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The gospel of Thomas

Sonofthemessiah

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femi94ce I would like to welcome you to view really good truthful teaching on HRN

Watch Live Brad Scott is teaching this week on the giants spoken of in the book of Genesis. If you have an interest in some really good teaching check the weekly schedule
 

AhhTeecha

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Rom 14:23 nlv

If you do anything you believe is not right, you are sinning.
 

Neutrality

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Yes Yes I would very much like to discuss but I am a newbie to the versus and their meaning so please bare with me!

One thing about the sayings is that I am finding them to be very introspective. It seems (to me at least) that Jesus is telling us to look within ourselves. Truth, our connection to God is the spirit that resides within us (or should reside within us), but we wrap ourselves in sin (skin).

I ask, is this our Holy Spirit that fills us, teaches us and guides us?

Gosh, this is completely what I got from the Gospel of Thomas. There's a couple sayings where Jesus indicates that being divided from oneself or being split into 2 rather than being one and whole will prevent people from finding the kingdom of Heaven. He says this in a few sayings such as 22, 61, and 11.

I took being divided into 2 to mean that a person warring with themselves will prevent them from finding salvation. Warring with oneself can include succumbing to emotions such as anxiety, depression, anger and sin, particularly when we hurt other people and other living things, is nothing more than the outward expression of how we really feel about ourselves.

It's fascinating stuff. I only got my hands on a book that included excerpts from the Gospel of Thomas, but just with the few of the 114 sayings I read, I was struck by how much more esoteric Jesus's teachings are in the Gospel of Thomas when you compare them to what is in the New Testament. The New Testament is just the surface of what Jesus saying, but the Gospel of Thomas and to a lesser extent, The Gospel of Mary, really get the crux of the argument.

It's just fascinating.

ETA: I also meant to quote [MENTION=71183]femi94ce[/MENTION] when she said that sin is also self-harm.

Good discussion, guys.
 

Miss Mood

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Yeah!

Some of my favorite passages:

(51) His disciples said to him, "When will the repose of the dead come about, and when will the new world come?"
He said to them, "What you look forward to has already come, but you do not recognize it."

(58) Jesus said, "Blessed is the man who has suffered and found life."

(70) Jesus said, "That which you have will save you if you bring it forth from yourselves. That which you do not have within you will kill you if you do not have it within you."

(80) Jesus said, "He who has recognized the world has found the body, but he who has found the body is superior to the world."

(84) Jesus said, "When you see your likeness, you rejoice. But when you see your images which came into being before you, and which neither die not become manifest, how much you will have to bear!"

(106) Jesus said, "When you make the two one, you will become the sons of man, and when you say, 'Mountain, move away,' it will move away."

(111) Jesus said, "The heavens and the earth will be rolled up in your presence. And the one who lives from the living one will not see death." Does not Jesus say, "Whoever finds himself is superior to the world?"

Care to discuss, comment? I have my own thoughts about these. Some of them seem quite confusing. I can see why gnostics have been likened to early practitioners of depth psychology.

LAFF


Serious question though: How does one "find themselves" or know yourself? From what I've read in this thread, Jesus is saying that everything we need is already in us.
 

femi94ce

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Serious question though: How does one "find themselves" or know yourself? From what I've read in this thread, Jesus is saying that everything we need is already in us.

Everything is already in us. The question is how to access this understanding.

Do you understand how to access the Kingdom of Heaven that is within you?

Do you know how to live the promise of eternal life in the here and now?

Do you understand the mechanics of sin (hamartia - self-harm) that reside in you and do you understand how to disable those mechanisms permanently?

IMO to know oneself is to understand oneself in this manner. It is to see oneself clearly and objectively without attachment to identity, and to be able to dwell in that sacred place in every breathing moment.

LAFF
 

Zetti

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The Gospel of Thomas dates to the very beginnings of the Christian era and may well have taken first form before any of the four traditional canonical Gospels. During the first few decades after its discovery several voices representing established orthodox biases argued that the GOTwas a late-second or third century Gnostic forgery.

