By what criteria were the canonical books of Holy Scripture and the Apocrypha determined?

“As I already said,” Sir Teabing began to explain, “the churchmen tried to convince the world that a mere mortal, the preacher Jesus Christ, was in fact a divine being by nature. That is why the gospels with a description of the life of Christ as an earthly man were not included in the Bible. But here the editors of the Bible made a mistake; one of these earthly themes is still found in the gospels. Theme of Mary Magdalene. - He made a pause. – Namely: her marriage to Jesus (p. 296; emphasis in original).

What Teabing said contains several historical errors. As we will see in a later chapter, the words and deeds of Jesus were by no means recorded by “thousands” during His earthly life; on the contrary, there is not a single evidence that anyone recorded the facts of His life while He was still alive. There were not eighty gospels considered for inclusion in the New Testament. And the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are not among those included in the New Testament; they were the only ones included in it.

These factual errors aside, Teabing's comments raise a number of interesting historical issues that we can discuss. Which other gospels (not included in the New Testament) still exist today? Do they place more emphasis on the human nature of Christ than on the divine nature? And do they indicate that He was related to Mary Magdalene by marriage?

In this chapter we will look at some of the other gospels that have come down to us. As I have already noted, Teabing is wrong in asserting that the eighty gospels vied for a place in the New Testament. In fact, we don't even know how many gospels were written; and, of course, eighty of them are not currently available to us, although there are at least two dozen that we know about. Most of these gospels have been discovered in relatively recent times and completely by accident, such as the Nag Hammadi library, found in 1945. Teabing was right about one thing: the Church did canonize the four Gospels and exclude all others, prohibiting their use and (sometimes) destroying them, so that most Christians throughout the history of the Church had access only to that information about Christ that was contained in the books of the New Testament. However, this does not mean that the remaining gospels - those outside the New Testament - are more accurate from a historical point of view, nor that they depict Christ as more human and married to Mary Magdalene. Quite the contrary: as noted in the previous chapter, in most of these gospels Jesus has even more divine features than in the four included in the canon, and none of the non-canonical gospels ever says that He had a wife, so Moreover, He was married to His disciple Mary Magdalene.

We will return to many of these issues in subsequent chapters. In the meantime, let’s briefly look at some of the gospels that are not included in the canon in order to understand how Christ is portrayed in them - as a person or as a deity. Here I do not seek to cover all the oldest non-canonical gospels that have come down to us; they can be found elsewhere1. I intend to give only brief examples of the kinds of books that can be found outside the canon. I'll start with the one from which one would expect a very human portrayal of Jesus, since it tells about His childhood and later, youthful antics. Unfortunately for Teabing's argument, even this early narrator tends to show Jesus as superman rather than human.

Childhood Gospel of Thomas

This account, called the Childhood Gospel of Thomas (not to be confused with the Coptic Gospel of Thomas, found near Nag Hammadi), chronicles the life of Jesus as a child. Some scholars date this book to the early second century, making it one of the earliest surviving gospels not included in the New Testament. This source contains a fascinating account of Jesus' activities as a young man, attempting to answer a question that still occupies some Christians today: "If the adult Jesus was the miracle-performing Son of God, what was He like as a child?" It turns out that He was quite a prankster.

The story begins with five-year-old Jesus playing by the stream on the Sabbath. He fences off some of the dirty water by building a small dam, and then commands the water to become clean - and it immediately becomes clean. Then on the bank of the stream He makes sparrows from clay. But a Jewish man passes by and sees what He is doing - doing something, thus breaking the law of the Sabbath (not to work). The man runs away to tell Joseph, His father. Joseph comes and scolds Jesus for desecrating the Sabbath. But instead of making excuses or repenting of committing sin, the child Jesus claps his hands and tells the sparrows to fly. They come to life and fly away with a chirp, thereby destroying the evidence of the crime (Gospel of Childhood according to Thomas 2). Jesus, already in childhood, is the giver of life and is not bound by human norms and restrictions.

One would think that with such supernatural powers, Jesus would be a useful and interesting playmate for the other children in the city. But, as it turns out, this boy has character, and it’s better for him not to cross the road. The child with whom He is playing decides to pluck a willow branch and muddy the clear water that Jesus has enclosed. This upsets young Jesus and He cries out, “You ungodly, disrespectful fool! How did this puddle bother you? Look, now you, too, will wither like this branch, and you will never find either foliage, or root, or fruit.” And the words of Jesus come true exactly: “and immediately that boy was completely dry” (Gospel of Childhood from Thomas 3:1-3). Jesus returns home, and “the parents of that boy who was withered took him, mourning his youth, and brought him to Joseph and began to reproach his son for doing such a thing” (Gospel of Childhood from Thomas 3:3). For the modern reader, the answer is obvious: Joseph is a supernatural child who has not yet learned to control his anger.

We see this again in the next paragraph: when another child accidentally bumps into him on the street, Jesus turns around angrily and exclaims, “You will go no further,” and the child immediately fell and died (Childhood Gospel of Thomas 4:1). (Jesus later resurrects him, as well as others whom he cursed on one occasion or another.) And Jesus' wrath is not only directed at other children. Joseph sends Him to school to learn to read, but Jesus refuses to repeat the alphabet out loud. The teacher persuades him to work together with everyone until Jesus responds with a mocking challenge: “If you are really a teacher and know the letters well, tell me what the meaning of alpha is, and I will tell you what the meaning of beta is.” Quite indignant, the teacher slaps the boy on the head, making the only unforgivable mistake in his brilliant teaching career. The boy felt pain and cursed him, the teacher fell to the ground lifeless. Heartbroken, Joseph sternly punishes Jesus’ mother: “Do not let Him out the door, for everyone who provokes His wrath dies” (Childhood Gospel of Thomas 14:1-3).

At some point in the story, Jesus, due to His reputation, begins to be blamed for everything that happens. He plays on the roof with the children, and one of them, a boy named Zeno, accidentally trips, falls off the roof and dies. The rest of the children run away in fright; Jesus, however, goes to the edge of the roof to look down. At this moment, Zeno's parents appear, and what should they think? Their child lies dead on the ground and Jesus stands on the roof above him. This supernaturally gifted child is at it again, they think. They accuse Jesus of killing their child, but this time He is innocent! “Jesus came down from the roof, stood next to the body of the boy and shouted with a loud voice - Zeno - for that was his name - rise up and tell me, did I throw you down? And immediately he stood up and said, “No, Lord, you did not throw me down, but you lifted me up” (Childhood Gospel of Thomas 9:1-3).

