Banned from the Bible

[Immortal4life]

Banned from the Bible

Here is an article about Lost Gospels, and the History channel documentary called "Banned from the Bible". It shows how many texts, including Gospels attributed to or about Disciples of Jesus, have been banned and hidden from the people by the church and the priests-
dead sea scrolls, lost Atlantis, Edgar Cayce all connected?

The History Channel Special, Banned from the Bible-

 

Banned from the Bible II -

 

Edited January 18, 2013 by Immortal4life

[Immortal4life]

More from the History Channel-

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/banned-from-the-bible-73381847.html

NEW YORK, Dec. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- When Jesus was a boy, did he kill

another child? Was Mary Magdalene a prostitute -- or an apostle? Did Cain

commit incest? Will there be an apocalypse or is this God's trick to scare us?

The answers to these questions aren't found in the Bible as we know it, but

they exist in scriptures banned when powerful leaders deemed them unacceptable

for reasons both political and religious. BANNED FROM THE BIBLE reveals some

of these alternative tales and examines why they were "too hot for

Christianity." The two-hour world premiere BANNED FROM THE BIBLE airs on

Christmas, Thursday, December 25 at 9 pm ET/PT.

The Life of Adam and Eve, The Book of Enoch, The Book of Jubilees, The

Infancy Gospel of Thomas, The Gospel of Mary, The Apocalypse of Peter...these

are just a few of the books that were left out of the Bible. The reasons why

they were excluded provide astonishing insight into the concerns of church

leaders and scholars responsible for spreading the faith an illuminating look

at early Christian and religious history.

One hundred and fifty years after the birth of Jesus, a man named Marcion

decided that a Christian Bible was needed to replace the Hebrew Bible. Church

leaders opposed Marcion's banning of the Hebrew books, but they did agree that

Christians should have a Bible to call their own. After Constantine the Great

converted to Christianity in the 4th century, a serious effort was made to

compile a Christian Bible, one that included both the Hebrew scriptures (the

Old Testament) and Christian manuscripts (the New Testament). It took another

40 years before a final list of New Testament books was officially canonized

by the church. Many of the most popular were excluded. Upon examination today,

many of these writings attempt to resolve inconsistencies and questions raised

from reading the Bible.

BANNED FROM THE BIBLE examines the stories in some of these books, how

they were rediscovered and what they might mean to us today. Included are:

 

* The Life of Adam and Eve: A more detailed story of creation than what

is found in Genesis, this book includes jealous angels, a more devious

serpent, and more information about Eve's fall from grace from her

point of view.

 

* The Book of Jubilees: This obscure Hebrew text offers an answer to a

question that has vexed Christians for centuries -- if Adam and Eve

only had sons, and if no other humans existed, who gave birth to

humanity? This text reveals that Adam and Eve had nine children and

that Cain's younger sister Awan became his wife. The idea that humanity

was born of incest would have been radical -- and heretical.

 

* The Book of Enoch: This scripture reads like a modern day action film,

telling of fallen angels, bloodthirsty giants, an earth that had become

home to an increasingly flawed humanity and a divine judgment to be

rendered though denied a place in most Western Bibles; it has been used

for centuries by Ethiopian Christians. Large portions of this book were

found as part of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

 

* The Infancy Gospel of Thomas: The only book that deals with young

Jesus, it indicates that Jesus was a strong-willed child who one

historian describes as "Dennis the Menace as God." The book reveals

that at age five, Jesus may have killed a boy by pushing push him off a

roof and then resurrected him. Perhaps too disturbing for inclusion in

the Bible, this book seems to contain traditions, also known to the

Koran.

 

* The Protovangelion of James: This book offers details of the life of

the Virgin Mary, her parents, her birth and her youth, stories not

found in the New Testament Gospels but was beloved by many early

Christians.

 

* The Gospel of Mary: This Gnostic Text reveals that Mary Magdalene may

have been an apostle, perhaps even a leading apostle, not a prostitute.

While some texts in the Bible seem to deny women a voice in the

Christian community, this texts helps spark the debate about the role

of women in the church.

 

* The Gospel of Nicodemus: This is the story of Jesus's trial and

execution and his descent into hell. According to this gospel the

Savior asserts his power over Satan by freeing patriarchs such as Adam,

Isaiah and Abraham from Hell.

 

* The Apocalypse of Peter: Peter's apocalypse suggests that there is a

way out of punishment for evildoers and implies that the threat of the

apocalypse is a way for God to scare people into living a moral life,

and committing fewer sins.

