Sabbath Notes

March 2, 2016

1. Readers interested in understanding the Gospel of Thomas from a New Testament scholarship view are invited to acquire Stephen J. Patterson’s text, The Gospel of Thomas and Jesus. Three key points:

 

a. Thomas  is independent from the Canon Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. They all appear to share a common oral tradition which explains why many of the sayings in Thomas can also be found in the invented narrative accounts.

 

b. Thomas was compiled around 70 A.D. (or at least a significant number of sayings date from this timeframe). This means this saying book is the earliest source of Jesus’ words available. The only text which scholars have dated earlier is I Corinthians which was written around 55 AD—about 2 decades after Jesus’ Resurrection.  

 

c. The New Testament is a fraudulent document! Two well-known examples are i) The Gospel of Mark ended at 16:8 according the earliest manuscripts and then an additional 12 verses were added later; these invented verses made it into the King James Version. ii) The story of “not casting the first stone” in John 7:53 to John 8:11 is an invention inserted in the manuscripts by a later scribe.

 

2. Physical Immortality—the central teaching of Jesus—has parallels to the Hindu’s insight into the “Bindu Chakra.” This is located in the top of the back of the neck and is connected to the pineal gland and the Crown Chakra. It is the activation of the Crown Chakra or the 7^th level of consciousness which leads to physical immortality. To activate this level one must activate energy centers outside the brain. This is sometimes called the "halo effect" in which Jesus and other immortals are pictured with a halo above their heads. This is usually understood in Hindu thought to be the 9th chakra (located above the head). This would imply that if one's consciousness is located strictly in the brain, then physical immortality is not possible. This appears to be correct.


Readers can meditate on the Logion 50 in the Gospel of Thomas for insight:


50) Jesus said: If they say to you: Whence have you come?, say to them: We have come from the light, the place where the light came into being of itself. It [established itself], and it revealed itself in their image. If they say to you: Who are you?, say: We are his sons, and we are the elect of the living Father. If they ask you: What is the sign of your Father in you?, say to them: It is movement and rest.