But as time passes, Jesus begins to use his power for good. He saves his brother from a fatal snake bite, heals the sick, and restores health and life to everyone he once withered or killed. And He becomes unusually skilled in housework and carpentry: when Joseph splits a board incorrectly, which threatens him with the loss of a buyer, Jesus miraculously corrects his mistake. The narrative ends with an episode in the Jerusalem temple, when we see the twelve-year-old Jesus surrounded by scribes and Pharisees - a plot familiar to readers of the New Testament, as conveyed in chapter 2 of the Gospel of Luke.

As interesting as this gospel is, it is not an attempt by an early Christian to give what we might call a historically accurate account of Jesus' early life. It is difficult to say whether these stories were intended to be taken literally, as what happened to Christ in His childhood, or whether they are all just fascinating flights of fancy. In any case, the Jesus they depict is no ordinary child; He is a child prodigy with superhuman abilities.

About canonical and non-canonical books

“The Christian Bible consists of two parts: the Old Testament and the New Testament. The books of the Old Testament were written over a thousand years before the birth of Christ (BC) in Hebrew, the books of the New Testament were written in Greek in the 1st century. according to R.H.

In the Old Testament there are canonical and non-canonical books. The main difference between them is that the canonical books are more ancient, written in the 15th-5th centuries. BC, and the books are non-canonical, i.e. not included in the canon, in the collection of sacred books, were written later, in the 4th-1st centuries. BC Ezra (5th century BC) is considered the first collector of sacred books. The Bible was translated into Russian in the middle of the 19th century... The Russian Orthodox Bible, like the Slavic Bible, contains all 39 canonical and 11 non-canonical books of the Old Testament.”

* * *

Let's see what useful statistical information we can extract from the above. First of all, of course, the total volume of the Book is impressive - 1372 pages. And this despite the fact that it was printed in a typographical way, on thin paper, in very small font (the New Testament is printed in a larger font). Probably before the invention of printing, scribes and preachers had a hard time: some had to rewrite one book for years, others had to carry excessive weights (after all, the paper was much thicker and heavier, and the letters were larger than typographic ones...). On the other hand, the Bible for many centuries until recently was reproduced only in Latin, so most likely the circulations were not so large, and preachers actually used summary editions.

Let's go further. The Old Testament (OT) occupies 1010 pages in the Book, and the New Testament (NT) - 360. In percentage terms, this will be 74% and 26%. In addition, for some reason the texts of the Old Testament are typed in smaller font. This means that the volume of the OT texts is not 3 times larger than the NT texts, but 4! It turns out that the Main Book of Christians is almost 80% composed of texts written long before the birth of Jesus Christ, and these texts were the absolute guide for the lives of people who ultimately led Jesus to martyrdom on Calvary. Hmmm.

The Old Testament of the Christian Bible consists entirely of fragments of texts from the modern Hebrew, so-called Masoretic Bible, which contains, of course, only the original Old Testament and consists of no less than 39 books (these are only canonical books).

Thanks to this “happy” coincidence of circumstances, you and I can, in parallel with the Christian Bible, learn quite a lot about the Jewish Bible, consisting of the Torah (in Russian - law

), Nebiim (
prophets
) and Ketubim (
scriptures
).
This will allow us to learn a lot about the history ( from the Torah
), customs, goals, life interests, migration of the Jews, described two thousand years ago and even much earlier. Very good! Let's figure this out at the same time! Perhaps we will need this in life.

Picture 3. “Genesis.” How to create a world in one working week. Profession of Adam and Eve

We begin to analyze the first book of Moses , which is called “Genesis”. In the Bible, it takes up 49 pages and consists of 50 small chapters or sections, most likely designed to separate fragments of text that carry different meanings. The first chapter quite concisely (on one and a half pages) describes the first six “days” of creation.

The first thing that catches your eye is the obvious and numerous contradictions caused either by a free translation of the original source, or by the discrepancy between ancient and modern terms and concepts, or by the fact that someone else was actually involved in the “creation”... And most likely, by the fact that and others, and third ones.

Look: God created the earth. Amazing! How, I wonder, did he do it? Why didn't the Bible writers even hint? Did you decide to hide the information or were you also not in the know? Like, he created it and that’s it. That's enough for you.

«The earth was formless and empty, and darkness was over the deep, and the Spirit of God hovered over the waters.

"(Gen. 1:2).

It turns out that God made a piece of stone somewhere. The question is, where did the water come from on empty land? Where did the abyss come from and where did the darkness come from over this abyss, which did not exist yet, and in which this Spirit of God rushed? And most importantly, how do we know what exactly and in what order the restless Spirit of God created as it hovered over the uncreated water? Who was it that ran around next to Him, not yet being created, and carefully wrote down all His creations? Further: God created light and called it day, and called darkness night. This ends the first day.

On the second day, the fun continues: God created the firmament, called it heaven, and with it separated the water that was under the firmament from the water that was above the firmament. That's cool! Hard palate in water, which, moreover, has not yet existed! As fans of Newspeak say: “Afftar zhot.” Let him tell you where he bought the weed! Apparently, he shifted the “assemblage point” too much - even his day begins in the evening - “ And there was evening, and there was morning: the second day

"(Gen. 1:8).

It would be very interesting to know where the 2nd day came from, if not a word has been said so far that God has already created a star for us - the Sun, made the created piece of stone (the earth) rotate, and made day give way to night? We are told in all seriousness that it was enough for God to call the light day and the darkness night for everything else to be created and spin by itself. We admit that it is possible to find some reasonable explanation for this cheerful chatter, but this will most likely require real original texts containing reliable information and very competent and widely educated translators...

Then God creates all the other attributes of the inhabited world en masse.

It is interesting to note that the “Creator” hung the luminaries, having written the moon in them, in the sky on the fourth day, after he collected water from the seas and cleared the land, where he sowed grass and planted trees. How did they, the poor ones, grow without sunlight? Or did “The Creator” not yet read about photosynthesis?

The fifth day was devoted to the creation of aquatic reptiles, birds and large fish. Small fish, presumably, are not “God’s creations.” Whose then? Oh, excuse me, what about other sea animals, for example, whales or jellyfish, lobsters and other shells?

What little things! The main thing is that the “Creator” should have fun: “ And God saw that it was good

" We were lucky!

The sixth day was the most intense. The plan was to create “cattle, reptiles and beasts of the earth”; how the former differ from the latter is not clear. Created. I liked it too. Then He creates man and woman in His own image and likeness: “And God blessed them, and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it.”

