As is my typical motif, I have another purely opinion based question that I would love to get some opinions about. Quite a while ago I bought a three book set called "The Researcher's Library of Ancient Texts", which contains some very neat writings. The first book in the set, "The Apocrypha", contains several ancient texts in as complete a form as possible. Among them are the books of Jasher, Jubilees, and Enoch, along with the few remaining sections of the book of Giants, sometimes called 2 Enoch. I have finally gotten around to reading the set. A Book of Jasher is referenced in Joshua and 2 Samuel. However, it appears that the biblical Book of Jasher has been lost to time, and the Book of Jasher that I have is a Jewish writing first printed in 1552. It deals largely with early biblical history, ending around the time of the judges. Jubilees could be as old as 200BC and also covers a lot of the same ground as Genesis, but is much more mystical, telling of the creation of the angels and the Nephilim. It also contains some Messianic references. The Book of Giants exists only in fragments, but tells the story of the children of the Nephilim who have prophetic visions of the coming flood. One of the giants is named Og, but whether or not this is a reference to the giant Og from the book of Numbers is unknown. The ever debated and controversial Book of Enoch needs no introduction. So what do you all think. Obviously these books are not used for any kind of dogmatic purpose, but are they good for Christian reading? Do they contain valuable lessons or should they be avoided as fraudulent and dangerous?
These books are fascinating and yet can be an occasion for sin, when we obscure the distinction between them and the Word of God. I think it's best for them to be read by scholars and/or people with a heavy armory of spiritual direction to walk through the many pitfalls they may present. The apocryphal Gospels present the same titillating allure which may end in agnosticism and skepticism...
Yeah, this is largely the reason I asked such a question. With the Bible, we know that the texts are inspired. With the writings of the early church fathers and other saints, we know that they are writing from a position of profound education and understanding. These texts seem to represent a strange grey area of truth and danger. I find them intriguing but I cannot say whether that interest comes from Divine guidance or not. I suppose that if I don't know, then it's probably best to air on the side of caution.