Reply #45: The "gnostic gospels"

[Warpy]

...that were unearthed in the last century are the most interesting of all. The newly imperial church had declared them apostasy and ordered all copies destroyed. Apparently, a few copies were preserved and buried, and one set has been found.

These are the gospels of Thomas and Mary Magdalene, and others. They are available on the web, and it's obvious why the church Paul had envisioned eventually suppressed them. Although the picture painted by these gospels has some similarities with Mark and Matthew, they paint quite a differetnt picture of the historical preacher and magician than the other, more acceptable, gospelists.

Oh, I think he probably existed. I also think there is little proof left after 2000 years that we can nail down completely. That the religion has been contaminated by a bunch of rubbish from the con artist and ambitious pretechnical televangelist Paul is obvious, as is the elimination of anything the historical figure might have said about resisting officialdom.

The gnostic gospels, especially that of Thomas, is worth a web search and a read. Even for an unbeliever like me, it was occasionally inspiring.