(Genesis 1:28). Well, that seems to be all.

On the seventh day, the “Creator” planned for himself a legal day off and seemed to even “rest from all His works”

, but it suddenly strikes him that in all the created splendor there is missing... man: “there was no man to till the earth” (Gen. 2:5).

Oops. What's this? Was the “Creator” a sclerotic or were the editors of the Old Testament joking?

Let’s check again: there is earth, there is sky, “every bush of the field” is also there, but there is no man to cultivate the land. What to do? The “Creator” had to mold something from the dust and blow on it. This is how the first man turned out (in Hebrew - Adam). His place of residence was assigned to him in the east of an area called Eden (Eden), in a garden, which he had to look after and protect. And this Eden was in India (at that time it was Dravidia)[3].

A little later, the “Creator” came to the thought that: “it is not good for man to be alone; Let us make him a helper suitable for him.”

(Genesis 2:18) Apparently, the first man was not a very hard-working young man and could not cope with the assigned tasks.

What can you see here? Most likely, it turns out that someone was created to possess the earth (“possess it, and have dominion ... over all the earth”), and someone was created to cultivate it (these were simply cloned, like Eve (Chava), from the “rib” Adam[4]). This is starting to get really interesting. Especially when you consider that Adam and Eve are the first parents of the Jews, who were seemingly created to cultivate the land. Besides, they were naked. The question arises, are nagas a form of clothing or the name of an ancient Indian people with skin the color of darkness?

Here God allegedly expressed another incorruptible thought: “Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother and be united to his wife...”

(Gen. 2:24). Someone will see here a call to strengthen the family. Why, “and they will become one flesh.” But what we see here is quite the opposite: the first application of the divine principle of “divide and conquer.” I wonder why you need to “cleave” to your wife, and not vice versa? And is it good to help your parents with a pen in order to live a normal family life? Although, what kind of parents could Chava and Adam, who had just been made from the dust of the earth, have had?!

God came up with all this for you and me.

conclusions

1. From what you have read, it becomes clear that Jehovah is a jack of all trades: a Swede, a reaper, and a jack of all trades. However, it does not at all follow from this text that the events described took place in reality. All this is most similar to the revelations of illiterate shepherds, recorded from dictation with big errors, or the impudent tampering and alteration of someone else’s creation myth.

2. Such a picture of the Creation of the World can captivate, perhaps, very naive or very inexperienced readers who did not know, and even forgot, that millions of years ago the Earth was already inhabited by all sorts of mammoths with Neanderthals, all sorts of monkeys with ferns and other various living creatures. Again, not a word about evolution, but this is a proven fact... In general, if this was written for the ancient Jewish shepherds, then everything is fine. For them, these were real revelations, a colossal leap forward. And for us it’s just somehow inconvenient...

3. On the other hand, the feeling of inconvenience develops into indignation at the sight of the frantic onslaught of the ministers of the Christian cult to introduce the law of God in schools and attempts to replace Darwin's theory of evolution with the theory of creationism (this is what you and I just read). Although Darwin was not able to answer all the questions correctly, nevertheless, his theory is very close to reality.

Picture 4. “Genesis.” Why people are fired from heaven or what “original sin” is

So, the creature created on the “seventh day” apparently needed training (he was created “to cultivate the earth”). Of course, it would be interesting to know what people and all other living beings, who were also created by God (maybe another?), but “a day earlier” - on the sixth day of creation - managed to do this to the Earth. It is quite reasonable to assume that the biblical “day” actually lasted more than one hundred thousand years, or even two. But still, it would be very interesting to know for what cultivation of the land the first Jew was created and by whom exactly was he created? (The Bible mentions different gods many times, so it is quite possible to assume that all the events described were performed not by one creature, but by different ones. It’s a pity that their names have not been preserved).

But let's return to Adam. God allowed him to taste (study?) the fruits of all the trees (he even brought to him all the animals and birds formed from the earth), except for the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And why? Why didn’t God want to allow Adam (Eve didn’t exist then) to learn to recognize good and evil? For what kind of work did He actually prepare the created being and, accordingly, all of its descendants? And then it tells about what has long been known as “original sin,” which has been hanging over humanity for several millennia and instills in it a feeling of guilt and inferiority. It all started when the notorious cunning serpent persuaded the woman to try the fruits of the tree of good and evil, seducing her with the idea that she and Adam would be like gods, knowing good and evil. The wife, instead of doing her direct duties - helping her husband and despite the prohibition, takes the fruit, eats it herself and gives it to her husband, and all because it is “desirable, because it gives knowledge.” By the way, not a word is said in the Bible about the fact that these were apples.

As a result of eating the fruit, no one died, as promised, but on the contrary, “the eyes of both of them were opened.” Apparently the guys got something they needed or, conversely, something unnecessary disappeared.

God, sensing something was wrong (!), began to look for Adam in the garden (as if they were playing blind man's buff) and interrogated him with passion, how did he know that he was naked, did he eat fruit? In general, he behaves somehow... humanly and even childishly. And it seems like he should be an All-Seeing and All-Knowing Lord. Having found out who incited whom to disobey, so to speak, the performer and the customer, God issues punishment in the form of curses:

The serpent means “to walk on its belly and eat dust.” I wonder how snakes moved before this?

For the wife - a difficult pregnancy and difficult childbirth (what, before pregnancy and childbirth were easy and fun?), attraction to her husband (strangely, this is also a curse) and his dominance over her (was it different? When? ).

Adam - by the sweat of his brow to work the barren land and, as a result, eat from it with sorrow. A curious punishment - physical labor, and even in extreme conditions. I wonder if it was the compilers of the Bible who so uniquely designated the transition of matriarchy to patriarchy? Or did they again “borrow” a myth from someone? Isn't it too cruel? And all this for the thirst for knowledge of good and evil? Why? What is wrong with knowledge and the ability to distinguish between good and evil? Apparently, knowledge not provided for by Jehovah’s plan somehow violated the training program of the first humans, the program that their teacher put into them to gain the opportunity to control both them and future generations.

Here, during this conflict, Adam was struck, and he finally gave the name to his wife - Eve, which means “life” (how did this become known?), “for she became the mother of all living”

(Gen. 3:20). Here we are. What, everyone, everyone living? And Indians, and Nanais, and Chinese, and even Russians? And those who appeared before Adam and Eve too? Are we all Jews?