 

These books are just a sampling of the hundreds that were never included

in the Holy Bible. Perhaps there are more to be found. Whether one believes

these alternative stories or not, they do provide an interesting perspective

of the religious culture and propensities of the time.

BANNED FROM THE BIBLE features commentary from Bible experts and

historians including Marvin Meyer, PhD, Professor of Bible and Christian

Studies, Chapman University; Daniel Smith-Christopher, Ph.D, Professor of

Religious Studies, Bluffton College; Anthea Butler, Ph.D, Department of

Theological Studies Loyola Marymount University; and John Dominic Crossan,

Ph.D, Professor Emeritus, DePaul University.

Margaret Kim is the executive producer of BANNED FROM THE BIBLE for The

History Channel. BANNED FROM THE BIBLE was produced for The History Channel by

FilmRoos.

Now reaching 86 million Nielsen subscribers, The History Channel,®

"Where the Past Comes Alive,®" brings history to life in a powerful manner

and provides an inviting place where people experience history personally and

connect their own lives to the great lives and events of the past. The History

Channel received the prestigious Governor's award from the Academy of

Television Arts & Sciences for the network's "Save Our History®" campaign

dedicated to historic preservation and history education. The History Channel

web site is located at www.HistoryChannel.com.

 

 

 

SOURCE The History Channel

Edited March 6, 2012 by Immortal4life

[Aetherous]

* The Book of Enoch: This scripture reads like a modern day action film,

telling of fallen angels, bloodthirsty giants, an earth that had become

home to an increasingly flawed humanity and a divine judgment to be

rendered though denied a place in most Western Bibles; it has been used

for centuries by Ethiopian Christians. Large portions of this book were

found as part of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

 

I don't know about the authenticity of the other books, but Jesus seems to reference this one a lot in the NT.

[Immortal4life]

Cool, when does he?

[Aetherous]

For instance, using the term "Son of Man".

[Creation]

For instance, using the term "Son of Man".

That phrase appears in the book of Daniel. But the Book of Enoch was quoted in the epistle of Jude, iirc.

 

There were lots of books that did not make it into the Bible but were nevertheless influential or highly regarded by the Catholic Chruch Fathers, or even the authors of the New Testament themselves. The Book of Enoch is one. It was never "banned". Actually, it is accepted as canonical in by Ethiopian Christians.

 

"Lost Christianities" is a very interesting subject. I really wish people would treat it with more respect, rather than as just so much sensationalism.

Edited March 7, 2012 by Creation

[Immortal4life]

Many were banned however, and in some cases the followers of those texts were persecuted

[Jetsun]

"Lost Christianities" is a very interesting subject. I really wish people would treat it with more respect, rather than as just so much sensationalism.

 

Yeah I have been researching recently about branches of Eastern Orthodox Christianity and the practises of the Desert Fathers like Hesychasm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hesychasm which has similarities to Buddhism where the monks enter solitude and do a number of psychosomatic exercises such as repeating Christian mantras like the Jesus Prayer while maintaining "watchfulness", with the aim of bringing your mind out of your senses into your heart, which can result with an experience of "uncreated light" which they identify with the holy spirit.

 

The text which explains a lot of this approach is the Philokalia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philokalia . Although this form of inner Christianity which can lead to real inner development isn't lost as it has been preserved in Mount Athos for hundreds of years it isn't that publicly well known.

[orb]

Yeah I have been researching recently about branches of Eastern Orthodox Christianity and the practises of the Desert Fathers like Hesychasm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hesychasm which has similarities to Buddhism where the monks enter solitude and do a number of psychosomatic exercises such as repeating Christian mantras like the Jesus Prayer while maintaining "watchfulness", with the aim of bringing your mind out of your senses into your heart, which can result with an experience of "uncreated light" which they identify with the holy spirit.

 

The text which explains a lot of this approach is the Philokalia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philokalia . Although this form of inner Christianity which can lead to real inner development isn't lost as it has been preserved in Mount Athos for hundreds of years it isn't that publicly well known.

 

It's actually quite a mainstream practice in the Orthodox Monasteries in Romania, Russia, Serbia, Bulgaria. I think all the Orthodox priests have to study Philokalia and in Eastern Europe you can find them in any public Library it is part of their religion. What is interesting is that when they say the prayer of the heart - they associate it with a breathing exercise. They do the same with their prostrations which is very similar to some buddhist/yoga/mantra practices....

