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Gnostic Gospels

Tomoz

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reg said:
Hello. I was just wadering if yall have ever read the gnostic gospels? and what do you think about them? Like is it a good read even if you dont agree with it. They seem interesting and I'm planning to read some of them.

There is some pretty funny stuff in some of them - in the Gospel of Peter it talks about Jesus as a child, playing games with his friends and striking them down when he loses!
What a slur on Christ's character! I mean, as if He would lose :D
 
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reg

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Tomoz said:
There is some pretty funny stuff in some of them - in the Gospel of Peter it talks about Jesus as a child, playing games with his friends and striking them down when he loses!
What a slur on Christ's character! I mean, as if He would lose :D

LOL! Your right Go here and read at least the first 3 chapters of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas! http://www.gospels.net/translations/infancythomastranslation.html
 
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CaDan

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If you think they're exciting stories starring Tom Hanks, you're in for a surprise. ;)

I've fought my way through quite a few of them. They're a hard read. Dense, rambling speculations for the most part. If you read them, you'll understand very quickly why Mark, Matthew, Luke & John are the four canonical ones. "Gnostic Jesus" rambles on and on about weird, crazy stuff.

Infancy Thomas isn't really a "gnostic gospel". It's a collection of stories.
 
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lmnop9876

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LOL! Your right Go here and read at least the first 3 chapters of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas! http://www.gospels.net/translations/...anslation.html
this 'gospel' is wrong mainly in its notion that Jesus could have acted bitterly or angrily. however (contrary to Dan Brown's ideas) many of these 'gospels' also emphasize traditional Christian teaching on the divinity of Christ.
 
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Carlos Vigil

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reg said:
Hello. I was just wadering if yall have ever read the gnostic gospels? and what do you think about them? Like is it a good read even if you dont agree with it. They seem interesting and I'm planning to read some of them.


If you have a lot of free time you can afford to throw away...Go for it !
As for me I will stick with THE TRUE GOSPEL of Jesus Christ, approved by the Church in the 4th century.

God speaks through these.

Reading the "Gnostics" would fall into the same category as
reading "the gospel of judas", promoted by National Geo. , or
reading the "duh-vinchy code"... promoted by Hollow-wood.

The enemy speaks through these.
 
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Linda63

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GNOSTICISM
A philosophy prevalent in the days of the Apostles. According to Gnostic teaching, the physical creation was made by God through a progression of angels. The Gnostics believed that God is pure, but that the creation-the physical things of the world-are impure, since the progression of angels was thought to have become less pure as they moved from God. Gnostics had two different opinions about how men could become pure. One group tried to deny and mistreat their bodies through fasting, sleeplessness, flagellations, etc. Christians are warned against this in Col 2:18-23. The other group believed that since their bodies were evil it did not matter how they lived as long as their thoughts were high. These Gnostics lived in sensual pleasure and debauchery. This idea is rebuked in Col. 3. Gnostic means knowledge, and Gnosticism promoted a sort of secret society of the intellectual. . Only a certain special group were considered advanced enough to be accepted. The Apostle Paul denied this search for secret knowledge when he said all knowledge is in Christ (Col 2:1-4). When we have Christ Jesus, we have access to all wisdom. Gnostics also believed that Christ was only an angel, or an emanation from God, but not truly God Himself. The Apostle Paul countered this false belief in Col 1:15-19 and Col 2:8-10.

Way of Life Encyclopedia

Why in the world would anybody who is born again want to read the Gnostic Gospels, which are definitely not God's Word? The Gospel of Judas and the Da Vinci Code are pure Gnosticism. Better to stick with the true Gospel.
 
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GraceInHim

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Agape_ said:
I really think we have to stop calling these gnostic writings gospels, since they put them in the same category as the true gospels. They were not written by anyone who knew Jesus and all they did was make this stuff up.
:thumbsup:
 
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MapleLeaf

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I like the Gnostic Gospels; they provide a different perspective on things. While they are not as laid out as the Synoptic Gospels, or John, they are valid writings of that time. The fact they are not included in the Canon has more to do with who put together the Canon than the fact they are heretical.
 
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ScottBot

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reg said:
Hello. I was just wadering if yall have ever read the gnostic gospels? and what do you think about them? Like is it a good read even if you dont agree with it. They seem interesting and I'm planning to read some of them.
The Church has condemned them since the beginning of the church and has recommended avoiding them, so I do. I don't need any heretical notions of who Christ is and what He taught filling my head.
 
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tsukino_Rei

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MapleLeaf said:
I like the Gnostic Gospels; they provide a different perspective on things. While they are not as laid out as the Synoptic Gospels, or John, they are valid writings of that time. The fact they are not included in the Canon has more to do with who put together the Canon than the fact they are heretical.

This is where I give my fellow-Canadian a hug and say amen! AMEN! AMEN!
 
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Tonks

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Scott_LaFrance said:
The Church has condemned them since the beginning of the church and has recommended avoiding them, so I do. I don't need any heretical notions of who Christ is and what He taught filling my head.

This, of course, is quite true. That being said, they are interesting historical texts insofar as there were folks back in the day that did believe these things about Christ.
 
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ScottBot

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reg said:
Wow it sounds like yall think that I actually believe the books. I know they are false and I just read them because I'm bored. And I do read the true gospels.
I don't think anyone was insinuating that you didn't read the accepted Gospels, but simply cast aspirtions on the heretical texts because of the potential damaging nature of their contents. Just as an example of how influencing writings of this sort can be, just look at the Da Vinci Code phenomenon.
 
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