And then the unfortunate firstborns are generally expelled from heaven, and even guards are posted in the form of a Cherub (who created this?) with some kind of flaming sword in circulation. The training is supposedly over. Come to work, work off karma. And all because not only did Adam “become like one of Us, knowing good and evil”

(this is “Us” again) (Gen. 3:24), and there is also the danger that he will taste the fruit from the tree of life and live forever. Yes, it always turns out, nizz-ya-ya. And they spoke in the image, in the likeness... Or is this not about that creation?

conclusions

1. The fun continues. It turns out that the Almighty and All-Knowing Jehovah did not think of hanging the forbidden fruit on a higher branch! Or just hide it somewhere else... Or is it completely wrong? In fact, this story simply looks like a cheap provocation to justify further actions, supposedly of a punitive nature. In fact, all this looks like an attempt to attribute authorship to Jehovah of something that was not created by him and existed long before him.

2. But at the same time, if you look closely and think hard, you can see that someone is conducting some experiments in order to create the necessary qualities and parameters in a small group of people, with the goal of subsequently spreading these qualities (genes?) to the rest of the Earth's population .

Picture 5. “Genesis.” The first biblical murder. Bratskoe. Possible reasons and motives

Having been expelled from Paradise, Adam and Eve began to actively “get to know” each other. And as a result, Cain appeared. Although not everything is clear here either. According to Eve, she acquired it from the Lord. Or maybe not him, but Abel. Everything is not written very clearly... And then there is the well-known biblical episode about Cain and Abel: God liked the gifts and Abel himself (probably he was His son), and Cain (the son of Adam) turned out to be a little off the mark. Cain was very upset, and God behaved more than strangely and, instead of reconciling the brothers and reducing everything to a joke, he rather arrogantly reads a lecture to Cain, in which he advises him to do good and rule over sin, after which he commits murder. A strange reaction to such a highly moral sermon, to say the least. Is not it? It doesn't seem to be the case! Especially if you notice that this sermon again looks more like a provocation, like inciting...

So what sin did Cain commit? Instead of meat, he brought fruits and vegetables, he wanted his gift to be liked, but he could not humbly accept the fact that God preferred the gift of another? Or maybe God foresaw that Cain would kill Abel (after all, he is all-seeing and all-knowing)? And if so, then what goal did God pursue by reducing the “population of the earth” by 25% and destroying the eldest?

Then followed the usual “punishing the innocent and rewarding the innocent”: God, naturally, left the executor of his plans alive, but strongly cursed Cain, expelled him from somewhere and said a bunch of other unpleasant things. At this time, for some reason, Cain is afraid that the first person he meets may kill him (!).

What is the first person you meet? Mom and dad are already elderly, and no one ordered them to kill their child. It turns out that the place where God banished Cain was already abundantly populated by people who, apparently, did not favor strangers, especially from where Cain came. "...and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden"

(Gen. 4:16). Something about their life didn’t work out: dad (Adam) and mom were expelled from Paradise (Eden), son (Cain) was expelled from there again...

But one way or another, God put Cain under protection (he gave him a sign), and also reassured him that if Cain were killed, he would “take revenge sevenfold” (as if this would make it easier for the person killed). Cain managed to find himself a wife on the “deserted land,” and they began to “be fruitful and multiply” with ecstasy.

Next comes a small pedigree of the Cain branch to a certain Lamech, who one fine day lined up his two wives Ada and Zillah and delightedly informed them that he - cooler than his great-, great-grandfather Cain - had already killed two people (“I killed my husband in a plague wound me and the boy"), but if he is killed in return, he will be avenged "seventy times seven" (what an achievement!). Who could he kill? If it had been one of our own, they would have recorded it and reported it as the murder of Abel. Probably one of those people who sheltered the poor exiles from Paradise and their descendants who lived “east of Eden.” Probably this event (the killing of a person and the feeling of impunity and powerful protection) is so important that it is mentioned in the holy book as an advertisement, a notification, and takes up much more space in the text than the message about the construction of the city (the message that Cain built the city of Enoch ranks 1.5, and the Lamecho message is 7).

What about Adam and Eve? A big joy. Eve again carried and again gave birth to a son - Seth (Sheth). Adam knew Eve, but, according to her, God gave her another seed, “instead of Abel, whom Cain killed.”

(Gen. 4:25). It turns out that both sons of Adam - Abel and Seth - were born from the seed placed in Eve by God! Interesting fact! It’s worth thinking about it a little longer (at least remembering it when reading further text, maybe something will become clearer).

The entire fifth chapter of the book of Genesis (32 verses) is entirely devoted to the genealogy of the ancient Jews from Adam to Noah. However, before listing the descendants, the text provides a reminder that man (male and female) are created in the image and likeness of God (similar to Gen. 1:27), and who then was created from the dust of the ground (Gen. 2:7)? Or is the dust of the earth the “image and likeness”? It is not only the life span that is impressive - everyone lived for almost a thousand years, but also the fact that they remembered all their ancestors without exception, with all the data about who gave birth to whom, at what age and when they died. Everything is written down clearly, like in a pharmacy (I wonder if there are similar records of Slavic history somewhere?).

It is also interesting why they gave birth to their first children at such an advanced age, from our point of view, from 65 to 180 years? Different physiology, different living conditions, different time measurement? A strange sensation constantly accompanies the reading of names unusual to the eye and ear - Enoch, Lamech, Maleleel, Mufasail, Jared, Cainan, Shem, Ham... The only one who at least somehow stands out from this series of fruitful and multiplied (as was commanded) of the first Jews, this is Enoch, who “walked with God” and “was no more because God took him”

(at midlife - at 365 years) (Gen. 5:24).

conclusions

1. If Cain was born simply from Adam, who managed to get ahead of the Lord in this matter, then perhaps this was precisely the reason for the divine rage and the expulsion of the culprits from Paradise to hell. Instead of the murdered Abel, Eve had to sin again with the Lord and then give birth to Shem. These are some unexpected interesting things...

2. On the other hand, actually forcing Cain to kill his brother may be one of the elements of instilling the qualities Jehovah needs in the people he creates. Wow, “universal wisdom”...

Picture 6. “Genesis.” The first mass murder or why Jehovah drowned everyone, and Noah cursed his grandson

The main event of this part of the Old Testament is certainly the “flood” - a catastrophe on a planetary scale that destroyed most of the population and animal life of the Earth. The most interesting question: “What was the cause of such a grandiose cataclysm, such an unprecedented mass murder of all living things?” The Bible says that God so repented of the creation he created - man, so “he was grieved in His heart”

(Genesis 6:6) that he decided to destroy all living things to hell (you can’t say anything - the “Creator” is good).

