The Gospel of Thomas

AProudLefty

AProudLefty

Black Kitty Ain't Happy
This subject (partially) came up in other thread. So I thought I'll create a new one off in, perhaps, a new series of threads. This, in my opinion, is what Jesus taught and they didn't like it. Hence a different canons because they don't want the teaching of Jesus to give the little people more power.

Now, [in the Gospel of Thomas], this Jesus comes to reveal that you and he are, if you like, twins.... And what you discover as you read the Gospel of Thomas, which you're meant to discover, is that you and Jesus at a deep level are identical twins. And that you discover that you are the child of God just as he is. And so that at the end of the gospel Jesus speaks to Thomas and says, "Whoever drinks from my mouth will become as I am, and I will become that person, and the mysteries will be revealed to him." Here, Jesus does not take the role of authority and teacher. In the Gospel of Thomas, the disciples say to Jesus, "Tell us, what do you want us to do? How shall we pray? What shall we eat? How shall we fast?" Now if you look at Matthew and Luke, Jesus answers the questions. He says, "When you pray, say, 'Our Father who are in Heaven, hallowed be...' When you fast, wash your face, don't make a show of it. When you give alms do it privately and without being showy." In this gospel, this Jesus does not answer. He says, "Do not tell lies, and do not do what you hate, for everything is known before heaven." Now this answer throws you and me upon ourselves.... Here Jesus, in effect, turns one toward oneself, and that is really one of the themes of the Gospel of Thomas, that you must go in a sort of a spiritual quest of your own to discover who you are, and to discover really that you are the child of God just like Jesus.

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/story/thomas.html

If you find Jesus under a rock, you will find yourself.
 
It took me many decades to find the path that I am on. This resonates closely with what I feel is my own spiritual truth.

Thanks, Lefty.
 
ThatOwlWoman said:
It took me many decades to find the path that I am on. This resonates closely with what I feel is my own spiritual truth.

Thanks, Lefty.
Click to expand...

(3) Jesus said, "If those who lead you say to you, 'See, the kingdom is in the sky,' then the
birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, 'It is in the sea,' then the fish will
precede you. Rather, the kingdom is inside of you, and it is outside of you. When you
come to know yourselves, then you will become known, and you will realize that it is you
who are the sons of the living father. But if you will not know yourselves, you dwell in
poverty and it is you who are that poverty."

https://www.marquette.edu/maqom/Gospel%20of%20Thomas%20Lambdin.pdf

Who, really are the wealthy and who are poor? :thinking:
 
ThatOwlWoman said:
It took me many decades to find the path that I am on. This resonates closely with what I feel is my own spiritual truth.

Thanks, Lefty.
Click to expand...

(18) The disciples said to Jesus, "Tell us how our end will be."
Jesus said, "Have you discovered, then, the beginning, that you look for the end? For
where the beginning is, there will the end be. Blessed is he who will take his place in the
beginning; he will know the end and will not experience death."

Profound.

:bigthink:
 
(50) Jesus said, "If they say to you, 'Where did you come from?', say to them, 'We came
from the light, the place where the light came into being on its own accord and
established itself and became manifest through their image.' If they say to you, 'Is it
you?', say, 'We are its children, we are the elect of the living father.' If they ask you,
'What is the sign of your father in you?', say to them, 'It is movement and repose.'"
 
AProudLefty said:
This subject (partially) came up in other thread. So I thought I'll create a new one off in, perhaps, a new series of threads. This, in my opinion, is what Jesus taught and they didn't like it. Hence a different canons because they don't want the teaching of Jesus to give the little people more power.

Now, [in the Gospel of Thomas], this Jesus comes to reveal that you and he are, if you like, twins.... And what you discover as you read the Gospel of Thomas, which you're meant to discover, is that you and Jesus at a deep level are identical twins. And that you discover that you are the child of God just as he is. And so that at the end of the gospel Jesus speaks to Thomas and says, "Whoever drinks from my mouth will become as I am, and I will become that person, and the mysteries will be revealed to him." Here, Jesus does not take the role of authority and teacher. In the Gospel of Thomas, the disciples say to Jesus, "Tell us, what do you want us to do? How shall we pray? What shall we eat? How shall we fast?" Now if you look at Matthew and Luke, Jesus answers the questions. He says, "When you pray, say, 'Our Father who are in Heaven, hallowed be...' When you fast, wash your face, don't make a show of it. When you give alms do it privately and without being showy." In this gospel, this Jesus does not answer. He says, "Do not tell lies, and do not do what you hate, for everything is known before heaven." Now this answer throws you and me upon ourselves.... Here Jesus, in effect, turns one toward oneself, and that is really one of the themes of the Gospel of Thomas, that you must go in a sort of a spiritual quest of your own to discover who you are, and to discover really that you are the child of God just like Jesus.

