Hm. Nice, but you left very much out. Many of the marginalized, beaten, and driven out groups also rejected the Acts of Paul, Gospel of Thomas, and Gospel of Mary. The "bottom line" you mention is something I've believed for a long time to be mostly true. Some come close, but are usually clouded by purely man-created philosophies or beliefs, etc. However, such a Christianity - or The Way - can exist if we apply ourselves to what we believe to be Jesus' original teachings, which we have over 500 manuscripts all in agreement all from within 100 years after Christ died. The Gospels of Thomas and Mary and Acts of Paul, as well as others, although unjustly hidden, have been dated to have been written centuries after the original Scriptures and may or may not contain historical inaccuracies. Even so, I admit that the supposed "official" books that the dominants (the dominants also now include those who were once marginal and beaten down) have allowed into today's Bible are sometimes claimed to be historically inaccurate, although little to no evidence is presented for these cases and, especially in the case of the Old Testament, the Scriptures more often back up secular historical records.
CartoonistWill at 1:03PM, July 6, 2010
Hm. Nice, but you left very much out. Many of the marginalized, beaten, and driven out groups also rejected the Acts of Paul, Gospel of Thomas, and Gospel of Mary. The "bottom line" you mention is something I've believed for a long time to be mostly true. Some come close, but are usually clouded by purely man-created philosophies or beliefs, etc. However, such a Christianity - or The Way - can exist if we apply ourselves to what we believe to be Jesus' original teachings, which we have over 500 manuscripts all in agreement all from within 100 years after Christ died. The Gospels of Thomas and Mary and Acts of Paul, as well as others, although unjustly hidden, have been dated to have been written centuries after the original Scriptures and may or may not contain historical inaccuracies. Even so, I admit that the supposed "official" books that the dominants (the dominants also now include those who were once marginal and beaten down) have allowed into today's Bible are sometimes claimed to be historically inaccurate, although little to no evidence is presented for these cases and, especially in the case of the Old Testament, the Scriptures more often back up secular historical records.