*Why* is the Gospel of Thomas "garbage"?

Question

An earlier question asked the opinions of Christians regarding the Thomas gospel, and that was one response.

If you are Christian, and do not consider the Thomas gospel part of Christian holy writ, why not?

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http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AhphIxHHkSeLGyeqhUIKE7zsy6IX?qid=20061228150927AA3291v&show=7#profile-info-4744476ffb611bd3f6f08d4c9aa458a4aa

Answer 1

I'm not Christian and I agree that the book is not garbage. The book is part of the Gnostic writings, found in the Nag Hammadi Library. The book is believe to date to the second half of the first century, so it is about the same age as the canonical New Testament.

I posted this on that answer:
The Gospel of Thomas is a Gnostic text, it is not recognized by any Christian church that I'm aware of. It's ultimate meaning:
"In order to return to one's origin, the disciple is to become separate from the world by 'stripping off' the fleshly garment and 'passing by' the present corruptible existence; then the disciple can experience the new world, the kingdom of of light, peace, and life." -- Introduction to the Gospel of Thomas by Helmut Koester from the book below.

Being it was Gnostic, it was, in theory, to be secret, available to the Gnostics alone which may account for it not being included, though it is likely the early Church, at least in the 4th Century AD, was aware of it. Your quote (v. 114) reflects the idea posted by Koester above, and such an idea may have been supportive of the idea that Jesus was not human, completely spirit, which was viewed as a heresy by the church (Jesus was half-man, half-God). This idea would still be rejected by most Christian churches today.

The gospel was an important find to religious scholars, because it supports (but is not in and of itself) the concept of the lost gospel of Q, a gospel likely used by the writers of Matthew and Luke when they created their gospel (it is pretty apparent that they also used Mark as a narrative). Q was likely a sayings gospel, and none were previously known; Thomas supports such a gospel existing.

Answer 2

The Gospel of Thomas is a gnostic-inspired "gospel" written interior the 2nd or 0.33 century, long after the canonical gospels have been penned. In different words, that's a pretend, it would not placed across the Gospel message (no longer in simple terms contradicts something in Paul's writings). Whoever you study that grow to be suggesting it reflects the actual doctrines of Christ are charlatans.

Answer 3

I also saw that question asked so I just found the book of Thomas on the web and read a few different translations of it. It is quite a disjointed piece of literature. Basically it says that heaven and hell are right here on the earth. At the end it says that woman are not destined for heaven unless they are turned into men..That is about it. I am not a Christian so I bow out on the last question you asked. Have a great evening! PS If you want to read it,it is not very long: http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/

Answer 4

There were several issues. For one, it's very brief, only 114 verses. It has almost no narrative, just a collection of "Jesus said" proverbs. As such, it feels disjointed and hard to follow, more like the Tao Te Ching than "good news".

Of course, most important is what is said in Thomas. Many verses are similar to those found in the synoptic gospels, but not an exact match (or they come to an unexpected answer). Many can only be understood symbolically and the gospel itself acknowledges its esoteric bent. The goal of "salvation" is not acknowledgement of the death and resurrection of Jesus but more like coming to a mystical awareness of the ubiquitous presence of God. Perhaps the most famous passage is in verse 77: "Jesus said:...'Split a piece of wood; I am there. Lift up the stone, and you will find me there.' "

This essential attitude might support a personal quest for enlightenment but it doesn't do much to foster community. Thomas is not about feeding the poor or comforting the afflicted. It's more about transcending this vale of tears through superior insight. It's hard to build a church on that. Still, I find parts of Thomas inspiring at times, in spite of its shortcomings.

Incidentally, there is at least one ancient rumor that John made his "Thomas" unobservant and argumentative in order to discredit the gospel with his name.

Answer 5

I'm not a Christian, and I'm not a proponent for the accuracy of any of the Gospels, but the Gospel of Thomas was written even later than the other Gospels that were included in the Christian Bible, thus it is an even less reliable source to anything of historical value.

Answer 6

it was never canonised with the other books contained in the new testament section of the bible. the book(gospel of thomas) has less credibility for various reasons. when the canon was defined by the church many books were not cosidered inspired and some came 200 years after the canon of the bible took place and thus to most christians although they maybe interesting they are not believed to be inspired or used for reflection or any christian related practice.

Answer 7

Because the Eccumenical Councils decided that it shouldn't be included in the New Testament Canon. If it's good enough for a couple hundred dead white guys who got together and decided things hundreds of years after anyone who ever met Jesus was long dead, then it's good enough for me.

Also, Thomas has Jesus coming down really hard on rich people, and on the practice of charging interest, among other things. I don't think that's what Christianity is all about. Or at least, I don't want that to be what Christianity is all about, because I'd like to think I'm going to heaven, but I don't want to start giving money to poor people.

Answer 8

It has a lower level of early witnesses than most of the canon. There are only a handful of quotes which do not occur in the canon so there is little "need" for it to be accepted. It MAY be authentic, but we have no way of evaluating its authenticity.

Answer 9

Because we only need 4 gospels , 4 in the Word of God stands for - To the ends of the earth NSEW this is how far the Good news will travel before the return of Jesus Christ , The book of Isiah is considered the 5th Gospel if you will. because it has in it more information about the coming of the Lord than all the other Books combined .

I never read theGospel of Thomas but he does have the bad rap of being a doudter , The canan of Scripture is Closed/Thanks for asking a good question

Answer 10

It is merely a collection of sayings with no context attached. This has the effect of rendering them meaningless. It would be like me saying:

"John said, 'Walk to the left and you will find happiness.'"

Without any context or timeframe the statement is meaningless. A really good example is when I hear people say "The bible even says 'there is no God.'" It actually does say that. But if you put it in context it actually says, "A fool in his heart says there is no God."

Context is everything. Thomas contains ZERO context.