What did it, this living thing, do wrong before the All-Good? Why did it offend him so much that He took such a big sin on his soul and killed everyone at once? What is the monstrous reason that led to the monstrous total destruction of all life on the entire planet?

Let's go in order, according to the text. People, fulfilling the task assigned to them by God, became fruitful and multiplied. The sons of God began to take their daughters as wives. It turns out that this God had children and, it seems, only male ones?! What were their names? Somehow it turns out a little sloppily - there is a human pedigree, but there is not a word about the sons of Himself. And these nameless divine poor fellows waited while people gave birth to daughters. And they waited. “...and they took them as wives as they chose”

(Genesis 6:2). And when these wives gave birth to the grandchildren of God (in the Bible - giants), the grandfather, apparently already fully suffering from insanity, was jealous of them all with all his divine soul. The first thing He did to his beloved grandchildren was to cut off their life span to 120 years, because they allegedly began to neglect their grandfather’s Spirit. Grandfather didn't like his grandchildren. Apparently, this is why there are no more references in the Bible to these “glorious of old” people. It's a pity!

The rest of the public apparently was not affected by this corrective measure, and they continued to diligently fulfill His commandments - they were fruitful, multiplied and filled the earth not only with themselves, but also with atrocities (according to God). It would be interesting to know which ones? What atrocities did this God-fearing public become famous for, so that they exposed everyone else to death? What content is hidden in the phrase “... I will destroy, for I repented that I created them”

.
(Gen. 6:7) Was it really enough for one resolution: “All flesh has perverted its way on earth”
? (Gen. 6:12) I wonder how some peacock or other cormorant can pervert its path on earth? Well, people - okay, they really could have evil in their thoughts and in their hearts, and “at any time.” After all, that’s where life on earth began—with crime, with murder. Although God didn’t really reproach us for this: he slightly cursed us, transferred us to a lower-paid position, and sent us to a remote area to live.

Noah alone deserved salvation from drowning: “But Noah found grace in the sight of the Lord [God]…Noah walked with God.”

(Gen. 6:8-9).
This is the reason Noah was allowed to live! Noah was not just loyal to God, he was his slave !
And naturally, the reason for the destruction of the vast majority of the Earth's population emerges clearly: they did not agree to be slaves of Jehovah God! It was most likely ordinary selection! Life was given to the specimen that had the desired characteristics! Yes, that's a pretty good reason. It is still very popular today. As soon as life in some country begins to improve slightly without the participation of divine great- and great-grandchildren, it immediately becomes dangerous for the vital interests of our world gendarme (the stronghold and followers of God?). But let's return to Noah. God initiated Noah into his plans and gave a detailed plan for the work. The work ahead was, frankly, titanic. It was necessary to build an ark (a floating house with housing for 8 people and pens for animals) 300 cubits long (150-180 m), 50 cubits wide (25-30 m), 30 cubits high (15-18 m).

Can you imagine how much work it took for 8 people (Noah with three sons and their wives) to build such a colossus! Apparently, the ancient people really were jacks of all trades - lumberjacks, carpenters, carpenters and shipbuilders. Moreover, biologists, botanists, and breeders. After all, God ordered to first select a couple of specimens from all the animals, but then for some reason he changed his mind and decided to divide the land animals into clean ones, which had to be taken in sevens (male and female) and unclean ones, which had to be taken in twos. I wonder what criteria Noah used to divide animals into clean and unclean? By appearance, by color, by smell? And after all, the selection had to be made in the shortest possible time - in a week the day “X” would come, and God had to begin the “outpouring”.

It was necessary to place thousands of animals in cages. And first they had to catch them all. Otherwise it’s easy to say “take all the livestock.” Was he, this beast, lying quietly somewhere? And it was also necessary to prepare food for this whole horde for a long time, and not to forget about ourselves. In general, Noah's family did a great job. Despite the fact that God did not provide them with any real help other than guidelines, Noah completed everything on time. Of course, not a Stakhanovite, but also a great guy. It was not for nothing that I found grace in the face of the Almighty. They all loaded safely into the ark and sailed away. The flood has begun. It rained for 40 days. As God promised, all land animals died. This is where everything should end - the goal has been achieved. However, the water continued to rise for another 150 days!

It turns out that God forgot about, so to speak, the only guardians of the gene pool of all living things for 5 whole months (we said - sclerotic). But then he “remembered” and stopped the water. That's interesting! Was he away somewhere on more important matters? And he probably didn’t have a water meter either? If it is believed that he remembers all our small and great sins, then how could he forget about the hope of all mankind - Pope Noah and others like him? In total, Noah's family, along with a huge number of mooing, cackling and hissing living creatures, spent a little more than a year on the ark. And the first thing Noah did when he descended onto solid ground was to burn almost all the animals to hell - he sacrificed clean animals to God (a worthy servant of God, master Jehovah was not mistaken). Noah understood that God specifically for this reason changed the original instructions about the number of animals that needed to be taken with him. God liked the smell of burning meat (!), and he promised never again to curse the earth because of a person and not to send a flood. And, as a reminder to myself about this agreement, I “put down” the rainbow (well, definitely a sclerotic and a maniac). Like, I’ll look at the rainbow and remember that there’s no need to flood the earth, there’s no need to drown the entire audience again.

After the end of the flood, the lives of those rescued returned to normal. Papa Noah worked the land, planted a vineyard, drank some wine and had fun with whatever he had the imagination for. One day, having grabbed the “divine drink,” he was lying naked in the tent and his youngest son Ham saw him. What actually happened next is not directly reported, but dad Noah was very offended by his son Ham and cursed... no, not Ham himself, they don’t do that, he cursed his fourth son - Canaan (one of his grandchildren), defining him as slaves to slaves to his brothers. Wow, family, wow, family relationships! Apparently, indeed, as is the priest, so is the arrival! And they want to convince us that we all came from this gang of drunkards, debauchees, intriguers and parasites? We will never believe it!

Or maybe the whole trick was that after the flood they had no slaves left and they urgently needed to steal them from their children and grandchildren? Or maybe a justification was created for subsequent persecutions, capture and extermination of the population and land of Canaan?! Or maybe...

All this is speculation and possible, but not proven, options. We have not yet been able to find accurate information in the Bible.

conclusions

1. The reason for the mass murder of people on Earth was most likely their disobedience to Jehovah God due to the lack of the “divine gene” that Cain, Seth and... Noah had!

