cracking the da vinci code

That's one of ths issues in the book. It's not that He hid it so much, it's that the evidence of it was erased by "The Church".

 

I think it's because a lot of Christians don't have a good grasp on what they believe, and are easily manipulated. It's a philosophy of fear, to be sure, but not totally without merit. The bad part is that too many religious people place blind faith into the words of only a handful of ordinary people, or even one ordinary person, instead of looking at the big picture and looking at as much evidence as they can find.

I quote Harry Anderson: "The idea is to keep an open mind, but not so open that your brains fall out."

There are people out there who will believe anything they read or anything they hear at face value if it has Jesus or God in it.

 

Correct, and that's tragic, because that usually leaves their faith about an inch thick and a mile wide. There's not much there to root it in daily life -- no application. Actually in some of those cases, I think a case could be made that they're treating the Bible like an idol instead of what it was meant to be.

 

I'm not saying I'm buying into everything Brown's book is suggesting, but given the fact that all the Gospels were written AFTER Paul became significant in the Early Church has always kept me open to possibilities.

 

who says HE hid it? he didn't write the bible, others did... and still others determined what books to call "the bible." you'd have to believe that somebody wanted that information removed for some reason, so somebody in the equation would be less than what you'd like them to be, for sure.

i'm curious what does jesus say about women in general? maybe part of his radical teachings were that women were equals.


edit: didn't see page 2.

 

This is fact??????? I would agree with "the earliest known copies" but "all the Gospels"?

 

The earliest book of the New Testament is Paul's 1st letter to the Thessalonians.

 

That's the point I was making, though. Why would anyone, including the church want to remove it? Paul taught often about marriage and the roles of men and women in his letters. It only follows that Jesus' teachings would be even more coveted by Christians. Doesn't make sense to edit them out, if they existed.

Good question. I'll research this and get back to you.

 

it would make perfect sense if they were simply using the popularity of jesus to serve their own purposes.

 

I'm not up enough on Paul's teachings to comment on what you say there HB....BUT...

Speaking strictly in terms of motivation? The church - run by men and only men - had plenty of motivation for removing any reference of a wife of Jesus. Especially if Jesus wanted His wife to continue His ministry. She would be a threat to their power. This is also in the book.

I'm guessing where you will get ticked at this book is over Paul. Can't remember enough about the book to be sure though (I read this book a while back).

Edit: This time I guess I'm a little late.