Jesus and Thomas twin theory?

by Anony Mous 9 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  Anony Mous

  In light of the recent attack on Indian JWs I did some research about Christianity in India and found out that India has a long history of Christian influence, and not, like many of us probably believed, brought by the British, rather India has had Christians for 2000 years.

  Matter of fact, they may be similar length and claim to the ‘original’ Christians only equal by the Roman (European), Syrian (Middle Eastern) and Ethiopian (African) Christians. The story goes that Judas Thomas (aka doubting Thomas or Dydimus) (literally translated: Dydimus = Twin (Greek) and Tomas = Twin (Aramaic)), the twin brother of Jesus travelled to India and did some miracles along the way, started the church there, hence deification of Thomas is common there.

  I found some articles written by eg. Bart Ehrman supporting this theory, personally not that much of a fan, but I know many interested in JW exegesis as he supports various fringe theories including WTBTS claim to the name Jehovah.

  The claims of Jesus’ twin brother seem to be supported by the original writings, including the Gospel as we know it in the West (almost every canonical gospel writer alludes to the twin), but also various other non-canonical writings and at least 3 complete gospels claimed to be by Thomas himself (although the oldest writings stem from the first, second and third century respectively)

  I just find it very interesting that in all my readings, and ‘studying the Bible’ with the JWs for over 20 years, we never heard of it, neither as a thing that other (esp. Indian) Christians may believe, nor how to retort it. From a pure interlinear reading of the scripture, this idea seems to be supported across the gospels.
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  dropoffyourkeylee

  I have never heard of it. Does sound interesting. If so, it is curious that none of the nativity scene stories mention anything about it. Admittedly, the nativity stories were most likely concocted years later to support the claim of Jesus' divinity, but even so, it seems to be a barrier to the twin theory.
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  raymond frantz

  Jesus didn't have a twin brother, please stop reading gnostic non sense and concentrate in actual Church history
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  iloowy.goowy

  Just because Thomas was somebody's twin doesn't mean he had to be a twin to Jesus. There is a heavy dose of make believe in the assumption, whether ancient or modern it is just an assumption. So, no, I believe Thomas was not Jesus' twin, from what I have learned, although from his name he may have been somebody else's twin.
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  nicolaou

  Jesus didn't have a twin brother, please stop reading gnostic non sense and concentrate in actual Church history

  I'm curious Raymond, why do you value traditional church history over gnostic accounts?
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  enoughisenough

  Anyone who believes the Bible's account about Jesus would never accept he had a twin. If the Bible's account isn't true, mankind is doomed and it doesn't matter anyway so as to take up one's time and energy. Some will think mankind isn't doomed, but in case you haven't noticed, there is an agenda to depopulate the planet.
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  peacefulpete

  Th 'Twin" belief is not a late tradition but rather apparently actually predates the writing, or at least distribution, of the 4 canonical Gospels. Not surprisingly many, many traditions circulated around the Jesus figure. The church Fathers themselves repeated stories that are not only not in the 4 Gospels (later Canonized) but contradicting them. Pious mythmaking was endemic for hundreds of years, in fact never ended. (e.g. Book of Mormon) The Gospels themselves differ regarding Jesus having brothers due to active 'enhancement' and editing to refute Adoptionism (Jesus the man was adopted by God) and Docetism (Jesus was merely a spirit appearing to be a man) . Ironically, the idea that Jesus had brother named Judas (aka, Didymus the Twin) was useful for refuting the Docetists but leant to the Adoptionists' argument that Jeus birth was not miraculous. The solution may well have been to make the identification of Didymus and Judas obscure in the forms of the Gospel that the Proto-Orthodoxy had massaged.

  In other words, that Jesus had a twin brother was believed in some circles for many years. The 4 canonical Gospels were not the only pious stories. There were earlier versions and later ones.
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  Diogenesister

  AnnonyI found some articles written by eg. Bart Ehrman supporting this theory, personally not that much of a fan, but I know many interested in JW exegesis as he supports various fringe theories including WTBTS claim to the name Jehovah.

  I watched one of his recent videos with Megan Lewis and boy does he 100% agree with Watchtower doctrine re the trinity, the state of the dead, paradise etc. In fact the only thing they diverge on is the 'two classes' of Christian idea. He's a full on Arian (if he believed lol).

  His fave Bible translation? Wescott and Hort lol!
  
  
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  peacefulpete

  Bart would be very surprised to learn he agreed 100% with the WT! No, he has quite clearly discussed how Christian theology grew and evolved. For example, the formulaic Trinity doctrine was arrived at after the majority of the NT was written, however it was an attempt to make sense of the often-contradictory descriptions of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Most scholars understand this.

  How can Jesus be the Alpha and Omega and the creator of all things while also be said to have been a 'Son'. How can the HS be said to have its own will and act independently of the Father. In other places Jesus is said to have control of the HS. The Trinity doctrine was a philosophical elegant solution. This is what Erhman teaches. The WT rather ignores the theological differences and dismisses half the texts through convoluted arguments.
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  Anony Mous

  @ray: what you say is only true for Roman Catholic Christian theology, there are many other churches that even Paul alludes to and at least another New Testament worth of books that were rejected by the Nicene council in the West. Gnostic means proto-orthodox, so coming before the current orthodox.

  We’re talking about a sect of Christianity that split before the Pauline letters were even written and travelled up to India and developed in their own independent version of Christianity surrounding ‘the twinship’ of Jesus.

  As far as our Roman Catholic interpretation of it, they don’t seem to conflict as Thomas, Judas, Joses, James, Jude and Simon are named as being Jesus’ brothers.

  This isn’t Gnosticism, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John lists Thomas ‘the twin’ on several occasions, so it was quite important to know he was a ‘twin’. The twin of who exactly and why make such a big deal out of his name, well if you don’t define it as being someone else’s twin, that leaves it to the main character in their story.

  In Greek mythology twins caused ambivalent reactions and were believed to have ambivalent feelings for each other. Very often, they were viewed as the representatives of the dualistic nature of the universe. And doesn’t that represent ‘doubting Thomas’. Ambivalent about the resurrection of Jesus. And Jesus himself, dualistic, both divine and human at the same time which is what all Christians believe, that the duality of humans (the divine and the earthly form) can be unified in Christ.

  There is a very similar story to the Jesus story in Greek mythology, where Zeus comes down and impregnates a woman after already been impregnated (we know Mary was engaged) by a human, resulting in a twin birth, one divine. It’s not hard to see the similarities.