2. Almost all cultures of different peoples of the world have more or less similar legends about the Great Flood, there are more than five hundred of them. With all the variety of details, the main thing is conveyed - there was a global catastrophe in which almost all of humanity died. This catastrophe was accompanied by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, sudden climate change (warming in one part of the planet and cooling in another), and mass extinction of animals. There was a change in the visible sky, the tilt of the earth's axis, a change in the trajectory of the planet around the Sun, and a shift in the poles. One of the earth's moons (the small moon) was destroyed.

Various reasons are put forward - from military actions of the gods among themselves, to the hatred of some gods towards people. And the behavior of the gods, accordingly, was also different - some provided watercraft and showed the way, others simply observed the process. This information, and it is no worse than the biblical one, allows us to conclude that not only dad Noah and his family were saved, but also many other people and animals.

3. Further, it is very striking that dad Noah and his children, and Jehovah God, were such ardent misogynists that practically not a single word was written about the 4 women who, according to the Bible, made up exactly half of the next ancestors of humanity. They didn’t mention any of their names, patronymics, or anything. It was as if they were not people, but working animals giving birth.

4. It is surprising that very little is written about the flood itself and its causes, as an event of a planetary scale, which also destroyed an entire civilization (a few lines). But about the living creatures, which almost all were sacrificed to Jehovah God, it is written in great detail, with multiple repetitions and careful listings, so that, God forbid, nothing is forgotten (Dad Noah, it seems, also quickly began to suffer from a divine disease).

Picture 7. “Genesis.” In detail from Noah to Abram or the “divine” act of vandalism

In the tenth chapter, we learn in sufficient detail “the genealogy of the sons of Noah” and we learn that the sons of Noah became the ancestors of some peoples and tribes: “From these the islands of nations were inhabited in their lands, each according to his language, according to his tribes, among his nations.”

(Genesis 10:5).

Of course, while reading the glorious names, the tongue curls into a tube, but suddenly, in this sea of ​​​​ancient Jewish grace, we find an insertion that clearly has nothing to do with them: “Assur came out of this land and built Nineveh, Rehobothir, Kalah and Resen between Nineveh and between Calah; this is a great city"

(Genesis 10:11-122). What would that mean? For whom is the meager information inserted about the man (or people!?) who built 4 cities, one of which, even by the stingy authors, is called great?

The monotonously zombie-like enumeration of Noah’s descendants ends with a reminder that “From them the nations spread on earth after the flood.”

(Genesis 10:32). Amen!

The eleventh chapter begins with a very interesting message that “There was one language and one dialect throughout the whole earth”

(Genesis 11:1), and that certain “they” came to a certain land of Shinar from the east and settled in the plain. Those who came began to build a city and a tower to the sky, using advanced technology at that time. They did not build with stones, but made bricks and used earthen resin instead of lime. The Bible explains the desire of people to build a city and, most importantly, a tower to heaven by the fact that they wanted to make a name for themselves, i.e. leave a memory of yourself. It would seem, what is the problem? Ah, no! Jehovah did not like what he saw and learned about the builder people. He also realized that the builders would not just abandon this idea. And for some reason he really wanted to turn them away from such a sinful business - building cities. Having complained that the reason for the successful determination of the builders is that they are a single people with one language, Jehovah, a cunning beast, found a way to stop this “orgy.” He decided to mix up the language and scatter everyone - out of harm's way - throughout the world. No sooner said than done. The city and the tower stopped being built. People stopped understanding each other and went their separate ways.

Divide and rule! Such is the communicative sabotage. And the unfinished city, according to the biblical version, began to be called Babylon.

Unfortunately, we did NOT find out who “they” were who came from the east? What kind of people were they who had one language and one dialect? We also have NOT learned how Jehovah confused one language? We also did NOT find out who this mysterious Acsur was?

After this small parable, there is again a tedious list of names of 10 generations from Shem (the eldest son of Noah), but with small details: who, whom, when he gave birth and how long he lived after that. Well, straight out of an NLP textbook.

Finally, we are given some details from the glorious life of Abram, the great forefather of all the Jews. What exactly do we learn about Abram from the Bible? By what glorious deeds and high human qualities does he stand out among his fellow tribesmen, that Jehovah chooses him as an object for replication in the whole chosen people?

He is the eldest son in the family, his father’s name is Terah (Terah), his brothers are Nahor and Haran (Garan). Wife - Sarah (Sarai), barren and childless. His younger brother, Aran, died, leaving three children: Lot, Milka and Iska. Nahor, the middle son of Terah, another brother of Abram, was married to his own niece, Milkah. Here, by the way, almost imperceptibly, it is said about inbreeding in the family of the forefather of all Jews and it becomes clear that for them this is a normal, generally accepted phenomenon. Further, almost the entire glorious family - Terah, Abram himself and his wife and nephew Lot - leave URA of the Chaldeans for the land of Canaan, for an unknown reason they stop in Haran, where Terah's father safely gives up the ghost, having lived 205 years. Abram becomes the head of the family.

These are the details, nothing was missed, even information was given about Sarina’s health problems...

conclusions

1. The name ASSUR mentioned seems very interesting to us. It becomes especially interesting if you pronounce it the other way around - RUSSA! This opens up boundless spaces for imagination and can help to slightly clarify (or guess) with whom the implacable and tireless Jehovah was fighting all the time.

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Live by the rule: IS THERE NOT MUCH THING IN THE WORLD EXISTING? It is no coincidence that I emphasize that the space in your head is limited, but there is a lot of information around, and that your right...

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Gospel of Peter

An entirely different account, called the Gospel of Peter, describes not Jesus' early years but His final hours. We do not have the full text of this Gospel, only a fragment discovered in 1886 in the tomb of an 18th-century Christian monk in Upper Egypt. However, this fragment is very ancient, probably dating from the beginning of the second century and placing the Gospel of Peter among the earliest accounts of the life of Christ (or rather, His death and resurrection), not included in the New Testament. Again, one would expect to find a very human Christ in this story, but instead there is even greater emphasis on his superhuman qualities.

