jesus' twin brother

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xxcluded fram da bible

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/story/thomas.html

The Gospel of Thomas

It does not tell the story of the life and death of Jesus, but offers the reader his 'secret teachings' about the Kingdom of God.


This book opens with the lines, "These are the secret words which the living Jesus spoke, and the twin, Didymos Judas Thomas wrote them down." Then there follows a list of the sayings of Jesus. Now this raises all kinds of questions. Did Jesus have a twin brother? Actually the name Thomas Didymos -- well, Thomas is Hebrew for twin. Didymos is Greek for twin.... The implication here is that he is Jesus' twin. But this character, of course, also appears in the Gospel of John, he's one of the disciples, the twin. Here he appears as if he's Jesus' twin, and he is one who knows secret teaching, which Jesus hasn't given to all other people. Some of these sayings are familiar. We know them from Matthew and Luke - Jesus said, "I have come to cast fire on the earth." Or "Behold, a sower went out to sow," and so forth.... Others are as strange and compelling as Zen koans. My favorite of these is saying number 70, which says, "If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you." The gospel opens as Jesus invites people to see....

The Gospel of Thomas also suggests that Jesus is aware of, and criticizing the views of the Kingdom of God as a time or a place that appear in the other gospels. Here Jesus says, "If those who lead you say to you, 'look, the Kingdom is in the sky,' then the birds will get there first. If they say 'it's in the ocean,' then the fish will get there first. But the Kingdom of God is within you and outside of you. Once you come to know yourselves, you will become known. And you will know that it is you who are the children of the living father."

In this gospel, and this is also the case in the Gospel of Luke, the Kingdom of God is not an event that's going to be catastrophically shattering the world as we know it and ushering in a new millennium. Here, as in Luke 17:20, the Kingdom of God is said to be an interior state; "It's within you," Luke says. And here it says, "It's inside you but it's also outside of you." It's like a state of consciousness. It's hard to describe. But the Kingdom of God here is something that you can enter when you attain gnosis, which means knowledge. But itdoesn't mean intellectual knowledge. The Greeks had two words for knowledge. One is intellectual knowledge, like the knowledge of physics or something like that. But this gnosis is personal, like "I know that person, or do you know so and so." So this gnosis is self-knowledge; you could call it insight. It's a question of knowing who you really are, not at the ordinary level of your name and your social class or your position. But knowing yourself at a deep level. The secret of gnosis is that when you know yourself at that level you will also come to know God, because you will discover that the divine is within you.

JESUS IN THE GOSPEL OF THOMAS

The Jesus of the Gospel of Thomas does appear rather different from the Jesus we encounter in the others. Because the Gospel of Mark, for example, depicts Jesus as an utterly unique being. This is the good news of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God. The Gospel of John says that Jesus isn't even a human being at all, but he's a divine presence who comes down to heaven in human shape.... The Gospel of John says, "God sent his son into the world to save the world." If you believe in him, you're saved, if you don't believe in him you're already damned, because you haven't believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

Now, [in the Gospel of Thomas], this Jesus comes to reveal that you and he are, if you like, twins.... And what you discover as you read the Gospel of Thomas, which you're meant to discover, is that you and Jesus at a deep level are identical twins. And that you discover that you are the child of God just as he is. And so that at the end of the gospel Jesus speaks to Thomas and says, "Whoever drinks from my mouth will become as I am, and I will become that person, and the mysteries will be revealed to him." Here, Jesus does not take the role of authority and teacher. In the Gospel of Thomas, the disciples say to Jesus, "Tell us, what do you want us to do? How shall we pray? What shall we eat? How shall we fast?" Now if you look at Matthew and Luke, Jesus answers the questions. He says, "When you pray, say, 'Our Father who are in Heaven, hallowed be...' When you fast, wash your face, don't make a show of it. When you give alms do it privately and without being showy." In this gospel, this Jesus does not answer. He says, "Do not tell lies, and do not do what you hate, for everything is known before heaven." Now this answer throws you and me upon ourselves.... Here Jesus, in effect, turns one toward oneself, and that is really one of the themes of the Gospel of Thomas, that you must go in a sort of a spiritual quest of your own to discover who you are, and to discover really that you are the child of God just like Jesus.

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The Gnostic Apostle Thomas:"Twin" of Jesus

"Twin" of Jesus?
The Gnostic Apostle Thomas: Introduction

A long-suppressed, long-forgotten form of Christianity in which Thomas was the chief apostle has come to light in recent years. In western Christendom Thomas is known chiefly as the Doubter, the close follower of Jesus who had to touch his master's wounds in order to be convinced that he had really risen from the dead. Among some of the earliest followers of Jesus in the Fertile Crescent, from northern Syria to Egypt, Thomas emerged much more prominently. He was seen as the special confidant of Jesus, recorder of his master's sayings, and, in some sense, his twin. Churches across Asia came to regard him as their founding apostle And in the sayings purportedly recorded by Thomas, Jesus appears as an inspired sage imparting spiritual wisdom to his hearers, not as the Christ, part of the godhead, presented in Paul's writings and the canonical gospels.

In these pages the lore surrounding the apostle in his recently-rediscovered role has been brought together for the first time -- lore that appears in historical records, myths, legends, cultural artifacts, and religious literature, and in modern speculations about their meaning. Much of this material has come to light at a time when many scholars, clerics, and lay people are looking beyond the traditional New Testament -- the texts that church leaders picked out as authoritative some seventeen or eighteen centuries ago -- to the mass of other early writings concerning Jesus and his followers. Many of those writings have been found in the twentieth century. In this view the original selection served purposes -- social, political, theological, ecclesiastical -- that should not be regarded as binding for all time.

In the Syriac-speaking culture of upper Mesopotamia and Syria the apostle was called Judas Thomas. Thomas (Tau'ma) means twin in Syriac, a form of the Aramaic which was the language of Jesus and his followers. And Didymus, a name by which the apostle is also called in the gospel of John, means twin in Greek. Perhaps some regarded the two as blood brothers. Perhaps the twinship was regarded as spiritual or symbolic. Sometimes, as in the Christian Gnostic systems, Thomas seems to be the this-worldly reflection or image of a divine savior-figure, an earthly body inhabited by a spirit like the savior's. In any event Thomas became a focus of special reverence.

