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The Gospel of Thomas

The Gospel of Thomas

Spirituality


@sonship said
@Ghost-of-a-Duke

Step aside Carl Jung.
Could you embellish on why you wrote this, and how it fits in your statement?

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@sonship said
The subtitle I re-call was "Pop Culture's Attempt to Unseat the Historical Jesus"
"Pop culture"? It is said to have been written in 40 AD by someone who met Jesus and heard him speak.

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@fmf said
That's 9 out of 114. More to follow.
(10) Jesus said: I have cast fire upon the world, and behold I guard it until it is ablaze.

(11) Jesus said: This heaven shall pass away, and that which above it shall pass away; and they that are dead are not alive and they that live shall not die. In the days when you were eating that which is dead, you were making it alive. When you come in the light, what will you do? On the day when you were one, you became two. But when you have become two, what will you do?

(12) The disciples said to Jesus: We know that thou wilt go from us. Who is he who shall be great over us? Jesus said to them: In the place to which you come, you shall go to James the Just for whose sake heaven and earth came into being.

(13) Jesus said to his disciples: Make a comparison to me, and tell me whom I am like. Simon Peter said to him: Thou art like a righteous angel. Matthew said to him: Thou art like a wise man of understanding. Thomas said to him: Master, my mouth will no wise suffer that I say whom thou art like. Jesus said: I am not thy master, because thou hast drunk, thou hast become drunk from the bubbling spring which I have measured out. And he took him, went aside, and spoke to him three words. Now when Thomas came to his companions, they asked him: What did Jesus say unto thee? Thomas said to them: If I tell you one of the words which he said to me, you will take up stones and throw them me; and a fire will come out of the stones and burn you up.

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14) Jesus said to them: If you fast, you will beget a sin for yourselves; and if you pray, you will be condemned; and if you give alms, you will do an evil to your spirits. And if you go into any land and travel in its regions, if they receive you eat what they set before you. Heal the sick among them. For that which goes into your mouth will not defile you, but that which comes forth from your mouth, that is what will defile you.

(15) Jesus said: When you see him who was not born of woman, throw yourselves down upon your face and worship him. He is your Father.

(16) Jesus said: Perhaps men think that I am come to cast peace upon the world, and know not that I am come to cast divisions upon the earth, fire, sword, war. For there shall be five in a house; there shall be three against two, and two against three, the father against the son and the son against the father, and they shall stand as solitaries.

(17) Jesus said: I will give you that which eye has not seen, an ear has not heard, and hand has not touched, and which has not entered into the heart of man.

(18) The disciples said to Jesus: Tell us how our end shall be. Jesus said: Have you then discovered the beginning, that you seek after the end? For where the beginning is, there shall the end be. Blessed is he who shall stand in the beginning, and he shall know the end and shall not taste of death.

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@fmf said
These are the secret words which the living Jesus spoke, and Didymus Judas Thomas wrote them down.

[Taken from http://www.goodnewsinc.net/othbooks/thomas.html]
From wiki

The manuscript of the Coptic text (CG II), found in 1945 at Nag Hammadi, Egypt, is dated at around 340 AD.

So according to you we should discount the book of Mark which was written about 30 years after the death of Jesus but we are to accept this as an eye witness account even though it was dated hundreds of years after the death of Jesus?

Hilarious!

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@whodey said
From wiki

The manuscript of the Coptic text (CG II), found in 1945 at Nag Hammadi, Egypt, is dated at around 340 AD.

So according to you we should discount the book of Mark which was written about 30 years after the death of Jesus but we are to accept this as an eye witness account even though it was dated hundreds of years after the death of Jesus?

Hilarious!
I've read in that exact same article you are citing that some scholars date it as early 40 AD. The 340 AD date is the age manuscript found in 1945, as you well know.

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@whodey said
Hilarious!
It is indeed just a bit of fun. Have any of the verses struck a chord with you?