[Jetsun]

It's actually quite a mainstream practice in the Orthodox Monasteries in Romania, Russia, Serbia, Bulgaria. I think all the Orthodox priests have to study Philokalia and in Eastern Europe you can find them in any public Library it is part of their religion. What is interesting is that when they say the prayer of the heart - they associate it with a breathing exercise. They do the same with their prostrations which is very similar to some buddhist/yoga/mantra practices....

 

I didn't know that I thought it was more secretive, I guess the Eastern Orthodox Church doesn't have to tow the line to the Vatican which allows genuine religion to remain active in some places. It would be interesting to study the benefit such Christian practises have to see if they compare to things like Qigong and Buddhist methods, I know scientists have done some studies on the monks of Mount Athos and they found that the monks had great levels of health and almost no cancer, but they put it down to diet rather than the purification exercises they do.

 

There are some similarities to Taoist methods in some of their practises so I wonder if it all originates from the same source, for example some of the monks were nicknamed "navel gazers" which suggests they do some meditation method with the dan tien, plus some of the prayer postures look a bit like Zhan Zhuang but they usually repeat a mantra like "lord have mercy" while doing them.

[Immortal4life]

[orb]

I didn't know that I thought it was more secretive, I guess the Eastern Orthodox Church doesn't have to tow the line to the Vatican which allows genuine religion to remain active in some places. It would be interesting to study the benefit such Christian practises have to see if they compare to things like Qigong and Buddhist methods, I know scientists have done some studies on the monks of Mount Athos and they found that the monks had great levels of health and almost no cancer, but they put it down to diet rather than the purification exercises they do.

 

There are some similarities to Taoist methods in some of their practises so I wonder if it all originates from the same source, for example some of the monks were nicknamed "navel gazers" which suggests they do some meditation method with the dan tien, plus some of the prayer postures look a bit like Zhan Zhuang but they usually repeat a mantra like "lord have mercy" while doing them.

 

IMO it doesn't matter what are you saying there during the meditation, it's mostly to dedicate yourself to the specific exercise and to push it to very high records without damaging yourself (I'm refering to the idea of super efforts of course). One big difference between the Taoist and the Eastern Orthodox practices is that although often a dedicated hesychast would achieve an extraordinary ability - let's say one-touch healing, levitation etc... - it was often disregarded from the start and the mental focus was on "Jesus" or "God" whatever form his knowledge might take achieved through this constant 24/7 prayer(or mantra if I may) and a lot of fasting and solitude - while the taoists seem to have taken these abilities and explore them to the max and develop them into a science. Tibetan monks actually have very similar type of approach but they might take it further to a total distruction of the body while in Christianity - that would be considered a big sin.

[orb]

Here's one of these monks from Romania - just read between the lines and it's pretty easy to understand through the christian dogma the actual state that he is describing. It's interesting that he describes it as a failed personal experience, but you can at least understand the amount of effort and dedication required for this kind of practice.

 

 

Edited March 12, 2012 by orb

[orb]

This dude is a coptic monk - which is really very close to the Eastern Orthodox method it's just being preserved in Egypt.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-a9MaJXx0xk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbXzEqWUyug

Edited March 12, 2012 by orb

[Immortal4life]

Cool, I'll have to check those videos out.

[mat black]

[.broken.]

Yeah I have been researching recently about branches of Eastern Orthodox Christianity and the practises of the Desert Fathers like Hesychasm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hesychasm which has similarities to Buddhism where the monks enter solitude and do a number of psychosomatic exercises such as repeating Christian mantras like the Jesus Prayer while maintaining "watchfulness", with the aim of bringing your mind out of your senses into your heart, which can result with an experience of "uncreated light" which they identify with the holy spirit.

 

The text which explains a lot of this approach is the Philokalia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philokalia . Although this form of inner Christianity which can lead to real inner development isn't lost as it has been preserved in Mount Athos for hundreds of years it isn't that publicly well known.

 

Glad I'm not alone. I've got two translations of the texts attributed to the Desert Fathers and get so much out of them. I try to read a little every day There's a lot in it about opening the heart, living in silence, not paying much attention to the slideshow of spiritual progress, killing the ego, strengthening the will/submission to God's, emptying the mind, etc.

 

Thank you also for the links. It has brought this to my attention http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prayer_of_the_Heart.

 

May peace be with you

James

Edited March 14, 2012 by .broken.