Thomas is best looked at in the context of Gnosticism. In the first three centuries of the Christian era both Christianity and Gnosticism took a variety of forms. Sometimes they overlapped considerably (and we can then speak of Christian Gnosticism), sometimes they overlapped slightly, sometimes not at all. Although scholars have not been able to agree on a definition of Gnosticism, the various forms share some basic ideas: The indescribable, unimaginable supreme godhead, which is pure spirit, cannot have been the creator of a world full of evil and misery. Emanations from that Oneness (in a sort of spiritual Big Bang) resulted in a hierarchy of lesser powers, one of which (often identified with the biblical Creator) made the world of matter. Humankind -- part matter, part spirit -- must strive to cast off its gross material element and, as pure spirit, reunite with the One. Gnosis -- knowledge of an intuitive kind about one's true nature, an experience of reality, of the truly true -- leads to this reunion. A messenger or savior (identified by Christians as Jesus) sometimes descends from the godhead to help people achieve gnosis.

These thoughts are usually couched in creation myths in which intermediaries stand between the supreme divine entity and humankind. In some of these Sophia (Wisdom) is a key figure, a feminine aspect of the godhead, engendering the lower god who is maker of the cosmos. The world and human body are usually regarded negatively, or at least as alien to our true nature, things to be liberated from. The savior figure is usually pure spirit, temporarily occupying a body or appearing in the guise of a human.

The Thomas writings include early Syriac texts in which the apostle is either the chief protagonist or an interlocutor of Jesus and recorder of his secret sayings. Three are of most significance. The Gospel of Thomas is a collection of sayings, found near Nag Hammadi in Egypt in 1945 -- sayings that Jesus is supposed to have entrusted to his "twin," which are sometimes close to those familiar to readers of the canonical New Testament, but often strikingly unfamiliar. It may have been written as early as the first century A.D., certainly not later than the middle of the second.

Another text is the Book of Thomas the Contender, also found at Nag Hammadi. Jesus again addresses the apostle as his twin and as "one who knows himself." He warns against transitory, this-worldly attachments that distract us from reunion with universal spirit. The third major book, the Acts of Judas Thomas, is an account of the apostle's supposed proselytizing travels and ascetic teaching in "India," a region ill-defined in the Roman world of the time.

In antiquity it became a common practice to ascribe a religious and philosophical writing to someone whose name would confer authority on the text. If you wanted to give weight to what you were saying or writing, a more or less accepted device was to attribute it to Paul, say, or Plato, or Solomon, or the apostle John, -- or Thomas.

There is much pseudonymous writing in the New Testament and a flood of it in writings that were eventually rejected by church authorities as unauthentic, or apocryphal. In these pages, when we read of writings or deeds and preachings of Thomas, we need not suppose that a follower of Jesus called by that name was actually involved. I have occasionally put the name in quotation marks as a reminder to the reader of this uncertainty. What is significant is the fact that those who wrote and read the various writings involving him regarded "Thomas," whether a symbolic or legendary or historic person, as one whose name would add weight to certain stories and teachings or to the claims of some institution. In this sense, there was an important Thomas literature, quite possibly as old as any other writings that purport to give the teachings of Jesus. And many signs point to a grouping of Thomas churches or communities, equally old.

All the Thomas texts mentioned above were first written in Syriac, it is generally thought, and Judas Thomas was the name by which the apostle was known in the Syriac-speaking culture of the upper Tigris-Euphrates valley. Its ancient center was Edessa, now the city of Sanli Urfa in southeastern Turkey, just north of Syria. On the boundary between the empires of Rome and Persia, bitter rivals for centuries, Edessa looked in two directions -- mainly eastward toward the world of Iranian shahs, Zoroastrians, Jewish baptismal cults, worshipers of local civic and fertility deities, and Buddhists and Hindus, but also westward toward the Mediterranean world of Roman rule, Hellenistic philosophy, Greco-Roman paganism, Mithraism, and Judaism and Christianity in their various forms. In both directions rivals to an evolving Christianity were to be found. They are briefly noted in these pages as part of the context for the Thomas movement.

The commerce between East and West -- a traffic in ideas as well as silk and glass and spices -- figures prominently here. Stories concerning Thomas's travels form the bulk of some chapters. Most independent scholars today doubt that he went to any of the places where legend sends him -- to Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Punjab, southern India, Sri Lanka, central Asia, China, Ethiopia, and, in a surprising leap, to South and Central America. But various groups, somewhere, at some time, found it comforting or inspiring or expedient to affirm that the apostle visited certain places and carried certain messages. I suggest possible reasons for their doing so.

There appear to be two somewhat separate but intertwined traditions relating to Thomas as he is depicted outside the New Testament canon: in one he is founder of churches in Asia (the Church of the East, or Nestorians, and the St. Thomas Christians of southern India), in the other he is carrier of a distinctive message of gnosis and wisdom. In the beginning the two roles may have been combined, but the churches claiming him as founder endured for many centuries after the Gnostic message was suppressed. St. Thomas Christians of India are still a vital community today.

I also look at the recent revival of interest in Gnostic and related mystical ideas, with special reference to the writings associated with Thomas. After the discovery of fourth-century books at Nag Hammadi the ancient movement known today as Gnosticism, theretofore known mostly from what its enemies had said about it, could now be studied in the writings of Gnostics themselves. Contributing factors to renewed interest in old mystical systems are Carl Jung's school of depth psychology, Gershom Scholem's studies of Jewish mysticism, and much fuller study of Asian mystical systems since World War II. The lasting influence of Gnosticism on mainstream Christianity is noted.

The Nag Hammadi collection has roused great interest in the world of scholars concerned with biblical studies, history of religions, theology, and ancient languages and history. But most scholarly writing is concerned with the Gospel in isolation from the rest of Thomas lore and the possible relationship of that Gospel to the traditional New Testament. Little of the specialized writing has trickled down to the general reading public. Everyone who has been through high school has probably heard of the Dead Sea Scrolls; relatively few readers, even among the highly educated, have heard of the Nag Hammadi collection. To help fill this gap for general readers is one reason that I have written these pages.

Wary of any who claim to know the mind of God, I am an unlikely person to take an interest in a long-forgotten piece of early Christian history. My active life has centered on international affairs, as journalist, writer, lawyer, government official, and philanthropoid. Long ago I did, nevertheless, become fascinated by the lore involving the apostle Thomas and its ramifications, and by the way it speaks to modern people at a time when speculative thought, in religion as well as science, is marked by greater openness than in the past. Many Western people today, whether they consider themselves agnostics or Christians or Jews, are really much akin to Gnostics, although they may never have heard of the term.

