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Why The Apocryphal Gospels Pale In Comparison to the 4 True Gospels

The gospels of Thomas, Mary, Judas and Peter are nonsense. These and many more are included in a collection of 52 gnostic manuscripts discovered in the village of Nag Hammadi, Egypt in 1945.  Today they are readily accessible online.  Myriad online sources say that they are all in Coptic and largely dated to the 4th century. The exception is the gospel of Thomas which is generally dated (in apparently the most prominent system) as early 132 AD, but which is no longer viewed as “gnostic” by one of the  foremost experts on them, Elaine Pagels.  Then there’s the gospel of Peter, the one to which I was assigned to give special attention on this occasion: Apparently, the author of our textbook, John Dominic Crossan believes that its original composition predates even the New Testament’s synoptic gospels (Wikipedia on Gospel of Peter).  But almost no scholars agree. In broad strokes, the gnostic writings are a menagerie of esoteric sayings and reports that bear some resemblance to the stuff of the canonical four Gospels. If they didn’t then they would hardly be included in this category. It exists as a grouping of writings that were not invited to the “in-group” and that some say could have or should have been.  But I think not.  One reason is that they contradict each other, let alone the canonical gospels. Another is that they contain material that would be considered nonsense and/or repugnant by most thinking people. Another is their blatantly false authorship, and still another is their extremely late dating—far later than the gospels.
  • 4 June 2019
  • Author: Scott Cherry
  • Number of views: 3123
  • Comments: 1

10 Gospel Variants. *Click on title to open.

   

  • 1 June 2019
  • Author: Scott Cherry
  • Number of views: 3014
  • Comments: 1

Why did Jesus try to conceal his identity?

by Zenon Sommers—

The gospel of Mark tells of a man named Jesus who spends a year preaching love, sacrifice, and repentance to others and to God. The focus of Jesus’ message is the coming of the kingdom of God, a time on earth where God would reign over all and the oppression of the Jews would end. What Jesus does not tell the world is that he is the Messiah, God’s anointed one, sent to bring God’s kingdom to earth. Whenever someone realizes Jesus is the Messiah, Jesus immediately moves to silence them. In Mark’s gospel, Jesus concealed his identity as the Messiah because his mission and message ran counter to everything the Jewish people expected from a Messiah.

*Zenon is a sophomore psychology student at UM Dearborn.

  • 30 May 2019
  • Author: Guest Blogger
  • Number of views: 2735
  • Comments: 2

Was Jesus an illiterate peasant? (part 1)

by Ben Witherington in Patheos.com

There is an awful lot of loose talk and pontificating on the basis of loose talk when it comes to the issue of Jesus’ social level, and his ability to read or write, or whether he could have been multi-lingual. Sometimes the discussion is even based on irrelevant data— for example the fact that Galilee was not inhabited by scads of Gentiles (see Mark Chancey’s fine monograph on how Gentile was Galilee). The ethnic makeup of Galilee is frankly irrelevant to the issue of whether Greek was used in the first century in Galilee or not for the very good reason that all of the Holy Land had long since been Hellenized for centuries.

Click here to read this article in full.

  • 29 May 2019
  • Author: Guest Blogger
  • Number of views: 4359
  • Comments: 20

A Concise Review of Avengers, Star Movies, and Super Heroes

by Jen Foster—

I haven’t seen Game of Thrones and don’t intend to. I have seen most of the recent comic book spin-offs (thanks to Scottie) and find them… tepid and dry. Star Wars is distractingly eastern religion for dummies and Star Trek nauseates with its holier-than-thou scientism, environmentalism and multiculturalism. So, I muse on the obsession with fantasy from afar.

It seems that our current inclination toward larger than life characters, epic battles and superhuman elements may stem from western culture’s luxurious self-indulgent, self-protective effeminacy. We have so well insulated ourselves from pain, hardship, challenges and meaningful struggle that we have also insulated ourselves from adrenaline-producing excitement, sweaty palms clasped before God, and faith-filled risk taking. 

It’s a shame, really. Our petty busyness is all too often about making my life, and my family’s life, more satisfying, more peaceful, more safe, more comfortable, more healthy, more more more more. How about trying this for a change?...See if we can’t intentionally pursue the eternal instead. Keep an eye towards new life after death, structure the day’s activities around worshiping and enjoying the Almighty. Find time to talk with the Divine. Plan short-term and long-term goals for serving the King of kings. Sing and dance like David before the Lord God. Find those soul-mates who turn our eyes to Jesus and off our selves. 

I speak from experience. When Heaven and Christ and the majesty of God becomes dull and far away and unrelated to our lives now, then we seek after lesser stimuli. We binge watch TV, we become experience junkies, we fire our endorphins with glam and glitter. Of course, it’s all temporary. Sooner, rather than later, we need another boost, another hit, another tickle. But, when we are enthralled with the Ultimate Reality, then fictional fantasies become a modest, mildly amusing break from the strain and pressures of the fight of faith. Believe me, the True Story – the One Story – the Biggest Story is the most exciting, energizing and rewarding story. And we don’t watch this story, we live it.

(Yep, that's all of it this time.) 

  • 23 May 2019
  • Author: Guest Blogger
  • Number of views: 2554
  • Comments: 1
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