apocrypha?] There are no marks in these books which would attest a divine origin…both Judith and Tobit contain historical, chronological and geographical errors. The books justify falsehood and deception and make salvation to depend upon works of merit… Ecclesiasticus and the Wisdom of Solomon inculcate a morality based upon expediency. Wisdom teaches the creation of the world out of pre-existent matter (Wisd. 11.17). Ecclesiasticus teaches that the giving of alms makes atonement for sin (Ecc. 3.30). In Baruch it is said that God hears the prayers of the dead (Bar. 3.4), and in I Maccabees there are historical and geographical errors.