For more than twenty years, on and off, I have pieced together the Thomas story. I have done so as one bringing together, examining and weighing evidence that is available to anyone who takes the time to dig. This is a new mosaic fashioned from available tiles. Scholars are constrained to keep within the confines of the fields of learning in which they are expert and to plow some narrow furrows deeply. The outsider may range more freely (but still, let us hope, responsibly) over many connected fields, and may see a broader landscape with a fresh eye -- with the attendant hazard of missing or misconstruing some features.

I ought to note that in at least two respects the picture of "Thomas" and his message as presented here differs from that drawn by most scholarly experts. Almost all specialists concentrate on supposed Jewish or Hellenistic roots for Thomas (and for Christian Gnosticism generally) and on possible connections with the canonical gospels. Unlike earlier generations of scholars, few nowadays acknowledge that influences from ancient Iran and India might be found in Gnostic writings, although it seems clear that such influences were at work (as I will point out from time to time). Perhaps because serious scholars must set fences to the fields they cultivate, there has been remarkably little traffic between those concerned with Asian systems and those concerned with the origins and nature of Gnosticism, Hellenistic philosophy, early Christianity, and late Judaism.

Secondly, while scholars sometimes mention that the Thomas writings, and Gnosticism generally, have a mystical theme, they seldom develop the thought more fully and look at Thomas in relation to other mystical systems, including those of India. I have tried to put Thomas in the context of broader movements that, for lack of any adequately descriptive term, we may call mystical. The Western mind supremely values rationality and for many the very term "mystical" is unwelcome. That, however, which strikes people as "real" and "true" but which lies beyond the reach of reason and logic is indeed a central element of Gnosticism and of Thomas.

I hope that this account will stir the interest of others who are open to thinking about a very early but long-hidden and long-suppressed strain of the religion that has given its name to the dominant Western culture, who are interested in the history of religious ideas and institutions, who explore the interactions of East and West, who search for possible bases of ecumenism, or who are open to a new, but very old, form of questing.

http://gnosis.org/thomasbook/intro.html

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The Roman dogma vs history
The history of Jesus and the history of Christianity that we know today is the dogma that the Roman empire forced on all its provinces. When Constantine converted to Christianity, Rome became the center of power also for Christianity and any challenging center was wiped out. What Jesus really said and meant will probably never be known. A new wave of "Historical Jesus" research has emerged in the wake of the discovery in 1947 in Egypt of the ancient manuscripts that are known today as the "Nag Hammadi library" and as "Gnostic Gospels", and of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947. Until then, little was known about the early Christians known as the Gnostics. "We've listened to the winners, and their story doesn't make any sense. So let's listen to the losers and see if their story makes more sense" (Freke).



The twin
One of the books that became illegal and was long lost was the gospel of Didymos Judas Thomas, one of the apostles and the one who was sent east. Didymos in greek and Thomas in aramaic both mean "the twin". It sounds too much of a coincidence. This is consistent with a belief among early Christians that Jesus had a twin brother. Even in one of the official gospels (Matthew's), Pilate asks the people who they would like to crucify: Jesus Messiah or Jesus Barabbas. While this is interpreted as a choice between Jesus and a bandit, it could be that Pilate was trying to ascertain which of the two twins was the one accused of sedition, the other one being a mere thief.
A version of that gospel was found in Nag Hammadi. It is likely that the apostle Taddeus and Judas "the twin" are the same person. Taddeus reached Armenia and then possibly traveled further east. The gospel of Judas Thomas has always intrigued historians and theologians because it doesn't sound Christian at all: its style is closer to Buddhist meditation scripts than to Christian chronicles of Jesus life. After Rome converted, eastern Christianity was forgotten. The truth is that it probably stayed closer to Jesus' thought precisely because it was not contaminated by Roman power.

Taddeus and the Jesus of the east
Thomas/Taddeus may have reached India. There is a place in Srinagar (Kashmir) that is considered Jesus' tomb. If Thomas was a twin brother of Jesus, or simply a spokesman for Jesus, and did reach India this could explain the misunderstanding. Jesus (Yuz Asaf, Yus Asaph, Yesu, San Issa) is mentioned in several documents of Kashmir and even Tibet and all refer to him after his death.

http://www.scaruffi.com/politics/jesus.html

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The story of Jesus has become a composite in many respects of many different peoples and stories, the problem is to delineate where one ends and the other begins.
Rome and or Constantine alone does not hold the story of Jesus......Egypt and Ethiopia continues to speak the truth with new discoveries of old scrolls and Papyrus every century.

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The story of Jesus has become a composite in many respects of many different peoples and stories, the problem is to delineate where one ends and the other begins.
Rome and or Constantine alone does not hold the story of Jesus......Egypt and Ethiopia continues to speak the truth with new discoveries of old scrolls and Papyrus every century.

deer were many diffarant versians aff christianities that were destroyed by rome so dat christianitee could becum more about oyinbo dogmas and doctrine. da varsian aff thomas as jesus' twin brother was one deem as natt worthy by dose inn powa. da deepah qwestian is wat rome ave inn library vault unda lock annn key. ow manee addar versians aff christianitee were destroyed to better brain christans. rome ann constatine ave perverted da stories aff jesus fe suit fe dem agendaa. da realitee iss dat awl da western varsian aff christianitees orginnated fram rome.

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tink aff da implication iff jesus had a twin.

woo reallee was put pon the cross

imagine iff people saw wan twin after wan allegedlee died on the cross

iss that why rome neva include dat boook in dem versian aff da bible

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da deepah qwestian is wat rome ave inn library vault unda lock annn key. rome ann constatine ave perverted da stories aff jesus fe suit fe dem agendaa. da realitee iss dat awl da western varsian aff christianitees orginnated fram rome.

True.....Rome is filled with mostly lies and perversion and little truth.
The deepest question is what remains hidden and or unknown in Ethiopia, Egypt, Sudan and Mali

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The Marriage Proposal

What if Joseph and Mary were already married?

I strongly feel that Mary and Joseph were already married. Why? The answer is really quite simple. They were Jewish! They both would have stuck to the strict accordance of the ancient Jewish religion. We have to remember here people, that both Mary and Joseph had strong family roots, deeply embedded in the Jewish faith. For example; Joseph was a direct blood relative of King David. Rites of passage such as that, are not dismissed in the Jewish religion (as they might be in the Christian faith) now or ever. Moreover, the Jews were God's sacred people. What I mean by saying that is- God, most certainly would have followed his own written law. Show a time in history that he has never follow his own doctrine, oral tradition, written doctrine or otherwise. God, is not human like us you know. He lives by his ethical code of arms, whereas humans live by the seat of their pants. God already knew that there would be some rejection from his faithful people anyways, by bringing the Savior into the world in this very unconventional manner. Which is another great characteristic of God's, he loves to be unconventional! Moreover, God would not would have put Mary in harms way, or made her go against everything she believed in. Mary would have been stoned to death, it would have been out of Joseph's hands.

