What they don't tell you what was left out of the Bible.

by Crazyguy 13 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  Hernandez

  The stories of the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ predate any of the written gospels. Remember it is the Jehovah's Witnesses who teach the formula that "beliefs are based on the Bible." This is not the way things actually happened.

  Even the Christian Greek Scriptures indirectly prove that the Resurrection was well accepted and taught among Christians as a reality before Mark or any of the other gospels were composed. This is evidenced by the fact that the Pauline epistles were written before any of the gospels. If one accepts the general consensus that Mark was composed first among the gospel accounts, Paul's letters still came first by 10-20 years. Mark was written around A.D. 65-70 but Paul's first letters are from circa 50-55. Paul is already talking about the Resurrection of Christ in his epistles some 20 years before Mark wrote his book. Remember that Paul saw visions and received locutions from Christ who had already ascended to Heaven.

  "The original ending of Mark does not attest to the Resurrection."

  This is incorrect. While the oldest manuscripts end Mark at 16.8, the entire chapter is about Christ rising from the tomb. In Mark 1.4 we are told that the tomb was found open. In verses 5-7 a "young man" testifies to the women discovering the empty tomb that Jesus has risen and that they have been chosen to inform Peter and the other disciples about this because Jesus is going to appear to them in Galilee.

  Even though the first Christians did not get their beliefs regarding the Resurrection of Christ from the written gospels (as Paul's writings prove they already had such a conviction even before he was converted), the earliest versions of Mark still end with claims that Jesus "has been raised."--Mark 1.6.

  Noting that the added endings were later compositions, the Catholic Church still considered them part of the official inspired canon at the Council of Trent. Unlike Jehovah's Witnesses, "Christendom" views the finalized versions accepted as canon as the inspired texts, not the earliest texts that may be lacking some of the redactions that predate the official canonization process and declarations.
• 

  Hernandez

  Almost forgot...

  The early Christians did not see the Ascension of Christ as happening in history. They originally saw it as an event that encompassed both the Resurrection and Christ's return to Heaven. In other words, when Christ rose from the dead he became Eternal, no longer bound by space or time.

  This is demonstrated in Luke's writings. Luke has Christ rising from the tomb and giving his instructions that preceded the Ascension in the final chapter of Luke, as if it all happened on the same day of Christ's rising. But then, in his sequel, Acts, he says that these final instructions occurred 40 days later at the Ascension from Mount Olivet. Which is it?

  Both. While historically Christ physically rose into the sky and was caught up into a cloud 40 days after the Resurrection as described in Acts 1, this was not because entry into Heaven required a literal taking off from the surface of the earth, as if Christ's resurrected body were some kind of rocket ship that needed to blast of in a certain direction to get to the "place" or "location" of Heaven. The Ascension is understood in "Christendom" as the ending of the "physical" or coporeal interactions with the risen Christ. As Jesus was not limited by locked doors or distances after his rising, neither was Heaven out of his reach. (Note in Luke that while the Emmaus witness was occurring, Peter also saw the risen Christ but in Jerusalem as Luke 24.32-35 states.)

  In Luke, the gospel ends with the rising and ascending being one act, but it gets historicized in Acts as a separate event. It wasn't.

  This is lost on the Jehovah's Witnesses leaders who insist that they have insight into the written texts that have lead them to accept a "first blush" reading of the accounts, ignorantly distorting the ancient understanding of the Resurrection as an event separate from Christ's entry into Heaven.
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  scoobydont

  Very informative discussion. I am inspired to do my own research into the origins and history of the Bible.
• 

  Vidiot

  CrazyGuy - "What they don't tell you what was left out of the Bible..."

  "Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the authors' imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental."

  :smirk: