Sells: What have you been reading!
Priscillian : Mostly the Bible but I agree I have come to my opinion from a number of sources as I assume you do also.
Sells: You really should take more effort in your research because what you have asserted is shear foolishness.
Priscillian: I will take your advice. Maybe I am foolish to place radical ideas before religious believers. Superstitious believers are on shaky ground calling others foolish
Sells: Paul had no role in selecting the gospels, that came much later....
Priscillian: Sorry If I gave the wrong impression. Paul did not “select” himself but gathered many followers and wrote. His influence on many of the original gospels must have been enormous. Many gospels were rejected because they contradicted Paul's earlier teaching…fact.
Sells: ...and he certainly was no gnostic.
Priscillian: Hmm, A contentious point but from the 6 or 7 pieces of genuine Paul writings we have in the NT it seems he has a Gnostic bent. He came from Tarsus (Mithra?), hung around Ephesus (Dionysus?), Roman citizen (Pagan?) taught by Pharisees (Jewish?), well travelled (wordly?)…hardly a kosher Jew.
1. Jesus came not as a person but in the "likeness of human flesh".....Gnostic illusionism
2. Paul claimed to ascended to the "third heaven"........The Gnostic seven heavens linked to the seven heavenly bodies.
3. Paul criticises ceremonies, holy days etc.........like Gnostics did
4. Teaches that Christians become like Christ....."transfigured into his likeness".........pure Gnosticism
5. Romans 1: 9-14 "I would like to see you, so that I may share a certain Pneumatic charisma"....pure Gnostic terminology (translated “spiritual gift”),
aka 1 Corinthians 2:6-9, Colossians 2 :3 etc.
I have run out of space for further evidence on this…

"However as you have said, despite the obvious errors in the writtings there is also plenty of evidence to suggest, and I'm sure that most Bible Scholars would agree, that a man, latter to be known as Jesus, wandered around 1st Century Palestine preaching a view of Judaism. It is probable that this man was crucified for crimes against Rome."

Actually there were lot's of them some of them with life stories along the same lines as JC but predating him by many years.

Kenny,

The man is question is believed to be Benjamin Pandira - yeah I know, Ben is Hebrew and Pandira is Roman...

Yes there were quite a few "prophets" wandering around Palestine at this time. Some are mentioned in the Xian scripts - John the Baptist springs to mind.

Richo,

There are quite a few documents that could be a common denominator. The Gospel of Thomas and The Gospel of Philip are good candidates. Equally interesting is the Gospel of Mary, that has Jesus' elder brothers guarding the entrance to the cave that she gave birth to Jesus in. Unfortunately most of the recovered Gnostic Gospels (discovered at Qumran) were in a bad state of repair when found, so many are only fragments.

Thomas (as in Doubting) is probably the most accurate of these. It is complete and contains sayings rather than sayings later placed into an incorrect context. Thomas, as with the other Gnostic Gospels and unlike the Cannonised versions, is an actual eyewitness account recorded later.

Narcissist,
I'm a bit confused by how you judge what is original. It seems contradictory to suggest that the Gnostic Gospels, written in the 2nd century or later, are the source material for the Biblical Gospels written in the 1st century.

You also make some unfounded assumptions regarding the way the Gospels were put together. As historical narrative, the sayings and settings are simply not separable in the way you suggest - one without the other does not make sense. The reason that the Gnostic Gospels tend to contain more teaching is that Gnostic belief is all about esoteric religious teachings, with very little place for the physical world.

Finally, it is a common misconception (fuelled no doubt by Dan Brown) that the Dead Sea Scrolls from Qumran have anything to say about Jesus. The Qumrani documents are all from before the time of Jesus and to do with the Old Testament. The Gnostic Gospels you refer to were discovered at Nag Hammadi in Egypt.

and..putting God back into our communities and Parliaments.

In the year 30, the Word of God came to John the Baptist
In the year 2006, the Word of God came to Pastor Joe Wright in Kansas.

When Minister Joe Wright was asked to open the new session of the Kansas Senate, everyone was expecting the usual generalities, but this is what they heard:

"Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, “Woe to those who call evil good”, but that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values.

We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.

We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.

We have killed our unborn and called it choice.

We have shot anti-abortionists and called it justifiable.

We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self esteem.

We have abused power and called it politics.

We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition.

We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression.

We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.

Search us, Oh, God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Amen!"


The response was immediate. A number of legislators walked out during the prayer in protest.

In 6 short weeks, Central Christian Church, where Rev. Wright is pastor, logged more than 5,000 phone calls with only 47 of those calls responding negatively.

The church is now receiving international requests for copies of this prayer from India, Africa and Korea.

Commentator Paul Harvey aired this prayer on his radio program, "The Rest of the Story," and received a larger response to this program than any other he has ever aired.

"If you don't stand for something, you will fall for everything."

BOAZ comment:
All I can say is....way to go Joe!

Thank you BOAZ_David for reminding us of what it means to be an American.

May I suggest some more for the good preacher.

"We have invaded a country, killed innocents and call it bringing freedom."

"We have imprisoned and tortured the uncharged and unconvicted and called it security."

"We have lied to the people and called it truth."

"We have coveted goods, possessions and raw materials and called it progress"

"We have filled the atmosphere with greenhouse gasses and caused global warming. We have called this being a good world citizen."

"We have filled our jails with Blacks and Hispanics and call that justice."

"We have shown intolerance and hatred and call that Christian"

I think you get the message.

Peace and Love