The bible also tells us that Jesus had many brothers and sisters. It is and was just peer speculation written by Christian leaders that maybe the other children were Joseph's children by his deceased wife (which their are NO biblical, or ancient historical censuses of). Nor that Christ's brothers and sisters were born after Joseph and Mary got married. I can see were the early church doctrine writers, thought it would be easier to write in that Mary was a virgin, and hence divinely chosen by God. What they forgot to include in their made up story, was creating an accountability of Joseph or Christ's brothers and sisters and this "dead wife" of Joseph's. More importantly is the fact, it doesn't matter how or in what way something grand like this takes place. If GOD touched it- it is still divine! Therefore, there was no need for man's intervention, by adding to God's story. I find it rather ballsy that we did! Who are we to fix a narration of God's, in order to make it more divine, in the first place? And that is exactly what the Council of Nicaea intended to do and did. Think about that.......

If you have ever read the Old testament, you will quickly discover that God was/is stickler about keeping family trees correct and general accountability to details. Another area I think the men who created story didn't account for was, that the birth of Christ could have been Divine and Immaculate. The conception that God impregnated her is Divine in itself and Immaculate. Even if Mary wasn't a virgin, she was impregnated by GOD! Something else they didn't consider was God's intellect and overall foresight. If you look to the teachings of the Old Testament, you will find that there aren't many unanswerable questions. Take Noah's ark. We are given exact details of it's size, how it was built and where it landed. Okay. So, now what? Are we suppose to believe that between the time of the Old Testament to the time of the New Testament that God, changed? I don't buy it. I think it is safe to say, that God is God and the only ones changing is mankind. It has been my discovery, through out this journey that if something is impossible, doesn't make sense, or is off the wall improbable- man has been messing with the text. Take for instance; the charming story of the Apostle Paul. Now it wasn't until I was 36 that I discovered that Paul never met Jesus Christ. And that road to Damascus bit, where then Saul is blinded and meets the voice of God. Well, the bible clearly tells us he was chasing "Christ followers" or Jews to capture and bring them to Roman justice. But what our Sunday school teachers, nuns, preachers and priest failed to tell us, was that it was Christ's brother "James the Just," they were chasing. Just like any source of history, the truth will eventually be brought to light through archaeologically religious study, and the advancement of scientific research.

Though this is still speculation, it is further been revealed by biblical scholars; that a sect of Jewish folk, who happened to be followers of Christ's teachings, under the strict supervision of Christ's brother James the Just, were one and the same group of people that provided us with the safely stored collection of the Dead Sea Scrolls! It is historical discoveries like this that should continually reminded us, that the doctrine of God's words is filled with human error and flawed. If it was James' people and Christ followers who stored the sacred text of the Dead Sea Scrolls for us, then why are so many Christians scared to the Gospel of Thomas, Gospel of Philip, or the Sophia of Jesus Christ? Is it because they talk about spiritual enlightenment?

As Christian I'm okay with the fact that for the first time, all these different communities are coming up with the same plausible answers. The fact that the scientific community, and the religious archaeological community are working in conjunction with many religious scholars uniquely on their own, and are in alliance with each other findings, is incredible! One might say, "It's a modern day miracle!" So, here's what I say, based from the religious doctrine that both Mary and Joseph lived by; I ardently feel that they were already married. In fact, I am completely convince now, after reading several verses, that they had already had at least one son of own when Mary got pregnant with Jesus and Jude. That child being James of course.

I can see where God would have chosen a family, such as Mary and Joseph's for Jesus to be raised with. They were true God fearing Jews, that descended from the great line of David. They were hard working people. Hardworking folks, who had already faced many of Gods trials and tribulations put in front of them. I can't see God entrusting his most precious possession with unfit, unstable, non-Jewish, unchallenged individuals. Remember, the reason Christ was brought to earth was to save us from our own sins. Man is enormously flawed and God knew/knows it. Hence the forlorn coming of Christ. As a mother, I find it quite funny to think that God was going to allow some teenage girl to raise his son. Who was also expected to marry a man whom she didn't know she'd love. Come on, God isn't dumb! He wouldn't thrown together such a dysfunctional family, and cross his fingers that all would be okay. If God couldn't keep Adam and Eve in line, what makes you think he would've kept that dysfunctional mess well kept. No, God selected Joseph and Mary because they had already proved their "spiritual wealth" as a sound, married couple. It is also my belief based off the biblical teachings of the bible, that the Heavenly Father would have been extremely picky about who he entrusted too care for his son, Jesus. Based off that, I believe that Joseph and Mary, were already well established as a strong Jewish family.

As for the angel visiting Mary, and then Joseph is all hearsay. Do I believe they did? Sure I do! God commonly spoke to his true patrons through the voice of Gabriel. So sure base of God's own historical actions I believe it to be true, so yeah angels visited "The Thomas'." But I don't think there is any way of knowing what they heard or saw. However; yes..., I do believe that angels approached them to let them know what was going on; and that God had indeed chosen Mary to his son's birth mother. I believe that Mary and Joseph had many dreams of God, and many different visit from his angels. You just don't drop a kid off into someone else's lap- without instructing that person in one way or another. So for me to believe that God was that shallow- I don't think so. Therefore, yes I believe angels came to the couple many different times. God had to let them know directly what, "God's" wants and needs were for them and his son.

Another case in point, it makes so much more sense to believe that God told Mary and Joseph he needed them to make love, come together, be as husband and wife to bring forth a new life. It is further my belief, that during their coupling God planted his seed inside Mary's womb. But because he loved and cared for Mary, and knew the fate that Christ, Mary and Joseph were to endure, God allowed Mary and Joseph to conceive a child at that same exact moment of conception too. Now when you think about the many different types of twins births there are, isn't this a more realistic story than Mary being a "virgin" and so on? It was there in that moment of love, that Mary and Joseph and God conceived Jesus and Jude.