The fragment of this gospel we have begins with the words: “But not a single Jew washed his hands, neither Herod nor any of his judges. Since they did not want to perform their ablutions, Pilate stood up.” This is a remarkable start for two reasons. It indicates that immediately before this fragment the gospel spoke of Pilate washing his hands, and this story is known in the New Testament only from the Gospel of Matthew. And in this beginning there is a clear difference from the description of Matthew, who does not say a word about anyone’s refusal to wash their hands. Here Herod, “the ruler of the Jews,” and his Jewish judges (unlike the Roman governor Pilate) refuse to declare themselves innocent of the blood of Jesus. This alone reveals an important feature of the entire narrative, in the sense that here it is the Jews rather than the Romans who are responsible for the death of Christ. This fragmented gospel is far more anti-Jewish than any of those contained in the New Testament.

Next, it tells about the request of Joseph (of Arimathea) to give him the body of Christ, about the mockery of Jesus and His crucifixion (this sequence of events is given by the author. - Editor's note). These stories are both similar and different from those we read in the canonical gospels. For example, verse 10 says, as do the rest of the gospels, that Jesus was crucified between two thieves; but then we find an unusual statement: “He did not say a word, as if he was not in any pain.” This last statement may well be taken in a Docetian sense—perhaps the reason why Jesus seemed not to experience pain was because He really did not experience it. Another key verse we find is in the description of Jesus' approaching death; He pronounces a “pray for abandonment” in words close, but not identical to those we find in Mark’s story: “My strength, my strength, why has it abandoned me!” (v. 19; cf. Mark 15:34); then it is said that He was taken up, although His body remained on the cross. Is Jesus here mourning the departure of Christ from his body before his death, in accordance, as we have already seen, with the ideas of Gnostic Christians?

After the death of Jesus, the source tells of His burial, and then, in the first person, of the grief of His disciples: “we fasted and sat mourning and mourning for Him, night and day, until the Sabbath” (v. 27). As in the Gospel of Matthew, the Jewish scribes, Pharisees and elders asked Pilate to place a guard at the tomb. However, this gospel is characterized by much more careful attention to detail. The name of the senior centurion is called - Petronius; he, along with other guards, rolls the stone to the coffin and seals it with seven seals. They then pitch their tent and stand guard.

What follows is perhaps the most striking passage of this narrative - in fact, a description of the Resurrection of Christ and His exodus from the tomb; this information is not found in any of the early gospels. A crowd comes from Jerusalem and its environs to view the coffin. At night they hear a terrible noise and see the heavens opening; two men descend in great radiance. The stone rolls away from the coffin by itself, and the two husbands enter it. The soldiers standing guard awaken the centurion, who comes out to see the incredible spectacle. Three men emerge from the coffin; the heads of two of them reach to heaven. They support the third, whose head “stretched above the heavens,” and behind them... the cross moves by itself. Then a voice from heaven says, “Have you preached to those sleeping?” The cross answers: “Yes” (vv. 41, 42).

A giant Jesus, a moving cross, and a talking cross is hardly a balanced narrative that focuses on the humanity of Christ.

The guards run to Pilate and tell him everything that happened. The Jewish high priests, out of fear that the Jews would stone them when they realized what they had done by condemning Jesus to death, begged him to keep what happened a secret. Pilate orders the guards to remain silent, but only after he reminds the high priests that it is they who are guilty of Christ's crucifixion, not he. At dawn the next day, not knowing what happened, Mary Magdalene and her companions go to the tomb to take care of a more worthy burial of the body of Jesus, but the tomb is empty, except for a messenger from heaven who tells her that the Lord has risen and gone. (This is the only place in the narrative where Mary Magdalene is mentioned; there is nothing here to suggest that she had a “special” relationship with Jesus.) The manuscript ends in the middle of an account of Christ’s appearance to some of the disciples (perhaps similar to what we find in John 21:1-14): “But I, Simon Peter, and Andrew my brother, took our nets and went to the sea; and with us was Levi, the son of Alphaeus (who is also the evangelist and Holy Apostle Matthew), to whom the Lord…” (v. 60). Here the manuscript breaks off.

This text is called the Gospel of Peter precisely because of this last line: it is written in the first person by someone claiming to be Peter. But it is quite obvious that it could not have belonged to the hand of Simon Peter, since the manuscript dates from the beginning of the second century (hence the exaggerated anti-Judaism of the text, which was mentioned earlier), that is, it appeared long after the death of Peter. Nevertheless, this is one of the oldest non-canonical descriptions of the last earthly days of Christ. Unfortunately for Lew Teabing's evidence, it does not highlight the humanity of Christ and says nothing about the intimacy of Jesus and Mary, much less their marriage. It’s just that Mary was the first (along with her companions) to come to the tomb after the death of Jesus, just as in the Gospels included in the New Testament.

Of course, Lew Teabing does not directly refer to either the Infancy Gospel of Thomas or the Gospel of Peter, known before the discovery of the Nag Hammadi library, but he does mention the Gnostic gospels contained in this find. Do these relatively recently discovered gospels support his thesis about the man Jesus married to Mary Magdalene?

Coptic Apocalypse of Peter

One of the most interesting testimonies about the death of Jesus among the Nag Hammadi manuscripts is a text called not a gospel, but an apocalypse (i.e., revelation); it also supposedly belongs to the hand of Peter, although here too it is a pseudonym. The most remarkable feature of this text is that it is a Gnostic document, clearly written in opposition to those Christians who fought against Gnosticism - that is, those who subsequently decided which books to include in the New Testament canon. However, it turns out that rather than opposing their view of Christ as an exclusively divine being, the document challenges their claim that Christ was human. That is, this book goes completely against Lew Teabing's claims that the Gnostic gospels portray Jesus as more human than God.

This book begins with the teachings of the “Savior,” who tells Peter that many will be false prophets, “blind and deaf,” perverting the truth and preaching what is destructive. Peter will be given secret knowledge, that is, gnosis (Coptic Apocalypse of Peter 73). Jesus continues by telling Peter that his opponents are “without understanding” (that is, without gnosis). Why? Because “they are committed to the name of the dead husband”5. In other words, they think that it is the death of the man Jesus that matters for salvation. For this author, those who say such things “blaspheme the truth and preach the doctrine of destruction” (Coptic Apocalypse of Peter 74).

In fact, those who believe in a dead person strive for death, not for eternal life. These souls are dead and were created to die.

Not every soul belongs to truth or immortality. Because every soul of this age carries death within itself. Therefore, she is always a slave. She is created for her desires and their eternal destruction, for which they exist and in which they exist. They (souls) love the material creatures that accompany them. The immortal soul is not like that, O Peter. But truly, while the hour has not yet come, she (the immortal soul) will resemble a mortal (Coptic Apocalypse of Peter 75).

