[quote=“chaos”]Also the books and scriptures that were selected by the church to be included in the official version, actually excluded more than were included, the gospels of Mary Magdalene, Philip, the Apocrypha, etc. etc.
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One excluded book is the Infancy Gospel of Thomas. It isn’t very long if you want to read the whole thing. gnosis.org/library/inftoma.htm
But from this sampling we can probably guess why it was excluded.
III. 1 But the son of Annas the scribe was standing there with Joseph; and he took a branch of a willow and dispersed the waters which Jesus had gathered together. 2 And when Jesus saw what was done, he was wroth and said unto him: O evil, ungodly, and foolish one, what hurt did the pools and the waters do thee? behold, now also thou shalt be withered like a tree, and shalt not bear leaves, neither root, nor fruit. 3 And straightway that lad withered up wholly, but Jesus departed and went unto Joseph’s house. But the parents of him that was withered took him up, bewailing his youth, and brought him to Joseph, and accused him ‘for that thou hast such a child which doeth such deeds.’
IV. 1 After that again he went through the village, and a child ran and dashed against his shoulder. And Jesus was provoked and said unto him: Thou shalt not finish thy course (lit. go all thy way). And immediately he fell down and died. But certain when they saw what was done said: Whence was this young child born, for that every word of his is an accomplished work? And the parents of him that was dead came unto Joseph, and blamed him, saying: Thou that hast such a child canst not dwell with us in the village: or do thou teach him to bless and not to curse: for he slayeth our children.
Before I go, A few seconds on DWhite´s post. ( always a good read) The last sentence made me think. Maybe a modern day sermon should be put on our bucket list . Most of the sermons I hear these days rarely talk in terms of conversion or controversy. Nor is there any talk of a superior faith ( one belief over another). These days, the talks are based on ways to improve our day to day life. Forgiveness, understanding, acceptance, etc. Universally accepted social traits. The ministers/ priests just use the bible as a basis of getting the message across.
Sure, the bible has some nasties ( some pretty bad ones! ) , but the book has more good to be had than bad.
Something I have always found interesting is how few Christians have asked themselves, " what religion did Jesus follow?" We know him from the church as “Jesus of Nazareth”. When it should be ‘Jesus the Nazarene’. A big difference. Jesus believed by many to have been a member of, or possibly a Rabbi of the Nazarene sect of Judaism, he was Jewish after all. When the geographic location of Nazareth according to many Archeologists did not even exist until several centuries after Jesus death, and so impossible for him to have been from there.
And yes D. White Jesus is known by many to have had several siblings, his brother James mentioned in scripture among them. And was married to Mary Magdalene, a fact the church tried to erase from historic record. Also Jesus was not crucified on a cross as we are led to believe but as many historical archeologists believe evidence shows, and as was the historical practice of the region and time was he was put to death on a pike, as simple pole erected for this purpose. The cross symbol that the church adopted was already in use by earlier religions, and therefore easily recognizable, the church was and is still real big on symbolism in case you haven’t noticed.
Myth or reality, you decide what to believe? I believe I’ll have another drink.