Now....., I'm not saying that Jesus and Jude were identical twins. I'm saying that they were twins. As with any twin, each one's life is completely different from the next. All twins, even Siamese twins have different personalities and goals. Is it so unthinkable to believe that God took care of two birds with one stone? When you really think about it- the best possible way for God to insure that his son, Jesus Christ would have half a chance- would to have made sure that he'd be surrounded by a large family and (the best defense weapon I can think of) a twin. It is scientifically proven and well known fact that twins are extremely protective and cognitively connected to their brother or sister. Remember too people that the Holy Bible, was written and put together by a select group of men. It's historical doctrine was surmised by a cruel Roman ruler, a council of a 150 men or so, the teaching Pope Clement the first and III. And much of the bible that we know, was doctrine set in motion by Martin Luther and King Henry the VIII. Many Christians, neglect to realize that the core doctrine of the King James Bible was Roman Catholic, and just a translation from Greek and Latin to the English language. They also neglect to realize that it was King Henry the VIII that added to the Commandments and Lord's Prayer. Christ never said, "Amen." Though we see it written everywhere in the bible. Amen is not Aramaic word. Christ spoke Aramaic. In one way or another, the entire force of Christianity has NOT been dictated by Christ himself, it has been dictated by mankind. If it had been dictated by Christ himself, we would have known a long time ago that Christ came from a loving, caring family and that Christ had a twin brother named Jude (Judas).

Clement of Alexandria

"Miscellanies "

—God's truth is to be found in revelation, another portion of it in philosophy. It is the duty of the Christian to neglect neither. Religious science, drawn from this twofold source, is even an element of perfection; the instructed Christian—"the true Gnostic"—is the perfect Christian. He who has risen to this height is far from the disturbance of passion; he is united to God, and in a mysterious sense is one with Him. Such is the line of thought indicated in the work, which is full of digressions.

ς Clement of Alexandria (properly TITUS FLAVIUS CLEMENS , but known in church history by the former designation to distinguish him from Clement of Rome), date of birth unknown; d. about the year 215; an early Greek theologian and head of the catechetical school of Alexandria. Athens is given as the starting-point of his journeying, and was probably his birthplace. He became a convert to the Faith and traveled from place to place in search of higher instruction, attaching himself successively to different masters: to a Greek of Ionia, to another of Magna Graecia, to a third of Coele-Syria, after all of whom he addressed himself in turn to an Egyptian, an Assyrian, ³and a converted Palestinian Jew. At last he met Pantaenus in Alexandria, and in his teaching "found rest". —"Grace," J. Pohle, The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1914 (San Diego, Catholic Answers, 2007) This material is Copyright © 2007 Catholic Answers. All rights reserved


Biblical Text to Support My Belief

Nelson's NKJV Study Bible-


The Epistle of Jude, Chapter 1:1 reads,

"Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James."

A Bondservant, in the biblical text means; a servant of the Son of God.

Jude was fiercely dedicated to his brother, Jesus Christ. But moreover, he adamantly believed in his brother. When Christ's other disciples questioned him, Judas was Christ's constant supporter and companion. It is as if Jude, short for Judas, knew without a doubt who his brother was. He completely understood the simple complexity of his brother's life and the challenges that faced him, along with the rest of his family. Sometimes the bible depicts Jesus Christ aloof, or cold towards his natural family. But I believe just the opposite. I believe that Christ was supported by his family, and with some of them always. After reading the New Testament as much as I have, there isn't a doubt in my mind that Jude shared a unique kinship with Jesus. He believed more than anyone else that his brother was the true son of God. According to the NKJV Study Bible, there are six different Jude's or Judas' in the bible.

There are only two possible authors to The Epistle of Jude;

The Apostle Jude, who scholars think was also Matthew Thaddaeus.
Jude, brother of James, and half brother to Christ.

It is my belief, that Christ's brother Jude wrote this letter to Paul after they both had reached a certain pivotal point in the early Christian Church. Of course Paul's doctrine would be more gentile friendly, while Jude's doctrine would of taught an ideology of dualism. His religious doctrine was more Judea-Christian orientated. Anyway, I think Jude wrote this letter to Paul, warning him not to tread so far off the beaten path. It is the most simplistic references and underlying undertones of the author voice, that tells me this is indeed Christ's brother, Judas.

In the letter, The Epistle of Jude you may notice that this is the first time the narrator is not addressing just followers, but rather, someone of equal status or positioning. Read Jude for yourself and tell me what you think.

The Gospel According to Matthew, the Tax Collector, Chapter 13:55; it reads, "Is this not the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And his brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas?"

What more can be said? Clearly Matthew tells us that Christ had at least 4 brothers. It is my personal belief that Christ had 4 brothers, and at least one sister named after their mother, Mary. Her full name was Mary Thomas. Yes, I believe that the surname Thomas, is the oldest surnames in Christianity. I am a firm believer that Joseph's last name was Thomas. But I'll save that for another day. But the bible clearly states that Jesus had brothers and sisters. So far, I've only been able to confirm 1 sister, even though Matthew 13:56 states "sisters" plural, meaning more than 1.

In my New Intentional Version, Holy Bible; Jude Chapter 1:1 reads the same as the New King James Version does. Since it is not a study bible, it offers no opinions as to whom the author was.

My New American Bible, St.Joseph Med. Edition, Jude Chapter 1:1 reads, "Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept safe for Jesus Christ;(2)may mercy, peace, and love be yours in abundance..... While Matthew 13:55 reads the same as the other two above references.



My forth reference material comes from the Essential Gnostic Gospels, Book; Thomas the Contender, pg. 297-299, here is how it reads,

"These are the hidden words that our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, told to his Disciple, Judas Thomas. I, ¹Mathaias noted it all down while walking, listening, or talking with them. Christ said, "Brother Thomas, while you still have time on Earth, pay attention to what I say, and I'll tell you all that you've wondered about in your mind. Now since it'd been said that ²'you are my twin', and true companion, inquire within yourself and discover who you really, really are!"

Now, Christ tells us he is addressing Judas Thomas. It can't be any other Judas, because Thomas the Contender was supposedly written during Pentecost. Which is the period from the time Christ arose from the dead and ascended into heaven, which was approximately 6 weeks.
Why we know that the Gospel of Thomas the Contender, was originally written down during the period of Pentecost, is because it tells us so. How? The Gospel of Thomas the Contender clearly states that the author/narrator is Mathaias. Thomas the Contender, is a Gospel written by Mathaias, the 13th disciple or rather, the disciple chosen by the eleven to replace Judas Iscariot. Judas Iscariot was the one who betrayed Jesus Christ, for thirty pieces of silver. Thirty pieces of silver, I might add that he was going to use to pay off debts that he and the disciples had occurred in past villages they had traveled in. Read your bible and we will discuss that scenario later.
But anyways, Acts 2:23-26 tells us how Matthias(Mathaias) was chosen by the eleven to be the next 12th disciple. And the first few verses of Thomas the Contender, tell us that Mathaias is the original author and narrator.
We also know that the Gospel is not speaking of Judas Iscariot, because that Judas had already died. No this Gospel clearly states that it is Christ's brother, twin brother- Judas (Jude) Thomas.
One of my favorite passages is where Jesus tells his twin brother, that his life (Jude's) has more meaning than just being Christ's brother. Mathias tells us that Christ said to Jude,

"Find out in what way you actually exist, and how you came to be. Since you're called my brother it's not right for you to ignorant of your true nature. I know you've accepted that I am the knowledge of the Truth! So while we're together, although you lack understanding, you have in a way, come to see, & (may be termed) as the one who's had a glimpse of his "Real Self!" Now I think this completely sounds like something Christ would say. Christ further tells his brother, Jude(Judas Thomas)-"He who doesn't know his own self, knows virtually nothing. But he who does, has gained knowledge of the profundity of the 'All'. So dear brother Thomas, you've seen what's hard and perplexing for mankind to understand, and what they trip up against, in their spiritual blindness."

