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Fr. Carlton Kelley's avatar

I hate that these places exist. They are betraying Jesus with every breath they take.

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Edward H Sebesta's avatar

The historical record of Chrisitanity is that they started to destroy other religions as soon as they got power. Also, very early one which books are in the Bible and which aren't starts getting pruned. Maybe the disconnect with Jesus in the New Testament and the rest of the New Testament is part of this pruning and politics. These are speculations. I look at what a thing does.

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Fr. Carlton Kelley's avatar

Your comment is simplistic in that it misses many facts. The canon of scripture was as you say “pruned” insofar as possible, to reflect the reality of Jesus as he was remembered by his disciples. The books that sound more like fairy tales did not last.

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Edward H Sebesta's avatar

That is the standard argument. However, the Bible was put together long after Christ and his disciples were dead. Also, different branches of Christianity have had different selections, most notably the Ethiopic church. There are other branches of Christianity now extinct or nearly so that have different Bibles. Also, dismissing some book as a "fairy tale" when the books selected have people raised from the dead, demons in pigs rushing to drown themselves, etc. etc. is quetionable. As an undergraduate I majored in Chemical Eng. and Ancient History and I knew of the Nag Hammadi library in the 1970s.

What I find intriguing is that somewhere out in the desert are books yet to be discovered, the lost books, and the suppressed books. Maybe in a cave at high elevation where it would always be dessicated and very cold. Or maybe not. Some of the books of Manes are still missing.

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Fr. Carlton Kelley's avatar

You seem determined to find something so you will.. Perhaps you aren’t asking the right questions

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Edward H Sebesta's avatar

This reply doesn't make sense. Perhaps you are a bot. Or trolling.

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