Has anyone read the book called The Gospel of Thomas Unriddled? I found it to be a real treasure, an inspiration for anyone seeking Truth. I hearterly recommend it.
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The Gospel of Thomas Unriddled
- Thread starter frangipani
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TheInfiniteLight
Member
The answers are within you.
True, to each person is given a measure of understanding, when one begins to seek they find this measure. It is from this measure as the first step in a journey they begin to move forward and grow in Spirit. Scriptures, other inspirational writings found along the way help to nourish and encourage the sojourner by demonstrating what they already know in their heart has also been found by others. While a solitary journey and an individual path we all take comfort in knowing others have taken and others are taking this same journey. We take comfort in this not only because of the encouragement it gives us, but because it is the Father's will that none of His should perish.
I've was excited and looked forward to reading the actual apocryphal gospel of Thomas, and actually I was a little disappointed, it had stories that were not in the Gospels, but none of them inspired me any more or as much as the ones I knew well from the Gospels, and some of it seemed a bit "spacy" and less logical than the Jesus I knew from the gospels. But then again, Thomas was the doubter, maybe his doubting ways kept his gospel from being considered "inspired" enough to be included by the early catholic church in their Bible.
TheInfiniteLight
Member
Anyone is capable of understanding everything. It is not just a measure of a man. Jesus says seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened to you. He doesn't say this is the measure that I have given you. One attains gnosis not through knowledge but through the goodness that dwells within one. All-goodness can be found within a human being. And it is only through this goodness found within the body that gnosis is attained. Knowledge is secondary and speculative. The greatest good is the foundation of the human being. That being said, even a little infant can return to the light. Jesus says, A man old in days would not hesitate to ask a little infant 7 days old what is the place in life and that man shall live. Like I said, knowledge isn't everything. Its the goodness of the person that must be understood. That you cannot find in a book.
TheInfiniteLight
Member
I don't think Thomas was the doubter. He was also known as the twin. In the gospel of Thomas, wasn't it Thomas that was pulled aside by jesus after calling him teacher. And he spoke three sayings to him. And when Jesus' disciple met Thomas afterwards, the disciples asked him, what did he say to you? And Thomas said, if I tell you one of the sayings he spoke to me you will stone me to death and fire shall precede from those stones and devour you. It sounds to me that his disciples doubted jesus rather than him, Thomas.
My friend, It is the Spirit within one that is the 'Goodness'. It is by the nature of inheritance that a portion or measure or Divine Spark or Spirit is given to the newborn. The Soul is given by it's creator the demiurge. When one begins to seek Truth, that is the man-animal (Soul) then indeed as Jesus said, "Knock and it shall be opened" the revelation occurs. It is here that the consciousness (living thought energy) of a person looks inwardly at the Spirit it finds within itself and it is the Spirit that reveals Truth, the Soul that loves this Truth and bonds to it and becomes it is a Christian Soul (The marriage often spoken about). Not all people inherit the Spirit (sociopaths for example, which are animals in human form). The true human being is a spiritual being, not a carnal one. It is the Christ Spirit within that manifests itself not only in thought but in behaviour in the physical world. It is this behaviour of belief, mind and action that sets a Christian apart from others. While all those who share this same marriage are bound in Love through the Christ they are still individuals and solitary beings while passing through this life. They come to realise that once their Spirit is freed from the bonds of the matter creation including their bodies they will without the instinctual nature of the carnal man be perfected. We all hope that through our lives here we may through our strength of spirit and living example inspire others who are lost here to seek Truth. If we can do this then the journey through matter will have been sufferable. In Thomas is says," If the body came into being because of the Spirit it is a wonder, But if the Spirit came into being because of the body it is a wonder of wonders. Yet I marvel at how this great wealth of Spirit has taken up residence in the poverty of the body".
TheInfiniteLight
Member
Actually, the souls of the children of the light come from the living one. Jesus says, you came from the kingdom and you shall return to the kingdom. Now, knowing that there are souls who come from the place of truth, how does that put what you beautifully said in perspective?
See, you have not yet come to realize that we all have infinite life. We are not created. We are revealed through attainment. We all appeared in the light before creation was made. As we appeared some of us were truthful and some were ignorant. We then were dispersed from the light throughout all creation, given to the demiurge. He did not make us; for we appeared in the light before his power was manifest. We were sent here because of ignorance, the truthful and ignorant alike. The ignorant are in the process of being made truthful through attainment. The true god does not create, he simply reveals everything. And on this earth, through this wisdom, through this knowledge of good and evil, The ignorant and the truthful are revealed. After death we are revealed to ourselves through the image we stare at. We are either saved or destroyed. But this too is the process of attainment. And the attainment is infinite. We come closer and closer to the living one until we one day do his work with him. Being born over and over again through infinite creation in order to seek the living one's attainment. Jesus even says, pray to the lord of the harvest that he send more workers into the field. The lord of the harvest is the living one. The workers of the field are the children of light. Jesus says, you came from the kingdom and you shall return to the kingdom. The children of the light are born over and over again in an infinite creation so that they may tend to the field in order to attain the living one.