Then Thomas spoke to our Lord,

"Pray, tell me what I ask before your Ascension, so when I learn about these secrets, I may speak about them, as it's clear that it's hard to live the truth before man."

As the New King James Version states, and the International Holy Bible, along with the New American Catholic Bible states, that Jude considered himself a "bondservant". Jude clearly thought his whole rhyme and reason for being alive, was to serve his twin brother Jesus Christ. I invite all of you to read Thomas the Contender for yourselves, along with the Epistle of Jude, and the Book of Acts.
After reading all three, you'll certainly see where Judas could indeed be the twin brother of Christ and forever, faithful servant of his brother.

I look forward to your comments and questions. One more thing before I go, I've always noted the words extended forth through the New American Bible, St. Joseph Medium Edition, Jude Chapter 1:1, that read,

"And, kept safe for Jesus Christ."

"And, kept safe for Jesus Christ..." as I stated early, I believe that God chose an established family to minister and raise Jesus from birth. I also stated that what better what to make sure that Christ was kept safe than to be in the fellowship of his brothers, especially a twin brother. Jude and James lived several years after Christ ascended into heaven. As the above Catholic verse states, God kept Christ's brothers safe for him.

http://intimatevolution.hubpages.com/hub/Christ--Twin

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My Passion to Know The Truth

Okay a brief history here before I go on. I was always one of those students who wanted to know the whole story. I was never satisfied when someone said to me, "Because the bible says so, that's why!" For the longest time I thought God had blessed me with a handicap. My handicap was that I was never satisfied! It was theory that If you were teaching me about the word of Christ and the Lordship of our Heavenly Father, then you must know all the details. I had a hard time accepting complacent answers, and I don't knows. I always believed and still do, that if you really believed and prayed for understanding that it is given by God to you to relay forward. As I've gotten older, and taught a few classes myself, I realized that I wasn't "handicapped", but gifted enough to see the true word of God. You can have the same gift, if you just pray hard enough for it. One day, I was reading the history of some of the first forefathers of our religion (Clement of Alexandria). I wanted to know the men and women that surrounded themselves in the beginning stages of Christianity, and who embraced the teachings our Lord, Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father. And, that's when I came across Clement of Alexandria. Clement of Alexandria was one our of first sovereign scholars or teachers of Christ's doctrine. Well I came across one of his saying, where he mentions the "Gnostic". Being the curious soul that I am, and firmly believing that God was dictating my information, I set out to Barnes and Noble's bookstore. I remember praying feverishly in the bible studies section. I asked God to show me and lead me the way. He answered. I remember hearing a voice in my mind, saying as clear as day- pick the 1st book you see. Well my head was bent towards the floor, when I opened my eyes I immediately turned right and start walking down the aisle. Like a robot, I turn directly to my right, when clear down the aisle turn right again and back up the aisle next to the one I was praying in. When I stopped, I looked straight up, turned to my right to peer at the bookshelves and selected Alan Jacob's, The Essential Gnostic Gospels.

I didn't know it was Alan Jacob's Book until after I had purchased it. I had always heard that the Gnostic Gospels were "evil". Evil in what way? I don't know, just evil. But the book I selected is not the entire Gnostic Gospel. It only has a few books and gospels contained underneath it's cover. I was quite excited about discovering my purchase, and stumbling upon Clement's saying about the Gnostics. In the field of historical references, It has been the best reference material known.It is amazing how it cross references certain gospels in the bible perfectly. But where certain words might have originally edited by the original translator, these gospels feel untouched. The Gospel are in a more raw form, than that of the bibles Gospels.
The Gospel of Thomas Unveiled
Do you believe that Jesus had a twin brother after reading this article?

Yes
No
This article has me thinking maybe.

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My Study Materials

For several hundred, better yet close to two thousand years now; we have been living with the truth right under our noses. In order for you to follow along with me, I'm listing below all my study materials used in founding the truth about Christ's twin brother.

New American Bible, St. Joseph Med.Edition, Catholic Book Publishing Co., 1994
Holy Bible, New International Version, International Bible Society, 1984
The Essential Gnostic Gospels, Narrator Alan Jacobs, Watkins Publishing, 2006
New King James Version, Nelson's NKJV Study Bible, Nelson Bibles, 1982

http://intimatevolution.hubpages.com/hub/Christ--Twin

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Esoteric Interpretations of Selected Quotes from the Gnostic Gospels

Jesus taught mysteries and secret teachings to his disciples including several women. He did this for various reasons. The Gnostic gospels give us a glimpse of what he taught to those fortunate few.

In 1945 a discovery of momentous proportions added to the canon of the lost teachings of Jesus. The tale of the Nag Hammadi scrolls would make a good movie script including murder and intrigue. The priceless papyrus scrolls finally ended up on the black market then eventually found their way to the Coptic Museum of Cairo. But five amazing texts were smuggled to America for sale. I'll let a section from the Introduction to The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels continue from here:

"... Word of this codex soon reached Professor Gilles Quispel, distinguished historian of religion at Utrecht, in the Netherlands. Excited by the discovery, Quispel urged the Jung Foundation in Zurich to buy the codex. But discovering, when he succeeded, that some pages were missing, he flew to Egypt in the spring of 1955 to try to find them in the Coptic Museum. Arriving in Cairo, he went at once to the Coptic Museum, borrowed photographs of some of the texts, and hurried back to his hotel to decipher them. Tracing out the first line, Quispel was startled, then incredulous, to read:

"These are the secret words which Jesus spoke, and which the twin, Judas Thomas, wrote down."