Gnostics in this world, to put it differently, may be like other people, but they are different, not attached to created things, and do not live in accordance with their desires. Their souls are immortal, even if not everyone knows about it: “Others do not know secrets, although they talk about what they do not understand. Despite this, they boast that the secret of truth belongs to them alone” (Coptic Apocalypse of Peter 76). Who are they - those who are not able to understand, who do not preach the truth? “And there will be others, not included in our number, who call themselves “bishop” and also “deacon,” as if they received their authority from God... These people are dry riverbeds” (Coptic Apocalypse of Peter 79).

It is unlikely that the leaders of the Christian Church were flattered to hear that they were not reservoirs of knowledge and wisdom, but dry river beds.

However, what kind of knowledge is this, accessible to an immortal soul not committed to the material and misperceived by the ignorant leaders of the Church? This is knowledge of the true nature of Christ Himself and the true meaning of His crucifixion, which is misinterpreted as the acceptance of death by the man Christ in atonement for the sins of mankind. In reality, the true Christ cannot experience pain, suffering, or death. He is above all this. The Crucified One was not God Christ, but only His physical shell.

In one thrilling episode, Peter is ordered to witness a crucifixion and admits that he is confused by what he sees:

When He said this, I saw that they were apparently [!] grabbing Him. And I said, “What do I see, O Lord? Is it You, Whom they grab?.. Who is the One above the cross, rejoicing and laughing? Is this another person whose hands and feet they are nailing?”

And Jesus gives him a striking answer, from which the true meaning of the crucifixion becomes clear:

The Savior told me: “The one whom you see above the cross rejoicing and laughing is the living Jesus. The same one into whose hands and feet nails are stuck is His physical part, which is a substitute. They desecrate His shell. But look at him and me” (Coptic Apocalypse of Peter 81).

It is not Christ Himself, but only His physical, human shell that is put to death. The living Jesus is beyond death - literally beyond the cross - that is why He is above it, and laughs at those who think they can hurt Him, at those who think that the divine spirit contained in Him can suffer and die. The spirit of Jesus is above pain and death, as is the spirit of those who understand who they really are - a spirit enclosed in a physical shell, not subject to either suffering or death. The vision continues:

And I saw one approaching us who looked like Him, even the He who laughed above the cross, and He was filled with a pure spirit, and He was the Savior... And He said to me: “Take courage! For it was to you that these secrets were given, so that by revelation you might know that he who was crucified is the firstborn, and the habitation of demons, and the earthen vessel in which they live, belonging to Elohim [that is, the God of this world], and belonging to the cross, who is below the law. But the One who stands next to him is the living Savior, an eternal and imperishable part of the one whom they captured. And He was released. He stands, joyfully looking at those torturing him... Therefore, He laughs at their lack of understanding. Verily, therefore, only suffering will remain, since this body is a substitute. But the one that was liberated is My inner, spiritual body (Coptic Apocalypse of Peter 82).

This body is just a shell belonging to the creator of this world [= Elohim; one of the names of God in the Old Testament]. The true self is within and is not subject to physical pain. This is the truth about Jesus and about those of His followers who have true knowledge. Those deprived of this true gnosis think that they can kill Christ. The living Christ, however, rises above all, laughing at them contemptuously. Who is really the subject of His ridicule? Those who think that the death of the man Jesus is the key to salvation. An absurd idea, a funny idea, a ridiculous idea. Salvation does not come in this body; it is achieved by leaving the body. A dead Jesus does not save; Jesus saves alive. To the so-called believers who do not understand, the death of Jesus does nothing; it is a mockery of them.

And therefore this revelation does not portray Christ as more human than the Gospels of the New Testament; Christ's true essence is far beyond His humanity. Do other books in the Nag Hammadi library, including those called the gospels, support the view advocated by Lew Teabing?

Lost Books of the Bible

Lost books that could have been in the Bible that previously existed in ancient times, but which unfortunately were lost and their contents, with the exception of small passages, are unknown.
Here are the names of some of the lost books mentioned in the Bible:

Book of Wars of the Lord

The Book of the Wars of the Lord (Num. 21.14) is one of the ancient books from which certain factual material for the books of the Old Testament was apparently taken.

14 Therefore it is said in the book of the warfare of the Lord: (Num. 21:14)

Book of the Righteous

The Book of the Righteous (Joshua 10.13; 2 Samuel 1.18) is another source, apparently a collection of early poetic works from which information about ancient events was drawn.

13 And the sun stood still, and the moon stood still, while the people took revenge on their enemies. Isn’t this what is written in the book of the Righteous One: “the sun stood in the middle of the sky and did not hurry towards the west for almost the whole day”? (Joshua 10:13)

18 And he commanded that the children of Judah should be taught the bow, as it is written in the book of the Righteous, and said: (2 Samuel 1:18)

Book of Solomon's works

41 The rest of Solomon's doings, and all that he did, and his wisdom, are written in the book of the works of Solomon. (1 Kings 11:41)

Book of the Prophet Nathan, Gad the Seer

29 The deeds of King David, first and last, are written in the records of Samuel the seer, and in the records of Nathan the prophet, and in the records of Gad the seer (1 Chronicles 29:29)

Prophecy of Ahijah the Shilohite, vision of Joel the Seer

29 The rest of the deeds of Solomon, the first and the last, are described in the records of Nathan the prophet and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilohite and in the visions of the seer Joel about Jeroboam the son of Nebat. (2 Chronicles 9:29)

After these passages of Scripture were found, I had a question. For what reasons did the mentioned books of the prophets not make it into the Bible? It is worth considering this topic in more detail. As it turns out, everything has its reasons!

Coptic Gospel of Thomas

Undoubtedly, the most famous gospel from the Nag Hammadi library is the Coptic Gospel of Thomas (not to be confused with the Infancy Gospel of Thomas discussed above). Given its importance, I will devote more attention to the analysis of its message than I did for the gospels discussed above.

From the very moment of its discovery, the Gospel of Thomas has caused considerable controversy. One of the main questions under discussion is this: is it best understood as a Gnostic gospel or not? In my view, even though the Gospel of Thomas lies entirely within the Gnostic system of ideas and is clearly clear to its readers, it presupposes the Gnostic system in much the same way as I described it in chapter 2. Jesus in this The gospel is a divine being, the bearer of revelation of secret knowledge that can liberate from this vicious material world. He is depicted here not simply as a human prophet, but as a revelatory deity. This image is based on a Gnostic understanding of the world and our place in it.