I just saw thus posting this month and got the Gospel of Thomas Unriddled book. I agree, it's an inspiration. There are a lot of interpretations out there but this is about the only one I've seen that really nails it. Its different. You can tell this is the real meaning of the Gospel of Thomas sayings. In addition for each saying he gives some related passages from the Bible. They are not true parallels because often the wording is completely different, but they show the same concepts from the Gospel of Thomas are also all through the Bible.
Someone posted a reply asking what my post had to do with Gnosticism. Their reply now seems to have been withdrawn or deleted - but I still wanted to respond. It's a fair enough question. The book that Frangipani mentioned gave an interpretation of the Gospel of Thomas that shed light on its gnostic message - better than any other Gospel of Thomas book I've read. That's all.
WhyIsThatSo
Well-Known Member
The "three things" that Jesus spoke to Thomas in private.....1. " I (Jesus) am God"...….2. " You (Thomas) are God"...….3. "ALL of you (disciples) are God "
Rakovsky
Active Member
Can it be proven whether the Gospel of Thomas was definitively and categorically Gnostic?
It seems that there are debates about this question and that it has verses that seem to be match Gnosticism and contradict Gnosticism.
The Gospel of Thomas FAQ provides a distinction between the Gospel of Thomas and gnosticism:
If the Ebionties are not considered Gnostics due to their embrace of the Creator God of this world as being the Supreme God, this would imply that the Gospel of Thomas wouldn't be Gnostic either for this reason.
But other aspects of the Gospel of Thomas do make it seem Gnostic.
So it's a tough issue. Some have called it Proto-Gnostic, which might mean that it is not Gnostic per se, but has beginning/formative stages or elements of Gnosticism.
It seems that there are debates about this question and that it has verses that seem to be match Gnosticism and contradict Gnosticism.
The Gospel of Thomas FAQ provides a distinction between the Gospel of Thomas and gnosticism:
However, as I understand it, the Ebionites may have been Gnostics and yet they supposedly they considered the world to be made by the Supreme God from whom Jesus came. I say this based on Irenaeus' Against Heresies Book I, Chp. 26 where he talks about the Ebionites in the opening sections: CHURCH FATHERS: Against Heresies, I.26 (St. Irenaeus)
If the Ebionties are not considered Gnostics due to their embrace of the Creator God of this world as being the Supreme God, this would imply that the Gospel of Thomas wouldn't be Gnostic either for this reason.
But other aspects of the Gospel of Thomas do make it seem Gnostic.
So it's a tough issue. Some have called it Proto-Gnostic, which might mean that it is not Gnostic per se, but has beginning/formative stages or elements of Gnosticism.
WhyIsThatSo
Well-Known Member
You must understand that the Creator God of the Hebrews ( the Jewish God ) acts in accordance with the Will of the Father ( Supreme God )
He only thinks He is "the only God", and is unaware that He is being "controlled".
Thomas was gnostic, like ALL the disciples (adepts) and apostles (teachers) were.
Jesus (the man) was himself gnostic as well.
Rakovsky
Active Member
Why Is That So,
I understand that in Gnosticism, the Jewish God might act in accord with the will of the Supreme God.
According to the quote from the Gospel of Thomas FAQ, in the Gospel of Thomas, the Jewish God is the same being as the Supreme God.
So this is a reason why it's not clear to me if the Gospel of Thomas is a Gnostic text.
Do you think that a Gnostic writing could teach that the Jewish God was the Supreme God and still be a Gnostic writing?
WhyIsThatSo
Well-Known Member
What saying in that text ?
Rakovsky
Active Member
WhyIsThatSo,
The FAQ did not specify a saying. The FAQ says:
The FAQ might be referring to verses like:
(100) They showed Jesus a gold coin and said to him, "Caesar's men demand taxes from us."
He said to them, "Give Caesar what belongs to Caesar, give God what belongs to God, and give me what is mine."
The context was that many Jews didn't want to pay taxes to Caesar. This was about 35 years before the 66 AD rebellion against Rome. To a Jewish audience, particularly one that saw the Romans as an affront to the Judaism, "God" in typical Jewish parlance of the time and region referred to the Lord, Adonai, Hashem. Plus, nowhere in the text does it draw a distinction between the Supreme God and the Demiurge Creator of the World like Gnosticism does.
WhyIsThatSo
Well-Known Member
All gnostics do not view the "Demiurge" the same way. Some are more in line with the truth than others.
But we all agree on the basic tenants that the "god of this world" is NOT the Father of Christ.
Thomas was gnostic, and Jesus was just acknowledging that the Creator God does indeed "own" everything here,
including this flesh body we wear around.
Also, what is called "Gnosticism" in general today comes in many "flavors", some more "palatable" than others.