#thingsthatbugme

Okay, so I sometimes watch shows (or read articles) about "lost" scriptures- old texts of a Jewish/Christian religious nature that are not recognized as canon- because I haven't taken the time to really read any of them myself, and I'm curious as to what insights people have about them (and to hear what people who may not know about them are being told); what I hear/read often frustrates me. [Edit: I should note that while I haven't read these books themselves, I have read an awful lot ABOUT them] What frustrates me is that whenever Gnostic gospels are mentioned, particularly the Gospel of Mary, the conversation for why these books were rejected by canonizers is always political: "Oh, these books didn't help maintain the power of the church..." "Oh, this book was rejected to put down women..." Stuff like that. And those may be valid points, they may have been contributing factors.  But I think it does a disservice to ignore the very significant theological differences. Gospels referred to as "Gnostic," which virtually all of these "lost" books are, share certain traits in common that go against the theological grain of the four gospels that WERE accepted. Inherent in many Gnostic schools of thought is the idea that the material world is evil, a prison made by an evil god-being to imprison the human soul and elsave it (which actually had interest parallels with Scientology- a very Gnostic organization now that I think of it).  This is not an idea we see in the canon gospels, though I don't think it could be said to go against it either. The important difference, though, is that in Gnostic theology the way that you escape this prison is through a sacred wisdom brought to Earth by a benevolent divine messenger. Now, you might say "Okay, so the divine messenger is Jesus; what's the problem?" The problem is that since the material world is evil, the divine messenger cannot actually become part of it.  Jesus can't be a human, just someone wearing the illusion of being human, tearing apart the canonical view of the incarnation. But more importantly, to my mind, is that Gnosticism destroys the message of Christianity.  The message of Christianity, as presented in canon, is that salvation isn't about what YOU do, it's about what GOD does. Gnosticism, on the other hand, puts it back on you.  Doesn't matter who you are inside, if you don't know THE SECRET, you're screwed. Now, which idea a person prefers is actually immaterial to my point.  My point is that the theology of these books is incompatible with canon. Their rejections was not solely the political agenda of a bunch of patriarchal old men.

What is up with some of these names for colors? Seriously how does a person come up with an idea for a kitten grey colored shirt?

Me: Well I'm not you