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(19) Jesus said: Blessed is he who was before he came into being. If you become my disciples and hear my words, these stones shall minister unto you. For you have five trees in Paradise which do not move in summer or in winter, and their leaves do not fall. He who knows them shall not taste of death.

(20) The disciples said to Jesus: Tell us what the kingdom of heaven is like. He said to them: It is like a grain of mustard-seed, smaller than all seeds; but when it falls on the earth which is tilled, it puts forth a great branch, and becomes shelter for the birds of heaven.

(21) Mary said to Jesus: Whom are thy disciples like? He said They are like little children dwelling in a field which is not theirs. When the owners of the field come, they will say: Yield up to us our field. They are naked before them, to yield it up to them and to give them back their field. Therefore I say: If the master of the house knows that the thief is coming, he will keep watch before he comes, and will not let him dig into his house of his kingdom to carry off his vessels. You, then, be watchful over against the world. Gird up your loins with great strength, that the brigands may not find a way to come at you, since the advantage for which you look they will find. May there be among you a man of understanding! When the fruit was ripe, he came quickly, his sickle in his hand, and reaped it. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

(22) Jesus saw some infants at the breast. He said to his disciples: These little ones at the breast are like those who enter into the kingdom. They said to him: If we then be children, shall we enter the kingdom? Jesus said to them: When you make the two one, and when you make the inside as the outside, and the outside as the inside, and the upper side as the lower; and when you make the male and the female into a single one, that the male be not male and the female female; when you make eyes in the place of an eye, and a hand in place of a hand, and a foot in place of a foot, an image in place of an image, then shall you enter [the kingdom].

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@suzianne said
Could you embellish on why you wrote this, and how it fits in your statement?
I doubt there was much informed thought behind it.

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@fmf said
I've read in that exact same article you are citing that some scholars date it as early 40 AD. The 340 AD date is the age manuscript found in 1945, as you well know.
So they don't know.

Ok then.

Either the manuscripts date to that time or it is all speculative

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@sonship said
@Ghost-of-a-Duke

Explain to me again why "The Ministry of God's Word" by Nee is an embarrassment to me,
or why Kentucky Fried Chicken causes me sleepless nights.
If you abandoned a bucket of KFC chicken halfway through without explanation, one would be justified in querying if something was wrong with the chicken.

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@whodey said
So they don't know.

Ok then.

Either the manuscripts date to that time or it is all speculative
You have deliberately misrepresented what the wiki article says. To what end?

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@whodey said
So they don't know.

Ok then.

Either the manuscripts date to that time or it is all speculative
The oldest fragments of Mark date from about 200 AD or perhaps later. Is that when you think it was written?

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@fmf said
The oldest fragments of Mark date from about 200 AD or perhaps later. Is that when you think it was written?
Circa 150-250 AD

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@fmf said
(1) And he said: He who shall find the interpretation of the words shall not taste of death.

(2) Jesus said: He who seeks, let him not cease seeking until: finds; and when he finds he will be troubled, and if he is troubled, he will be amazed, and he will reign over the All.

(3) Jesus said: If those who lead you say unto you: Behold, the Kingdom is in heaven, then the birds ...[text shortened]... f the living Father. But if ye do not know yourselves, then you are in poverty, and you are poverty.
I am curious to know your purpose in posting this thread, fmf. Maybe to make fun of it? Then you did succeed in drawing out some, like sonship. But for others, like me, it is a valuable ancient document.

The GoT has some very interesting passages, not the least of which being your first three quotes here.

Clearly, many passages are very similar to their "orthodox" parallels, but with some subtle differences.

I share the opinion of some scholars that there are hidden truths in this Gospel, which the canonical gospels may have missed.

And there are references to Mary Magdalene (e.g. the very last verse) that to some are outright heretical!

This book, and some of the other Gnostic Gospels, are considered by some to be part of the Wisdom Sayings of Jesus.

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