Quisel knew that his colleague H.C. Puech, using notes from another French scholar, Jean Doresse, had identified the opening lines with fragments of a Greek Gospel of Thomas discovered in the 1890's. But the discovery of the whole text raised new questions: Did Jesus have a twin brother, as this text implies? Could the text be an authentic record of Jesus' sayings? According to its title, it contained the Gospel According to Thomas; yet, unlike the gospels of the New Testament, this text identified itself as a secret gospel. Quispel also discovered that it contained many sayings known from the New Testament; but these sayings, placed in unfamiliar contexts, suggested other dimensions of meaning. Other passages, Quispel found, differed entirely from any known Christian tradition: the "living Jesus," for example, speaks in sayings as cryptic and compelling as Zen koans: Jesus said,

"If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you."

What Quispel held in his hand, the Gospel of Thomas, was only one of the fifty-two texts discovered at Nag Hammadi (the usual English translation of the town's name). Bound into the same volume with it is the Gospel of Phillip, which attributes to Jesus acts and sayings quite different from those in the New Testament:

"... the companion of the [Savior is] Mary Magdalene. [But Christ loved] her more than [all] the disciples, and used to kiss her [often] on her [mouth]. The rest of [the disciples were offended] ... They said to him, "Why do you love her more than all of us?" The Savior answered and said to them, "Why do I not love you as (I love) her?"

... Yet the gnostic Gospel of Thomas relates that as soon as Thomas recognizes him, Jesus says to Thomas that they have both received their being from the same source: Jesus said,

"I am not your master. Because you have drunk, you have become drunk from the bubbling stream which I have measured out. ... He who will drink from the bubbling stream which I have measured out.... He who will drink from my mouth will become as I am: I myself shall become he, and the things that are hidden will be revealed to him."

[This excerpt can be found here: Frontline: From Jesus to Christ; Introduction: The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels (PDF)]

`From Thee, Father, and through Thee, Mother, the two immortal names, Parents of the divine being, and thou, dweller in heaven, humanity, of the mighty name...'



Let's break down these strange yet revealing quotes that Elaine Pagels included in her introduction.

"These are the secret words which Jesus spoke, and which the twin, Judas Thomas, wrote down."

There are three points to be gleaned from this simple statement. The first is obvious, there are secret teachings. Why are there secret teachings and why did Jesus teach in parables? Jesus knew that the teachings from God had been changed. The Jews followed the dead letter of the law. The Old Testament Prophets' admonishments and wisdom had been filtered over the years, no longer reflecting the vibrancy of the Word. Jesus saw the distortions of the Divine intent in other major religions as well. On his travels through India during his "lost years," he witnessed the hoarding of the mysteries of God by the Brahmins, keeping the 'little people' in their place. He saw that the major religions of India: Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, had devolved. Vital elements for self mastery were missing.

There is no doubt whatsoever that Jesus knew that the Bible would be changed in the future both unconsciously and on purpose. Important teachings would be taken out such as: karma, reincarnation, the rigors of the Path, the Divine Feminine within and the importance of women, and the most valuable teaching of all, that we are all Sons and Daughters of God. To safe guard the teachings for future generations he taught the 'mysteries' and 'secret' teachings to the select few. They were intended to not only transmit this information personally, to those they met on their travels but also to future generations as they reincarnated down through the centuries. They were western tertons (buddhists monks and lamas who were with Padma Sambhava a few centuries after Issa left Tibet and who were told they would reincarnate in this age with Padma Sambhava's message).

Jesus was also well aware of the guru\chela relationship. The twelve disciples, Mother Mary, Mary Magdalene, Martha, Lazarus and others were his chelas. The guru always transmits the inner mysteries to his chelas. Not everything we need to know is in the Bible.

The second point is obvious. He had a twin? That is mind boggling to say the least. Can it be true? Who's to say? Maybe it refers to some sort of metaphysical concept.

The third point is this, if it is true then there are some disturbing implications. Since Jesus was supposedly born of a virgin birth, wouldn't the twin be a "Son of God" also. Judas Thomas has never been mentioned as equal to Jesus. Therefore, maybe the so called virgin birth was a myth concocted later to further remove Jesus from us. If Jesus was born like Judas Thomas and you and I, then we all have a chance to be Sons and Daughters of God. Mark was the first Gospel to be published and makes no mention of a virgin birth. Mathew and Luke were drawn from Mark and yet strangely enough, added the virgin birth. The Book of John makes no mention of it. Maybe the meaning of 'virgin' was something different in the languages of the day. Maybe Mother Mary had a virgin consciousness that was able to hold the immaculate concept for Jesus throughout conception and during his young life.

The next quote rivals the best in metaphysical riddles:

"If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you."

We have a Divine Plan and the Light of God within us. If we bring forth the light and love within, it will transform us. More light and more love will return to us on the karmic return. If we do not become one with the light and love of God within our hearts but instead turn to darker emotions then that negativity will become an anathema to the Christ within. To put it another way, nearly every person who goes through the near death experience and is able to remember, finds out that God and the Spiritual Heirarchies do not judge them. They themselves are their own judge. The Christ within and their own conscience are their judges. The Cosmic Beings showing the souls the karmic record radiate pure love. The Light of God encompassing our souls has an innate intelligence. It cannot be fooled. There will be a reckoning some day, some lifetime, when the karmic clock runs out.



Here's the next quote:

"... the companion of the [Savior is] Mary Magdalene. [But Christ loved] her more than [all] the disciples, and used to kiss her [often] on her [mouth]. The rest of [the disciples were offended] ... They said to him, "Why do you love her more than all of us?" The Savior answered and said to them, "Why do I not love you as (I love) her?"

Talk about disturbing pictures. But why? Have we been programmed to think Jesus acts a certain way? He is not like us, is he? According to esoteric teaching brought forth not so long ago, either by the Summit Lighthouse, The Bridge to Freedom or possibly, The I Am Movement; Mary Magdalene was Jesus' Twin Flame. We all have one twin soul who was created out of the same undifferentiated substance of Light many, many lifetimes ago. As the sphere separated out from God forming the Yin and Yang, male and female, twin flames are born. Each has the same blueprint. We all make karma so we are not always fortunate to be with our twin flame in each life. Mary Magdalene could not help but be drawn to her twin flame in that life. He had realized and become the Christ. No stronger magnet exists. He was an irresistible force.

A whole cottage industry of books has emerged revealing that Jesus did marry Mary Magdalene and that they had children. Two books on the subject are listed below, Holy Blood, Holy Grail and Bloodline of the Holy Grail. I recommend pursuing this line of research. It is fascinating. Unfortunately too much emphasis is often times paid to the physical bloodline of Jesus. The metaphysical concepts of the Blood being the Holy Spirit and the Grail being the Christ chalice within, are pushed aside.

