WHAT DID JESUS REALLY TEACH
So, this is a really good question. If you have already read the sections on The Christian Church, the Structural Dogma, the Bible, and the Gnostic Gospels then you should see that there is and has been a lot of confusion, manipulation, and fabrication.
Most of this confusion came from the manipulation of the original writings by Constantine and the early church leaders. We do not know, nobody knows who wrote the 4 canonical Gospels in the Bible: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, or exactly when they were written. The names of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were added to the writings by the church leaders at least 150 years after they were written.
The way in which these "Gospels" were transmitted - by word of mouth - and with out any eye-witnesses, and considering the length of time before they were written... by todays standards all of these writings - the 4 canonical Gospels in the Bible - would be considered "Hearsay" (rumor; unsubstantiated stories; inadmissible as evidence).
Personally, I would dismiss these 4 Gospels as mostly State and Church Political BS.
Now, considering the Gnostic Gospels... they were written about the same time as the canonical Gospels were (1st & 2nd cent. AD). They were hidden and not in the hands of the Church for about 1700 years, and still in the written hand of the original author. They have not been edited or modified; they haven't been embellished or manipulated to support some political agenda. As I said, still in the hand of the original author.
If I didn't know anything about these two different sets of Gospels, and I had to choose between the two, and just based upon the fact that one set was in the hands of people with an agenda, and the other hidden and still in the original hand, I would absolutely choose the ones that have been hidden and not in the hands of an Emperor or a church, both of whom had a big, power based agenda.
SO, WHAT DID JESUS ACTUALLY SAY?
I am certain that the teachings of Jesus are much, much more accurately represented in the Gnostic Gospels. Dr. Elaine Pagels is an American historian of religion and is the Harrington Spear Paine Professor of Religion Emeritus at Princeton University.
Dr. Pagels has conducted extensive research into both early Christianity and Gnosticism. She tells us that the Jesus in the canonical Gospels is represented as The Son of God who has come to earth as our redeemer and savior, and who sacrificed himself on the cross (Crucifixion) in order to absolve all of us of our sins. He is God above us and will always be above us and we will always be under and serve him.
On the other hand, the Jesus in the Gnostic Gospels is a human man who has become "Enlightened" and he is here as A GUIDE to help us on our paths to our own Enlightenment. Once we obtain our own Enlightenment we become like him... like Jesus; the same and equal. Some say that we become one with Jesus, connected in energy and of the same spirit. These are the things that Jesus truly, actually spoke about and why his teachings were so popular... TRUTH is always hard to deny.
Which Jesus would you rather have a relationship with? Which Gospels do you believe are closer to the Truth?
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