The Book of Mary (Magdelene)?

[KarenT]

Over the holidays, there was a special on the History Channel about Mary Magdelene. It said that she was especially close to Jesus, and led to the possibility of Mary being an apostle, but because she was a woman her credibility was not as solid as the other apostles. They found a book written by Mary and claimed it to be a lost book of the bible.

That being said, my questions is: I know that the bible is the word of God inspired through man. Are there original scrolls? Like the Dead Sea Scrolls. Was the word passed down from generation to generation? I am curious on this, do any of you theologians have any answers? Who decided what books to be in the bible?

[John Tyson]

Grace and peace to you all.

The Book of Mary or "The Gospel of Mary" that you are talking about is what is considered one of the Gnostic books. Other so called "lost books" of the Gnostics that tell of Mary Magdalene are "The Gospel of Thomas," "Pistis Sophia," and "The Gospel of the Egyptians." Gnostics were heretics that rose up during the latter part of the 1st century and early 2nd century. The term "gnostic" derives from "gnosis," which means "knowledge" in Greek.

These Gnostics had varied doctrines depending upon the sect but they generally taught that anything that had to do with the flesh or the material world was evil and anything to do with the spirit was good. The doctrine was since God is spirit, He can not have anything to do with creating evil, therefore, He sent out numerous emanations of which the last was Jesus and He created the world. Others said that Jesus did not come in the flesh (remember flesh is evil) and was a phantom that appeared to be in the flesh. Others Gnostics believed that the Spirit of Christ entered into the body of Jesus at His baptism and left before the crucifixion. The resurrection of Christ was a phantom not a bodily resurrection. 1 John and the Gospel of John were written in part to counter Gnostic teachings. Part of those Gnostic teachings also taught that Mary Magdalene and Jesus were married and had children. The popular book "The Da Vince Code" uses this heresy as part of its theme. The Gnostics also had a goddess named Sophia who was considered to be equal with God. Here is how some modern Gnostics describe Sophia:

"Sophia is the Goddess of wisdom and knowledge. In Gnostic teachings, she is God's wife. She is endowed with powers equal to his; in fact, she is treated as his equal. She is his female aspect. In Gnostic principles they are one in the same. The duality of this is that she is him- yet she is separate. She is his wife- yet she is not. In some writings she is said to be the mother of Eve. She is capable of independent creation. Once again, Gnostic teachings say that God created the creature's forms, and it was Sophia that gave them the breath of life."
This heresy even goes on to say that Sophia (Wisdom) was personified in Mary Magdalene. (By the way, Sophie is name of the heroine in "The Da Vince Code" and the supposed descendant of Christ and Mary Magdalene.)

"Sophia" is the Greek word for "Wisdom." In Proverbs 1:20-33 and chapters 8 and 9 Wisdom is personified as a female. You will note the use of the pronoun "she." However, in both Greek and Hebrew "wisdom" has a feminine gender. Jesus even refers to wisdom in the feminine in Luke 7:35 "But wisdom is justified of all her children." Jesus of course in Luke 7:35 was speaking of Himself and His works or deeds. Now in 1 Cor 1:33 we find that Jesus is the wisdom of God. This personification of Wisdom is similar to the personification of Love, Light, the Word--God is Love, Jesus said, "I am the Light," the Word was God. Wisdom, she is Christ, or better, Christ He is Wisdom. Wisdom is not some female deity or feminine side of God, and certainly not Mary Magdalene.

Be wary, there are many Gnostic "lost books" floating around. Our Gospel of John and 1 John reveal to use the true nature of Christ.

God bless,
John

[kristine]

Sophia? Never heard this one before. This is really interesting. The only garbage I heard was that Jesus married Mary M.

Also heard that in history, the Kings of England claimed to be descendants of Jesus and MaryM. Hmmm. If that is the case, you guys better watch out because I am a direct descendant of a few of these kings which would make me a direct descendant of Jesus. Yeh, right, that's the ticket.:pound

Seriously, there is a lot of strange stuff in print! Heresy is definitely the word to describe it!

[seeker42]

Good Job on that post John Tyson. It also helps to explain the groundwork for how the reconciliation of Sophia and Aphrodite/Diana in the ancient greek world would lead to the wrong view of Mary (mother of Jesus) as deserving worship. (only Jesus deserves worship – [for newbies] ).

To answer some of the questions asked here, Bibles were passed down and were recopied. Today we have thousands of copies of the Bible, and one portion of the Gospel of John dates to 60 A.D. We know that we have accurate copies of the Bible today, because they match the contents of the Bibles that were much older.