Mary Magdalene died in 63 AD in southern France. Various esoteric gnostic sects of Christianity throughout history have always held Mary Magdalene in the highest regard, even revered her. She was a true chela and one of Jesus' best disciples hence his last statement: "Why do I not love you as (I love) her?" This was not a reference to twin flames but to her devotion to the Path. She may have been a prostitute but the verdict is still out on that one. There is no definitive statement in the Bible that she was. Does it matter? Jesus cast out the demons that inhabited her and she was forgiven. The Sadducees and Pharisees chose not to condemn her after challenged by Jesus. Peter's jealousy and possible hatred of women probably had something to do with the Catholic Church's position on Mary Magdalene and women in general.

Here is the final quote form The Gnostic Gospels:

"I am not your master. Because you have drunk, you have become drunk from the bubbling stream which I have measured out. ... He who will drink from the bubbling stream which I have measured out.... He who will drink from my mouth will become as I am: I myself shall become he, and the things that are hidden will be revealed to him."

The Master states he is not the master. Well that is rather blasphemous I must say. The Gospel of Thomas will never be allowed in the Bible for that satement alone. Continuing, if we drink from the same fount as He did, the bubbling stream of light that is the Christ consciousness, then we will become like him. It was his mission to show us the way, to be the example for an age. His victory measures out a portion of the office of Christ that he became if we truly walk the inner mysteries. If we put on the mantle of Christ, all that was taught secretly will be revealed.

Here is another quote. It's taken from The Gospel of Thomas by Marvin Meyers

Jesus said to them, "When you make the two into one, and when you make the inner like the outer and the outer like the inner, and the upper like the lower, and when you make male and female into a single one, so that the male will not be male nor the female be female, when you make eyes in place of an eye, a hand in place of a hand, a foot in place of a foot, an image in place of an image, then you will enter [the kingdom]." Verse 22.

When you so identify with the light within; when you make the lower self like the God above, the Mighty I Am Presence; when you purify your chakras, the upper chakras magnifying the alpha or masculine and the lower chakras the omega or feminine energies; when you do these things the Christ image will descend down the crystal cord directly above and super impose itself over you. At that moment, Jesus will be with you. The Kingdom of God is not in some antiseptic corner of the universe. Do these things and you will be aware of it. The door will be open. You will already have entered.

William House

the Editor, Reverse Spins

http://www.reversespins.com/gnosticgospels.html

[Peasie]

You can have the same gift, if you just pray hard enough for it.

This is fatuous theology.

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You can have the same gift, if you just pray hard enough for it.

This is fatuous theology.

da gift aff wisdom ann undarstandinn dat few choose fe seek cah dem juss memorize da bible ann tink dat iss itt.

sum sey da same ting bout da bible as tool aff canfusion dat men in power use religion fe manipulate ann rule da sheeps. imagine all aff da modern versian aff christianitee cum fram rome ann yuh still ave peeps criticizinn rome ann natt da varsian aff christianitee dem warship. prayer iss a powerful ting dat y moas church nuh teach peeps oww fe prays fe git result. tink pon diss peasie, woo ann how manee religions teach dem members oww fe pray like oww dem teach peeps fe studee dem bible?

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Jesus' twin
Recent scholarship has emphasized the importance of the so-called gnostic Gospel of Thomas, which some regard as a fifth such text, on a par with the canonical set of four.

The gospel is ascribed to the apostle Thomas, one of the twelve. What in fact do we know of this this Thomas? His full name was Didymus Judas Thomas. That is to say, Judas was his proper name, while the additions Didymus and Thomas (Te’omas) are descriptive adjuncts. Both mean “twin,” one in Greek and the other in Aramaic. This disciple then was a twin of someone. But of whom?

The apocryphal Acts of Thomas, apparently written in Syria in the third century, is the source of the legend that this disciple became a missionary in India. The text also asserts that Thomas was the brother of Jesus. Likwise, this claim appears in one of the gnostic Nag Hammadi documents.

For a long time, Catholics and others, eager to defend their notion of the perpetual virginity of Mary, have claimed that Jesus’ brothers were not truly uterine siblings, born of the womb of Mary, but cousins perhaps, or children of Joseph by another mother.

The New Testament texts do not offer support for these speculations. Instead, they speak directly of Jesus’ having brothers (and sisters as well, though they are not named). The fullest list of brothers (not necessarily exhaustive) is given in Matthew 13:55, where four are mentioned: James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas. It is unlikely that the last is the disciple who betrayed Jesus, as he is never identified as Jesus’ brother. This person could be the Jude to whom an epistle is ascribed in the New Testament. Yet there is a real possibility that the last brother named in Matthew’s list is our Didymus Judas Thomas.

On this interpretation Jesus had a twin brother, also born of Mary. One child was divine, the other an ordinary human being. This seems bizarre, yet the situation is not without precedent--at least in classical mythology. One parallel concerns the supreme Greek hero Heracles (Hercules), who had a mortal twin named Iphicles. According to the story, Alcmene had conceived a child with her husband, Amphitryon. Then she attracted the amorous attentions of Zeus, who made love to her in human form--in the guise of her husband Amphitryon. As a result of these couplings two children grew in her womb, one the son of a mortal, the other the son of a god.

Let us review the facts as presented in the legend. First came the “normal” impregnation: male human to female human. Then there occurred the extraordinary fertilization of the woman with the sperm of a god. The result of the first act was the mortal Iphicles. Herakles, whose heroic stature approached but did not quite attain the status of a god, resulted from Alcmene’s second coupling.

In the case of Mary we would need to reverse the order. First she was impregnated by the Holy Spirit, while still a virgin. Not long thereafter, Joseph (or some other man) impregnated her with the child who was to become Didymus Judas Thomas, Jesus’ twin brother. As the Trinity could not become a quaternity, Thomas was denied divine status.

Recent scholarship has explored many fascinating bypaths of Early Christianity. To the best of my knowledge, though, Bart Ehrman (in his book “Lost Christianities”) is the only one to have discussed frankly this extraordinary possibility--that Jesus had a twin brother. However, he does not explore the implications further.

Did Thomas acquire special knowledge of divine truths while still in the womb? Was it uncomfortable for him, having to share the cramped space with a divine being? Did Thomas received any of the gifts of the magi? What was his status in Joseph’s carpentry shop? And so forth.

These questions may seem facetious--and they probably are. But the theological implications of this twinship are enormous. They literally boggle the mind.

http://dyneslines.blogspot.com/2008/02/jesus-twin.html