Gnosticism was hailed as heresy because it went against Orthodoxy. Anything that went against Orthodoxy was seen as "evil". That is why the church so strongly attempted to eradicate the gnostic movement. In the conflicting battle between christians the church won along with their views and ideas of what "true" christianity was.
 

MERICHRISTMAS

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Everything is already in us. The question is how to access this understanding.

Do you understand how to access the Kingdom of Heaven that is within you?

Do you know how to live the promise of eternal life in the here and now?

Do you understand the mechanics of sin (hamartia - self-harm) that reside in you and do you understand how to disable those mechanisms permanently?

IMO to know oneself is to understand oneself in this manner. It is to see oneself clearly and objectively without attachment to identity, and to be able to dwell in that sacred place in every breathing moment.

LAFF

Yes I agree! I believe in the Trinity. The denomination that I practice teaches the Holy Spirit, how it enters us and how we are when we are "filled" with it.

This Gospel (for me anyway) seems eery similar to the spirit. I need to do more reading!

The Gospel of Thomas dates to the very beginnings of the Christian era and may well have taken first form before any of the four traditional canonical Gospels. During the first few decades after its discovery several voices representing established orthodox biases argued that the GOTwas a late-second or third century Gnostic forgery.

Gnosticism was hailed as heresy because it went against Orthodoxy. Anything that went against Orthodoxy was seen as "evil". That is why the church so strongly attempted to eradicate the gnostic movement. In the conflicting battle between christians the church won along with their views and ideas of what "true" christianity was.

This is why it is important to read and research writings that support and disprove whats written in the Bible.

For some it's ok to just read the Bible and that's it, but you don't really get the insight or whole knowledge (the bigger picture) when you restrict yourself to that only.
 

Miss Mood

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Everything is already in us. The question is how to access this understanding.

Do you understand how to access the Kingdom of Heaven that is within you?

Do you know how to live the promise of eternal life in the here and now?

Do you understand the mechanics of sin (hamartia - self-harm) that reside in you and do you understand how to disable those mechanisms permanently?

IMO to know oneself is to understand oneself in this manner. It is to see oneself clearly and objectively without attachment to identity, and to be able to dwell in that sacred place in every breathing moment.

LAFF


The only thing I know how to do is to live sin free, and I just mastered this recently. I don't know how to access the other things. Any tips? Thanks for your help.
 

femi94ce

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The way I experience it is that all 3 are entwined.

If you have disabled the mechanisms of self-harm (sin) then the other two automatically unfold as a result of this.

I guess I would want to know more about how you go about living sin-free?

LAFF
 

Miss Mood

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The way I experience it is that all 3 are entwined.

If you have disabled the mechanisms of self-harm (sin) then the other two automatically unfold as a result of this.

I guess I would want to know more about how you go about living sin-free?

LAFF

I have stopped doing things that would harm me, such as: smoking, drinking, celibacy (I'm not married), anger, holding grudges, cursing, tattoos, piercings, etc. If I do drink or smoke, I don't do it often. Thanks for your help! I'm on the right track.
 

femi94ce

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I have stopped doing things that would harm me, such as: smoking, drinking, celibacy (I'm not married), anger, holding grudges, cursing, tattoos, piercings, etc. If I do drink or smoke, I don't do it often. Thanks for your help! I'm on the right track.

These are great places to start.

As you go, go deeper. There are many ways we harm ourselves through condemnation, judgment, acting out old traumas and hurts, succumbing to the inner voices that tell us we are not good enough, that we can't forgive or be forgiven.

Our identities are subtle, crafty, self defensive and proud. They would rather die than surrender control. Recognize when an identity is running you.

Cultivate an attitude of loving appreciation and admiration for everyone and everything, do not resist your life but submit to what-is because your life is smarter than your thoughts and identities.

Life knows how to be a mirror to ourselves in such a way that will cause us to fall on our knees in awe before the Throne in our hearts and sing with full throated joy all praises to the One in whom we have our being.

It's all there. We just need to be able to see and appreciate it.

LAFF
 

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