Hello.

Not everyone looks at a profile page. Might I suggest you copy the info there and put it in a post that shows up here. You should include the link you listed there for the church that you lead.
 
Tim Goodwin said:
[Thomas] is also the name of one of my favorite gospels.
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Hah! It is my favorite gospel @Tim Goodwin ! I feel the others while having a good message in some areas don't have quite the punch. Gospel of Thomas can be somewhat cryptic though, particularly unless one has already has had a glimpse of what Jesus speaks on. Have you?
 
Vasu Devan said:
Hah! It is my favorite gospel @Tim Goodwin ! I feel the others while having a good message in some areas don't have quite the punch. Gospel of Thomas can be somewhat cryptic though, particularly unless one has already has had a glimpse of what Jesus speaks on. Have you?
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As I noted above, go to his forum profile page and you will find the link to the religious organization he heads up.
 
Vasu Devan said:
Hah! It is my favorite gospel @Tim Goodwin ! I feel the others while having a good message in some areas don't have quite the punch. Gospel of Thomas can be somewhat cryptic though, particularly unless one has already has had a glimpse of what Jesus speaks on. Have you?
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Yes, Thomas or T’oma the Twin, called Didymus. I see the parallels with Miryam of Magdala, called the Tower and Mattai the tax collector, called the Scribe. These three are what I read and study most often.
 
Of all the books in the Bible that quote Jesus...The gospel of Thomas, which isn't in the Bible, is a book that is referenced as to having the highest number or highest percentage of quotes that are most likely the Words of Jesus or in the nature of jesus's words. But Alas, I get that information from the 5 Gospels, a book which our Thomas doesn't connect doesn't consider worthy
 
wil said:
I must be a noob! I cannot find the link about the church on @Tim Goodwin profile page!
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So everyone can read the profile statement here it is. Sorry for any confusion: "I'm a husband, a dad, a grandpa, a man who has spent his life trying to walk where God leads. The Witnessian Testament — the gospels of T’oma, Mattai, and Miryam — are at the center of everything I teach and write. Whenever I prepare a message, I always pray first, because if the Spirit and our Lord Jesus are not leading, then it isn’t worth writing." Again, sorry for the confusion.
 
wil said:
Of all the books in the Bible that quote Jesus...The gospel of Thomas, which isn't in the Bible, is a book that is referenced as to having the highest number or highest percentage of quotes that are most likely the Words of Jesus or in the nature of jesus's words.
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By the Jesus Seminar, which has been thoroughly discredited.

I have nothing against the Gospel of Thomas, rather I'm against poor methodology.

Subsequent scholarship acknowledges the very early materials, but also points out the Synoptic parallels which seems to indicate the author of Thomas had the Synoptics at his side, and maybe even regarded as a gospel to be read alongside of, and 'unlocked' by, the Synoptics.

Whatever, the reckoning is the earliest form was Syrian, which is lost, then later Greek fragments, and then the 'complete' Coptic text, which was edited and redacted by the Desert monastic community.

wil said:
But Alas, I get that information from the 5 Gospels, a book which our Thomas doesn't connect doesn't consider worthy
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For well-known reasons, not least it's very poor, self-serving methodology.
 
The Gospel of Thomas has always drawn both praise and suspicion, and much of the debate comes down to how one chooses to weigh the evidence. It is true that the Jesus Seminar once leaned heavily on Thomas, and it is also true that their methodology has been widely criticized. But Thomas does not rise or fall with the fortunes of the Jesus Seminar. Its witness stands on its own. When we listen to its sayings, we hear a voice that is startlingly close to Jesus’ known words—short, sharp, and rich in paradox. Whether it came through Syrian beginnings, Greek fragments, or a Coptic hand in the desert, the testimony itself rings with the same living truth we find in Matthew and in the other witnesses.

And there is good reason to believe that Thomas, called the twin, may not only have been one of the disciples but also a brother of Jesus, raised in the same household and shaped by the same life. If this is so, then his closeness to Jesus was deeper than most, and the words attributed to him carry the weight of one who saw, heard, and walked with the teacher every day. That makes his testimony among the oldest and most direct that survives. Scholars can argue about dependence, redaction, and order, and such studies have their place. They may prefer to speak of “the author of Thomas” as if Thomas himself could not have written, but this is no different from how they also speak of Matthew or John. Whether the words were preserved by his own hand or by his circle, they remain his witness.

The harder truth is that Thomas was not excluded because his words were false, but because they did not fit neatly into the structures of organized religion that grew after. His sayings resist systems and creeds; they push back against tight order and human power. That is precisely why the early church, seeking uniformity, found no place for him. But the measure of a witness is not in the method of those who study it, nor in the neatness of its textual history, nor in the acceptance of religious institutions. The measure is in whether it bears the life of Jesus’ voice. And on this point, Thomas speaks with clarity. Whatever critics may say about poor methodology, the gospel itself is not poor; it is rich with testimony. We read it not as a tool to be unlocked by others, but as a living witness alongside the voices of Mattai and Miryam, each confirming the other, each calling us deeper into the truth of Christ.
 
Tim Goodwin said:
And there is good reason to believe that Thomas, called the twin, may not only have been one of the disciples but also a brother of Jesus, raised in the same household and shaped by the same life.
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I'm not sure on what basis one can make that claim?

Tim Goodwin said:
The harder truth is that Thomas was not excluded because his words were false, but because they did not fit neatly into the structures of organized religion that grew after.
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To be fair, Thomas was out of favour long before the Church existed as a single, organised entity.

In its day it was one strand or current of 'the Jesus Tradition' among many. The church had yet to emerge as an organised or authoritative entity.
 
Tim Goodwin said:
Yes, Thomas or T’oma the Twin, called Didymus. I see the parallels with Miryam of Magdala, called the Tower and Mattai the tax collector, called the Scribe. These three are what I read and study most often.
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Hello. I read your intro post, where you express your preference for the accounts attributed to Thomas, Matthew and... Mirjam. The first two are on my shortlist of Gospel accounts. But there are several accounts attributed to a Mary = Mirjam, but none of them made it on my longlist of interesting accounts. Maybe you can start a thread on it.
 
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