The Canon of the New Testament was originally fixed by the Apostles and Disciples as they helped the new Churches in the first century grow. The Final Canon of the New Testament was fixed after John the Apostle wrote the book of Revelation when he was on the Island of Patmos. He outlived the rest of the Apostles and communicated to the churches of his day – which books to leave in and which books to omit.

What almost all of those churches had in common were the 27 books of the New Testament. They were the canon. 300 years later, church councils did agree with them. But the New Testament canon had been fixed long before then.


Here are some threads here that may help a bit more on the subject of the Canon of the Bible:

http://www.rr-bb.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=1390866&highlight=canon#post1390866


http://www.rr-bb.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=1103198&highlight=canon#post1103198

Also, you may want to check out a good book called “The Dead Sea Scrolls by
Randall Price” (there are many misleading books on this topic of the Dead sea scrolls)

Not always, but often, many specials on Cable will usually be attempting to add or to alter the contents of the Bible, by proposing New theories. Usually, those theories are advanced by academics who are trying to advance their own careers – and attack Christanity at the same time.

It is important to read the Bible (the Gospel of John in the New Testament is a good place to start). The more you know and read the Bible, the more you will learn to tell when you are receiving accurate information about it, or when someone may be leading you astray.


Seeker
:):

[KarenT]

Thanks for all this information. I seem to have had my questions answered. :thumb

[thornrose]

Thank you John Tyson and Seeker 42, a new understanding. I didn't know that the canon was started by the apostles, I somehow had the idea that was done by, oh it was early catholicism and one of the Roman rulers? Constantine! Always so much more to learn and study. It would be great to think that translation had stood the test of time, I have great faith when I read the Word that I am reading what they wrote.

I watched that special as well. While I didn't want to go out and get the book on Mary being an apostle, I someday would like to study the woman of the Bible. I don't know how researchers know that Peter's pride would have held Mary back, etc. It's obvious that God's word has stood the test of time, if it is important for us to know, I'm sure God would have revealed that and had it included in the Word. I may be wrong though.

I think 'Mary' was a popular name back in those days also, there are several different ones in the Gospels and it's important to seperate them and their place in the Word. Jesus surrounded himself with certain people, I'm sure they were His good friends and probably had many amazing things to say about Him and their experiences. And from a woman's perspective, I'm sure that it was heartbreaking to see Him on the cross, exciting to see Him heal the sick, and curious to His mother after He started His ministry, and then to see Him resurrected! I did like the fact that they played down the fact that Mary M. has always been portrayed as a prostitue, I believe she was delivered from mental illness.

We have to be careful though, to follow Jesus. I think all the OT and NT people would say that in one accord. They are definitely our models for faith and submission.

[RedMGT]

Originally posted by thornrose
...I think 'Mary' was a popular name back in those days also, there are several different ones in the Gospels and it's important to seperate them and their place in the Word....

I did like the fact that they played down the fact that Mary M. has always been portrayed as a prostitue, I believe she was delivered from mental illness.


I believe Mary Magdalene was never portrayed in the bible as a prostitute. Please forgive me if I sound cynical but do you have scripture to back up this claim about Mary M.?

Now there is scripture that says there were seven demons in her but nothing about being a prostitute.

(CEV) Mar 16:9 Very early on the first day of the week, after Jesus had risen to life, he appeared to Mary Magdalene. Earlier he had forced seven demons out of her.

[thornrose]

Well, RedMgt, I have heard this said of her before, I believe she has been portrayed by hollywood (and please, I don't go by their words) and so for people who do not study scripture, this I think is what is thought. Of course, we now have Him married to her too. Oi! It was a small part of the documentary, and I know many people watch the Hisory ch don't necessarily study scripture or are Christians and I was glad they didn't allow that to be said of her (not that all can't be delivered). They did mention the deliverance from mental illness or demons, often that's what it is.

I wasn't quoting scripture, I was talking about the documentary. Thanks for pointing that out though!

[spadart]

A good bible study on Mary Magdalene is called Mad Mary by Liz Curtis Higgs. She dispells the myth of Mary being a prostitute and explores what type of relationship she may have had with Him through the language used to describe her in the gospels. I really enjoyed it.

[John Tyson]

Grace and peace to you all.

How Mary Magdalene got her reputation as having been a fallen woman is through "guilt by association." In Luke 8:2 we are introduced to Mary Magdalene. In the verses immediately preceding (Luke 7:40-50) is the story of a woman who Jesus forgave of her sins after she had washed the feet of Jesus with her tears and wiped His feet with her hair. Wrongly, Mary Magdalene has been assumed to have been that women who "Her sins, which are many...Lk 7:47."

God bless,
John

[S Spade]

That's one I've never heard of...

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A good article about the genreal selection of the NT

http://www.tektonics.org/tekton_02_01_01.html

[thornrose]

Thank you very much for the book idea spadart.