Protestants Reject the Deuterocanonicals The Protestants rejected these books for two main reasons. The first was a problematic passage in 2 Maccabees, and the second was their desire to go “back to the sources,” which in this case meant using the same books that the Jews ultimately decided upon. 2 Maccabees included a laudatory reference to prayers for the dead—a teaching that had been encouraged in the Catholic Church for the souls in purgatory.
