Download Two Jesus`. The real Savior did not suffer.

The Darkest Con of Man –
Part 4
Remembering Our Beginnings
as “People of the Book”
2 Peter 3:13 - 18
Nag Hammadi writings:
•
1945 discovery in deserts of Northern Egypt by Muhammad Ali
(not boxer) who accidentally stumbled across a jar containing the
texts while digging in a cave.
•
The location was in an area known as “Nag Hammadi” from
which the writings are named.
English translation published as The Nag Hammadi Library
•
in
1977 .
•
Texts generally dated to be written from second to third
centuries, AD.
Nag Hammadi texts (cont.):
•
Referred to as “Gnostic gospels” since Epiphanius in late 4th century
•
Church “fathers” who referred to them:
•
Irenaeus (130 – 200AD) wrote “Against Heresies” warning
against “those who made a pretense of possessing knowledge”
•
•
Hippolytus (170 – 236AD)
•
Tertullian (160 – after 220AD)
•
Epiphanius (310 – 403) first to name them as “Gnostics”
Items 1 – 6, Breaking the Da Vinci Code, Darrell Bock, Nelson
Books, 2004
Formation of the New Testament Canon
Formation of the New Testament Canon
•
Video #1 –
How the New Testament Canon Came to Be.
Dan Brown’s claims:
•
There were 80 gospels considered for the New Testament, of which
the Church chose only four (p 231) and then destroyed the others.
•
The recently discovered “Nag Hammadi” texts were among those
destroyed. These texts claim:
•
That Jesus was a mortal prophet, not the Son of God (p 234);
•
That the New Testament includes glaring historical inaccuracies and
fabrications, and the Church knew about them. The Gnostics had
to be destroyed to keep the secret. (p 235)
•
There was no “cover up” of the Nag Hammadi texts (Gnostic
gospels) by the Church.
Rather, the Church and the “Gnostics”
both saw themselves as distinctive and separate from the other;
neither wanted to be included in the beliefs and faith of the other.
Both claimed to be the “true faith,” and professed the other as
heretical.
•
The Church Fathers did prohibit the public reading of the Gnostic
texts at their gatherings for worship.
Two distinct beliefs.
Two distinct “faiths.”
•
The earliest writings of New Testament scripture included reliance
by the Church on the four gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke and John,
not 80 as Dan Brown claims.
These four gospels became widely
accepted by the Church as the basis of information on the life,
ministry and teachings of Jesus Christ.
The four gospels in the early Church.
Gnostics are dated 100 years or more after the writing of the four gospels.
•
The Gnostic gospels taught that we are all “spiritual,” but not all
have been enlightened this fact. When we understand who we are
and when we begin to seek the divine light within all of us, we
become like God. The problem that must be dealt with is not sin,
but our own spiritual ignorance.
•
Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior of the world is not needed or
necessary in this view.
Secret mysteries that only “some” have realized.
•
To the Gnostics, knowledge equates us with God. We don’t need
a savior. We are our own “savior” because we are our own “light.”
•
To Christians, Jesus Christ is our savior.
He is the light of the
world – and, without Him, we are in darkness.
•
John 1:5 - 9
Ignorance or Sin?
Which is the real problem?
Salvation in Jesus or the “divine within”?
•
The Gnostics taught that God was too “holy” to be associated with
humanity. Jesus was therefore not human at all (the opposite of
what Dan Brown states ).
•
Jesus was of two parts:
•
A “spiritual” Jesus who lacked genuine humanity;
•
An earthly, human substitute, who represented
the spiritual
Jesus, and died on the cross.
Two Jesus’.
•
The real Savior did not suffer.
To the Gnostics:
•
God is distant from humanity.
He is “light.”
•
He did not take on humanity.
We are too “dirty” for Him.
•
He certainly would not die for us; at best, he would only deceive
us into thinking that he was doing that.
Christianity claims:
•
•
God became flesh in order to reveal Himself to us and to save us.
NAS John
1:1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God. . . .12 But as many as received Him, to
them He gave the right to become children of God, even
to those
who believe in His name, 13 who were born not of blood, nor of the
will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God . 14 And the Word
became flesh, and dwelt among us , and we beheld His glory, glory
as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.