With the onslaught of bogus information about Jesus I feel I must at least touch on some of the things that have recently happened and things that are to come.
First, I must touch on the coming National Geographic publishing of the lost "Gospel according to Judas." Let me say that a former classmate of mine a Southwestern Seminary, Bill Victor has written on this and done an outstanding job. If you would like to view what he has to say click here: http://billyvsquickhits.blogspot.com/. For one Bill has a PHD and secondly he is smarter than I.
My take is this. It was not lost! It has actually been around for centuries but dubbed not to be trustworthy by the early church. In fact the earliest manuscript of this book comes around 150 years after the death of Christ. We have manuscripts of the four Gospels that date as early as 30 years after Christ death. This is another of the extra biblical books that have floated around for years. Books like the Gospel According to Thomas. These books were not accepted by the early church because they were declared not authentic. Plus their teaching contradicts teaching in other parts of scripture. Remember we must interpret scripture with scripture.
We can trust the Bible that we have, completely!
My second rant has to do with the upcoming release of the movie, "The Da Vinci Code." This movies is based on Dan Brown's best selling book by the same name. Besides great sales what lends this movie more credibility with some people is the presence of Tom Hanks in the lead role. I am sure many people will unwittingly head to the box office just because he is in it. The first problem with the book and the movie is that they are both fiction, but many people have taken the book and I am sure they will with the movie, hook, line and sinker.
The book gets its title from Leonardo Da Vinci who along with other notables like Sir Isaac Newton and Victor Hugo were members of a secret society entrusted with the truth about Jesus. The secret of this group (The Priory of Sion) is that Jesus had a daughter by Mary Magdalene. Mary, according to the Priory, was the true Holy Grail who bore the royal bloodline of Jesus on earth. This, according to the professor, is a fact the church will kill to suppress.
The Book also claims that Jesus was not espoused as being God until the 4th century by the Roman Catholic Church. They also claim that the Roman leader Constantine commissioned the creation of the bible that eliminated all the books that spoke of Jesus Christ humanity an embellished those books that made him godlike.
If that isn't enough there are many more claims that the book makes that make me sick. Know this, that researchers have looked over the many manuscripts of the Bible and always find them reliable.
In The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable, F. F. Bruce writes, "To sum up, we may quote the verdict of the late Sir Frederic Kenyon, a scholar whose authority to make pronouncements on ancient MSS was second to none: 'The interval then between the data of original composition and the earliest extant evidence become so small to be in fact negligible, and the last foundation for any doubt that the Scripture have come down to us substantially as they were written has now been removed. Both the authenticity and the general integrity of the books of the New Testament may be regarded as finally established' " (http://www.worldinvisible.com/library/ffbruce/ntdocrli/ntdocont.htm; The Bible and Archaeology, New York and London: Harper, 1940).
Those are just some quick thoughts. There are many more out there who have a better handle than I do on these subjects, but I am sure as you search the truth earnestly, you will find what I have found. These works are not worth the time or the money.
