Gospel of St Thomas

Jonaitis

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An excerpt taken from it:

(30) Jesus said, "Where there are three gods, they are gods. Where there are two or one, I am with him."

Surely the apostle did not write this, nor did Jesus ever say such absurd things.
 
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HTacianas

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Hi all,

I want to know your thoughts on the Gospel of St Thomas, and is it relevant reading?

Thanks
Lee.

It may or may not contain sayings of Christian origin, but it is recognizably gnostic. The gnostics were notorious for adopting the teachings of Christianity and putting their own spin on them. There are some sayings within Christianity that lend themselves easily to gnosticism.

The gnostics were so well known for reworking the gospels to fit their idealogies that Christianity itself was often accused of rewriting its own. To outsiders the differences between Christianity and gnosticism were difficult to distinguish.

Gnosticism is the reason for the curse at Revelation 22:19.
 
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Pavel Mosko

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Hi all,

I want to know your thoughts on the Gospel of St Thomas, and is it relevant reading?

Thanks
Lee.

It is interesting, but not authoritative.

There are a 2 passages that are actually acknowledged as being from Christ by some of the Church Fathers the most famous one is.
"Split a piece of wood and I am there, Lift a stone and you will find me."


I do find some of its sayings intriguing and insightful.

“If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.”

....

Jesus said, "Let one who seeks not stop seeking until that person finds; and upon finding, the person will be disturbed; and being disturbed, will be astounded; and will reign over the entirety.


 
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RaymondG

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An excerpt taken from it:

(30) Jesus said, "Where there are three gods, they are gods. Where there are two or one, I am with him."

Surely the apostle did not write this, nor did Jesus ever say such absurd things.
I believe this would be similar to the "two or three gathered together in my name there I am in the mist" scripture...
 
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RaymondG

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Hi all,

I want to know your thoughts on the Gospel of St Thomas, and is it relevant reading?

Thanks
Lee.
It is a very interesting read.....Whether or not you get anything out of it depends on what you are ready for and what God chooses to reveal.
 
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Jonaitis

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Dont you notice that when you read the word of God then lets say this.. its different. As if made to look like read like but GOD had not hand in it.

How many Christians contemplate the inspiration of each book in the actual canon?
 
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ViaCrucis

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Hi all,

I want to know your thoughts on the Gospel of St Thomas, and is it relevant reading?

Thanks
Lee.

It's neither a Gospel nor was it written by St. Thomas.

In its current form it is a product of late 2nd century or 3rd century Gnosticism. While it doesn't contain an elaborate Gnostic cosmological exposition which is a common feature of Gnostic literature; it is rather clearly intended as a "secret" document intended only for initiates to the particular Gnostic sect which produced it.

It does contain a number of parallels to the Synoptic Gospels, and so it could have (possibly) have its origins as a list of sayings, that such a thing did exist early is reported by some of the early fathers. In fact compositions of Jesus' sayings likely did circulate before the Gospels were written. But Thomas is not one of these hypothetical sayings lists, though it may have originated from one (or more), as I mention above, its current form 2nd/3rd century and is quite Gnostic.

In other words, it is historically interesting, but spiritually meaningless.

-CryptoLutheran
 
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ViaCrucis

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Isn't that the one that states women aren't worthy of life and Jesus states females must become males before they can enter the Kingdom of God?

Yup, not real.

That's one of the clues that it's Gnostic. These sorts of disjointed sayings that, frankly, come across as gibberish to you and me, are the sorts of things Gnostics would have loved as their interest was gaining special esoteric knowledge which made them special, as it was this secret knowledge that gave them salvation--which for them was the discovery of their true selves and, ultimately, liberation from the world and return to the realm of pure spirit.

-CryptoLutheran
 
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FireDragon76

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It may or may not contain sayings of Christian origin, but it is recognizably gnostic. The gnostics were notorious for adopting the teachings of Christianity and putting their own spin on them. There are some sayings within Christianity that lend themselves easily to gnosticism.

The gnostics were so well known for reworking the gospels to fit their idealogies that Christianity itself was often accused of rewriting its own. To outsiders the differences between Christianity and gnosticism were difficult to distinguish.

Gnosticism is the reason for the curse at Revelation 22:19.

Some of the sayings are probably true to Jesus, that seems to be the consensus of many scholars, even if it is probably gnostic.
 
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FireDragon76

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Isn't that the one that states women aren't worthy of life and Jesus states females must become males before they can enter the Kingdom of God?

Yup, not real.

In the gospel of Thomas, Jesus implies he can make females male.

It actually reminds me of something from Pure Land Buddhism, there is a similar teaching in their Pure Land Sutras. Modern interpreters of course interpret it as saying men and women are equal, that being a woman is not a spiritual hindrance, in that particular social context. So we need to be careful not to be too harsh on the text. It may be reflecting a sentiment that is only understood within their own cultural context.

It is interesting, but not authoritative.

There are a 2 passages that are actually acknowledged as being from Christ by some of the Church Fathers the most famous one is.
"Split a piece of wood and I am there, Lift a stone and you will find me."


This sounds a bit like something from an Asian religion, for some reason. Which is intriguing.

I do find some of its sayings intriguing and insightful.

“If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.”

Sounds sort of like psychodynamic psychology.

Jesus said, "Let one who seeks not stop seeking until that person finds; and upon finding, the person will be disturbed; and being disturbed, will be astounded; and will reign over the entirety.

Sounds like a combo of Zen and Nietzsche.
 
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SeventyOne

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In the gospel of Thomas, Jesus implies he can make females male.

It actually reminds me of something from Pure Land Buddhism, there is a similar teaching in their Pure Land Sutras. Modern interpreters of course interpret it as saying men and women are equal, that being a woman is not a spiritual hindrance, in that particular social context. So we need to be careful not to be too harsh on the text. It may be reflecting a sentiment that is only understood within their own cultural context.

Within their 'own cultural context', we have it written in actual scripture that in Christ, there is no longer male and female, and also that God is not a respecter of persons. Thomas contradicts both of these concepts.
 
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Follower3

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In the gospel of Thomas, Jesus implies he can make females male.

It actually reminds me of something from Pure Land Buddhism, there is a similar teaching in their Pure Land Sutras. Modern interpreters of course interpret it as saying men and women are equal, that being a woman is not a spiritual hindrance, in that particular social context. So we need to be careful not to be too harsh on the text. It may be reflecting a sentiment that is only understood within their own cultural context.



This sounds a bit like something from an Asian religion, for some reason. Which is intriguing.



Sounds sort of like psychodynamic psychology.



Sounds like a combo of Zen and Nietzsche.


What are you talking about? it's just a different wording of ''seek and ye shall find''
 
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ViaCrucis

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Do you have the actual verse for the man to woman thing?

It's saying 114.

"Simon Peter said to them: Let Mariham go out from among us, for women are not worthy of the life. Jesus said: Look, I will lead her that I may make her male, in order that she too may become a living spirit resembling you males. For every woman who makes herself male will enter into the kingdom of heaven."

-CryptoLutheran
 
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