With the discovery of the Lost Gospels and the Dead Sea Scrolls, more is known now than ever about the life of

Question

Jesus. It is known that the four gospels in the New Testament were a political choice in 325 A.D., and that all others were at that point considered heresy. Do you think that as they are translated, these discoveries will change Christianity?

The Dead Sea Scrolls contain information from the 3rd century BC to the 2nd cuntury AD, including the birth of Christianity. They were not made available to most scholors until 1991.

Answer 1

Many of the Dead Sea Scrolls document don't have to do with Jesus at all. Many of them are just interpretation of what they read in the Bible in those times.
They are several Gospel that aren't include in the Bible.
But I think, the when the first Bible was organize, many put in and took out what was convenient for them in that moment or what the though it should be on it. As Protestantt did also. If you see a Catholic Bible it have some book that the Protestan Bible doesn't have.
I have read several parts of some Apocifras Book and all the Lost Gospel of Judas; but the idea of Jesus, I consider is the same in all, at least the ones I have read.
I don't think that Christianity itself would change.
What I really think, is that we must be better Christian and less religious!

Answer 2

Christianity as a religion is always experiencing subtle changes due to a myriad of influences, but the underlying Faith that powers the believers rarely if ever changes. As each generation grows up, and a new generation of Christians come into power in the church, changes are made as the church adjusts to the evolutions of time.

The Dead Sea Scrolls contain nothing about Jesus, or his family. The gnostic Gospels, however do. But, I don't think it really matters what they say, because people are going to believe what they want. If an ancient scroll is presented that offers proof of something a person does not believe in, that person will dismiss the evidence as lies.
On the other hand, if an ancient scroll is found to say something that reinforces a person belief, then that scroll is thought to be 'from God', and no other evidence or corroboration is needed. Will additional 'evidence' change Christianity? No.
Should it? No.
One of the biggest changes that SHOULD happen though is that all Christians should stop practicing blind faith and listening to other peoples interpretations of the Bible less, and actually read and study the Bible themselves to understand exactly what it is that they have placed their Faith in.

Answer 3

Actually, with the exception of the Judas gospel, they've already been translated. You do realize the Dead Sea scrolls were discovered in 1947, right? They've haven't led to any major changes to christianity yet. They're mostly gnostic writings, which were written later than the new testament gospels.

Answer 4

1st, it is not "known" that the choice of the four gospels of Math. Mark, Luke, and John were political. By the time of their canonization, they were the standard fare at Christian churches in the Mideast, Africa, Iberia, Germania, Rome, and Byzantium.

It is also not true that all others were considered heresy. They were not canonized. Some were labeled as heretical works, as they contained passages about Jesus pushing children off of cliffs and turning rocks into butterflies. The majority of the gnostic texts concern themselves with the redemptive, or Ascension orientated experience, of the main character, with Jesus being a catalyst.

For example, the gnostic texts concern themselves with gnosis, not faith, as the passage to redemption. Jesus is a catalyst to secret knowledge passed to the acolyte via a sex ritual with Sophia, the aeon of wisdom. Also, the god that created the world is evil, as matter is evil. Only spirit, or ether, is good.

The gnostic texts are not gospels because they concern themselves with the redemption of the "author", and not all of humanity. Jesus is the catalyst to the personal experience of the protagonist, not the protagonist. That is why they are not canonized.

Answer 5

The dead sea scrolls mention nothing of jesus. Get your mythology straight.
They make up books of the old testament. Mostly they are lists of goods for trade.
As for the "lost gospels" many have been dismissed as frauds (like the Shroud of turin and the James Ossuary) and more are being studied with a critical eye.

Answer 6

It should, but it won't. They won't even read them. Many of them are already translated and are on line or can be bought in book stores. Since they are not part of the canonized books it will be said that they were not inspired by god. Even though there may have been no knowledge of some of the scriptures existence at that time.

I do think it is funny how they will refuse to read these or the lost books of the bible but when you ask the question who the Nephlilm were they will tell you fallen angels. It is obvious that this theory came from the book of Enoch which is not in the protestant bible and is classified a one of the lost books of the bible, but they will quote from it to explain this scenario.

It is also obvious that a lot of the book of revelation's ideas came from the book of Enoch.

Answer 7

I think that Christianity has shifted in its acceptance that there were many sects of early Christianity. It gives Christians a better understanding of what the debate was about the leader of their sects. It also provides a historical background to which they were developed. A teacher of mine in high school explained the process as Backward's Christological Development. The Gospels chosen for the Bible were less political and more theological. I am not going to argue that politics affects or does not affect religion, but the Gospels chosen over the so called Lost Gospels is a development of who Christ is. In the first Gospel, Mark, Christ is presented as a sacrificial lamb, in Matthew He is the Messiah promised, Luke He is the wise teacher, and in John it is a complete philosophical understanding of what has transpired by Christ coming to the Earth. These four Gospels reflected the true understanding of Christ because they show the development of the followers.

From Catholic Encyclopedia:

(3) Chief Differences between Canonical and Apocryphal Gospels

From the outset, the four Gospels, the sacred character of which was thus recognized very early, differed in several respects from the numerous uncanonical Gospels which circulated during the first centuries of the Church. First of all, they commended themselves by their tone of simplicity and truthfulness, which stood in striking contrast with the trivial, absurd, or manifestly legendary character of many of those uncanonical productions. In the next place, they had an earlier origin than most of their apocryphal rivals, and indeed many of the latter productions were directly based on the canonical Gospels. A third feature in favour of our canonical records of Christ's life was the purity of their teachings, dogmatic and moral, over against the Jewish, Gnostic, or other heretical views with which not a few of the apocryphal gospels were tainted, and on account of which these unsound writings found favour among heretical bodies and, on the contrary, discredit in the eyes of Catholics. Lastly, and more particularly, the canonical Gospels were regarded as of Apostolic authority, two of them being ascribed to the Apostles St. Matthew and St. John, respectively, and two to St. Mark and St. Luke, the respective companions of St. Peter and St. Paul. Many other gospels indeed claimed Apostolic authority, but to none of them was this claim universally allowed in the early Church.

Answer 8

First of all, the gospels were not a political choice. They were chosen by the Council of Nicea because they were the most theologically sound and were actually written by people who walked with Christ. The Gnostic gospels that you refer to being rejected were done so because they were written much later than the originial gospels, they were not written by anyone that the gospel refers to, and the message is entirely different. I don't believe the Christian faith will be changed. It is Truth, and Truth is eternal.

Answer 9

If people won't even read the Bible and realize it's horse crap, they're certainly not going to read these other books.

Christians, as a group, are the most uneducated people about their own holy book ever to have lived. They just pass around myths about what the Bible says and do nothing more than read an occasional passage or two.

Answer 10

the Dead Sea Scrolls contained nothing from the New Testament and nothing mentioning
Jesus