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/story/thomas.html

If you find Jesus under a rock, you will find yourself.
Click to expand...
It is presumed to be a Gnostic Christian work, since it was found with the Nag Hammadi corpus of writings in 1945.

Gnostics were considered heretical by orthodox Christians, which is why Gnostics writing did not make it into the accepted canon of Catholicism.

The Gnostics emphasized salvation through the teachings and secret knowledge given by Jesus, rather than through his death and supposed resurection.
 
ThatOwlWoman said:
It took me many decades to find the path that I am on. This resonates closely with what I feel is my own spiritual truth.

Thanks, Lefty.
Click to expand...

I've never been on a path that I sought for myself
because I don't believe that life works that way,

nor is it easy for me to believe that anybody who's ever lived
has actually, successfully executed a life plan.

I've seen the claim made, but
I've never actually seen a human life that looked like the successful execution of a plan or,
for that matter, even the fulfillment of a destiny.

All my observations of life suggest that life randomly happens to us.
If I were asked to give one fact about which I was certain,
that would probably be the fact that I'd offer.

Totally random confluence of sub-atomic particles in the infinite vacuum of space---
that's my definition of not only the universe itself,
but also of all that occurs therein.

I have no spiritual epiphanies. I have my physical senses,
and this is what they've experienced and observed.

I wish that one single person who claims to have expeirenced otherwise
could articulate such experience in terms to which I was able to personally relate.

Perhaps that's something that takes longer than my seventy-five years to be revealed.

In any case, fortunately, I don't believe that such pathfinding capabilities are necessary to endure the experience of life.
Raging against what actually happens and simply imagining that you're doing something about it
with the free will that you simulate in your imagination but probably don't actually have
can in itself be fulfilling enough to get through it.

And the best part is that in such circumstance, you don't get too attached to life.
You don't let the threat of its loss impact your attitude.
You can sneer like the prick that you are if you feel like sneering
and you can emote in platitudes when you don't have the energy to be rational.

There's liberation in understanding the concepts of both randomness and futility.

These are Nifty's uplifting Christmas thoughts for the waning days of 2021.
 
Cypress said:
It is presumed to be a Gnostic Christian work, since it was found with the Nag Hammadi corpus of writings in 1945.

Gnostics were considered heretical by orthodox Christians, which is why Gnostics writing did not make it into the accepted canon of Catholicism.

The Gnostics emphasized salvation through the teachings and secret knowledge given by Jesus, rather than through his death and supposed resurection.
Click to expand...

The most remarkable Gnostic gospel from the Nag Hammadi corpus is the Gospel of Truth, which I have read is the most philosophical and poetic of the Gnostic writings

It is not a narrative description of Jesus life and death, like the synoptic gospels, but it is a profound reflection on the significance of Jesus who was sent by God as a teacher, to teach the truth, lift the veil of ignorance from humanity, and to teach a system of ethics based on compassion and mercy.
 
AProudLefty said:
(3) Jesus said, "If those who lead you say to you, 'See, the kingdom is in the sky,' then the
birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, 'It is in the sea,' then the fish will
precede you. Rather, the kingdom is inside of you, and it is outside of you. When you
come to know yourselves, then you will become known, and you will realize that it is you
who are the sons of the living father. But if you will not know yourselves, you dwell in
poverty and it is you who are that poverty."

https://www.marquette.edu/maqom/Gospel%20of%20Thomas%20Lambdin.pdf

Who, really are the wealthy and who are poor? :thinking:
Click to expand...

Something like the Americanized yoga/Hindu word "Namaste," that is supposed to mean "the divine in me greets the divine in you."
 
When Moses was on the mountain with God,God told him
"I AM who I AM".
Then when Jesus came and the powers of the church the Pharisees asked,who he was he answered
" Before Abraham I AM".
This is when they plotted to kill him.
 
Cypress said:
The most remarkable Gnostic gospel from the Nag Hammadi corpus is the Gospel of Truth, which I have read is the most philosophical and poetic of the Gnostic writings

It is not a narrative description of Jesus life and death, like the synoptic gospels, but it is a profound reflection on the significance of Jesus who was sent by God as a teacher, to teach the truth, lift the veil of ignorance from humanity, and to teach a system of ethics based on compassion and mercy.
Click to expand...

No,Jesus main mission was to be the Passover Lamb of God to save mankind from sin.
 
