The Gospel of Thomas

A couple of weeks ago and friend and I went to a lecture by Elaine Pagels on the Gospel of Thomas. Pagels is a leading scholar of the Gospel of Thomas. It was a very enlightening lecture. The Gospel of Thomas more or less says that to get to know God all you have to do is look around you. God is in everything and God is inside you.

Thomas 3 - Jesus said "If those who lead you say to you, 'See, the kingdom is in the sky,' then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say, 'It is the sea,' then the fish will precede you. Rather the kingdom is inside you, and it is outside of you. When you come to know yourselves, then you will become known, and you will realize that it is you who are the sons of the living father. But if you will not know yourselves, you will dwell in poverty and it is you who are that poverty."

This verse is pretty radical thinking. If God can be found inside of you and all around you, and that we are all the sons of the living father, do we need Jesus? The author of the Gospel of Thomas seems to be saying that Jesus was a mortal man and that we are all sons of God.

Thomas 70 - Jesus said, "That which you have will save you if you bring it forth from yourselves. That which you do not have within you will kill you if you do not have it within you."

Faith and the divine power are inside of you. You have to look and find. The way to be saved and to know God is to find it inside of you.

Thomas 77 - Jesus said, "It is I who am the light which is above them all. It is I who am the all. From me did the all come forth, and unto me did the all extend. Split a piece of wood, and I am there. Lift up a stone, and you will find me there."

Here Jesus is saying that he is the Light of the World but that light is everywhere. Look under a stone and what do you find? The Light of the World, God. From Jesus, i.e. God, did everything come (the Light). Jesus was at the beginning and he is here now, in and around everything.

Thomas 113 - His disciples said to him, "When will the kingdom come?" Jesus said, "It will not come by waiting for it. It will not be a matter of saying 'here it is' or 'there it is.' Rather, the kingdom of the father is spread out upon the earth, and men do not see it."

Again Jesus is saying that God and the kingdom of God is already here on earth. Waiting for the kingdom to come is fruitless. It is already here but we are too blind to see it.

The author of the Gospel of Thomas is saying that access to God is through your own actions and experiences. You don't need Jesus or the Church to find God and the divine. The Good News is not only about Jesus but also you and I. We are all sons of the living father. We are all divine. We are all like God.

This idea, that God is inside of us and all around us, and that we can know God on our own, must have been quite threatening to the early Christian church. If the populace could know God on there own, why would they need the church and the church leaders? It is for this reason that many of the early Christian writings were deemed heretical and burned. The early church didn't want anything suggesting there was a different way to believe than what they were preaching.

Thankfully, the Coptic monks in Egypt refused to obey the order to burn the "heretical texts". It is through their actions that these texts are still in existence and are being studied. A wealth of new ideas and knowledge about early Christianity is coming to light because of these monks. The monks should be connsidered heroes for their actions.

Personally I enjoy reading about and learning about these texts. It gives me a new perspective on Christianity and spirituality that is not available in the mainstream churches. I wish some of the thoughts and ideas expressed by these early Christian writers would find their way into the mainstream. I doubt that will happen. The church today, as in the past, will do what it can to keep its grip on power. If we can find our way to God without the church, the church would cease to exist. No church will let that happen.

I think modern Christianity needs a shake up. I think modern Christianity is a serious state of malaise and has the doldrums. The Church has become stagnant. There have been no new ideas about God and Jesus for 1700 years. 1700 years ago at the meeting in Nicea all dissent in the western Church was crushed. Instead of 50 or so additional writings and Gospels added to the Bible to create the New Testament, a paltry 4 Gospel were added. Now these other writings that never made are coming to light.

These writings could go a long ways towards shaking up Christianity. Many people, I believe, are like myself. We are dissatisfied with current religious teaching. We have a hard time feeling like we belong. We don't feel connected to the church. The Gospel of Thomas gives us a new way to think about God and spirituality. I believe if the Church wants to gain and keep membership, the Church needs to go outside of accepted beliefs and teachings and explore other points of view.