Mr Apollyon said:
No,Jesus main mission was to be the Passover Lamb of God to save mankind from sin.
Click to expand...

No such concept in Judaism in act no one can die for another's sins, and supposedly jesus was Jewish

The Bible is clear, and it is consistent: one person cannot die for the sins of another. In other words, the sins committed by one person cannot be wiped out by the punishment given to another. In Exodus 32:30-35, Moses asks Gd to punish him for the sin committed by the people in regards to the Golden Calf. Gd tells Moses that the person who committed the sin is the one who must receive the punishment. Then, in Deuteronomy 24:16, Gd simply states this as a basic principle, ‘Every man shall be put to death for his own sin.’ This concept is repeated in the Prophets, in Ezekiel 18: ‘The soul that sinneth, it shall die… the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.’ The prophet Jeremiah looks to the day when the mistaken belief that one man’s death atones for another man’s sins shall no longer be held by anyone: in Jeremiah 31:29-30, the prophet says: ‘In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children’s teeth are set on edge. But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge.’

As to human sacrifice, that is abhorrent to Judaism as is any human blood sacrifice, and is found nowhere in Torah

In fact we are commanded not to to consume even animal blood i.e. kosher laws

This whole heaven and hell thing christians came up with is as as far as one can get from Judaism if you read what Christians call "the old testament" in the original Hebrew
 
guno said:
No such concept in Judaism in act no one can die for another's sins, and supposedly jesus was Jewish

The Bible is clear, and it is consistent: one person cannot die for the sins of another. In other words, the sins committed by one person cannot be wiped out by the punishment given to another. In Exodus 32:30-35, Moses asks Gd to punish him for the sin committed by the people in regards to the Golden Calf. Gd tells Moses that the person who committed the sin is the one who must receive the punishment. Then, in Deuteronomy 24:16, Gd simply states this as a basic principle, ‘Every man shall be put to death for his own sin.’ This concept is repeated in the Prophets, in Ezekiel 18: ‘The soul that sinneth, it shall die… the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.’ The prophet Jeremiah looks to the day when the mistaken belief that one man’s death atones for another man’s sins shall no longer be held by anyone: in Jeremiah 31:29-30, the prophet says: ‘In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children’s teeth are set on edge. But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge.’

As to human sacrifice, that is abhorrent to Judaism as is any human blood sacrifice, and is found nowhere in Torah

In fact we are commanded not to to consume even animal blood i.e. kosher laws

This whole heaven and hell thing christians came up with is as as far as one can get from Judaism if you read what Christians call "the old testament" in the original Hebrew
Click to expand...

I get it you're not a believer in Jesus Christ.
 
God is One and that He is a most perfect and absolute Unity.

It is written, "Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one" (Deut. 6:4). This is a positive commandment to believe in God's unity. This commandment depends on thought and can be fulfilled at any time.

Although the universe contains many galaxies, each consisting of innumerable stars and planets, there is one God who is Author and Creator of them all. It is absolutely impossible to conceive of more than one Absolute Being.

Although there may be many other universes, both physical and spiritual, God is One over all. It is thus written, "Your kingdom is a kingdom of all worlds" (Psalms 145:13).

Judaism emphatically rejects any concept of plurality with respect to God.
Judaism emphatically rejects any concept of plurality with respect to God. It therefore rejects the Christian concept of the trinity, in which God is depicted as three persons in one, corresponding to His manifestation in creation, redemption and revelation.

Since any additional quality would add an element of plurality to God's essence, we conceive of Him as being absolutely simple. His simple essence, however, implies every attribute with which He created and rules His universe.


As Creator, God's power in His universe is unlimited. We therefore speak of God as being omnipotent, and refer to Him in our prayer as "King of the universe.' It is likewise written, "All that God wishes, he does, in heaven and earth, in the seas and all the deeps" (Psalms 135:6).

We do not, however, ascribe to God the power of doing that which is categorically impossible, such as duplicating, annihilating, corporifying, or changing Himself. Judaism therefore rejects the possibility that God could have ever assumed human form.

Since God is the Creator of all matter, it is obvious that He does not consist of matter.

Because of God's antithesis to all material attributes, He is called Pure and Holy.
 
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Mr Apollyon said:
Than they aren't Christian!
"Many come in my name,but they aren't mine".
Click to expand...

1,800 years ago, there was no accepted consensus on what constituted an authentic Christian.

Same today. Some conservative evangelicals do not think Catholics are Christian, and since Unitarian Universalists do not accept trinitarian theory, they are even more suspect.
 
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