There is debate on when the Nag Hammadi Gospel of Thomas was written. Some scholars date it as early as 50 AD which would make it earlier than Mark written around 65 to 70 AD. The majority date it to the early to mid 2ND Century around 172 AD. Which is just after the four canonical gospels. (60 – 125 AD.) The Gospel of Thomas has long been known from references by Church Fathers as far back as the third century. Like the canonical gospels there is a relationship to the Hypothetical Q document. It is too “new” to be that Q document. The Nag Hammadi Gospel of Thomas is the most complete of existent Gospels of Thomas we have. Not all scholars agree that Thomas should be considered Gnostic. Paterson Brown has argued that the three Nag Hammadi Gospels of Thomas, Philip and Truth cannot be so labeled, since each, in his opinion, may explicitly affirm the basic reality and sanctity of incarnate life, which Gnosticism by definition considers illusory.
I am ready to accept The Gospel of Thomas as very important in what Jesus was teaching. It begins:
These are the secret words of Almighty God
which Lord Jesus Christ
uttered and were scribed by his disciple Thomas.
He said, “He who comprehends
The inner meaning of these words
Will be immortal.
On eternal life.
“Have you seen the beginning
that you may know the end?
where there’s a beginning
there’s no end.
Happy is the man or woman
who can stand bravely
at the beginning.
He or she shall know the
end and won’t taste death.”
On the Kingdom of Heaven:
Jesus replied, “It’s like a
grain of mustard, smaller than
other seeds, but when it falls
on ploughed ground it grows
a large stem and shelters the birds.”
On entering into His Kingdom:
Jesus replied,
“Make the two into One
and the inner as the outer
and the outer as the inner,
the above as below,
the male and female
into a single One.
So the male isn’t male and
the female isn’t female any more.
When you make two eyes
into a single eye,
a hand into a foot,
a picture into a picture,
then you’ll enter the Kingdom.
I’ll chose you,
as one from a thousand:
you’ll stand bravely,
being a single One.
On God who is at the heart of our being:
I am the light shining upon all things.
I am the sum of everything,
For everything has come forth from me,
And towards me everything unfolds.
Split a piece of wood, and there I am,
Pick up a stone and you will find me there.
Some say The Gospel of Thomas contradicts the canonical gospels and reject the whole because of the final logion where Peter announces abruptly, Mary Magdalene should leave us, for women are not worthy of this life.”
Simon Peter said to the
Lord and his disciples,
“let Mary leave us, because women
Are unfit for the Life Everlasting.”
Jesus replied,
“Wait, I’ll guide her soul,
To make her as a real man,
in that place which transcends
the differences between the sexes’
so she’ll become a living spirit.
For each woman who makes
herself male in this way
and overcomes all differences
will enter the Kingdom of Heaven!”
NO Jesus is not saying that a woman must turn into a man before she can enter the kingdom – that would be so out of character and against everything else Jesus taught.
Jesus is not saying Mary must become a man; He is saying Peter must grow beyond the prejudices of his age. Jesus is saying “If it’s so all-fired important to you guys trapped in the prejudices of your age to have her be male – poof! We’ll make her male. What’s the big deal. I will transform her into a living spirit.” See below repeated from above.
“Make the two into One
and the inner as the outer
and the outer as the inner,
the above as below,
the male and female
into a single One.
So the male isn’t male and
the female isn’t female any more.
When you make two eyes
into a single eye,
a hand into a foot,
a picture into a picture,
then you’ll enter the Kingdom.
When you are able
To make two become one, …
so that a man is no longer male,
and a woman, female,
but male and female
become a single whole …
making one image supersede another
–Then you will enter in.
We are all one in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Our souls communicate with other souls naturally. When you meet your soulmate, you feel instant love as I did on that first date with Patricia. I felt there was something special between us. That is because we were tied together from birth with the red string of Fate. Our souls had been communicating for many years before we met physically.
Do this in remembrance of me. Well I do many things in remembrance of my departed spouse, Patricia. I think everybody wants to be remembered. That’s why they keep dairies. I keep the house pretty much as it was before we got the shocking news – mind you not as clean. My routines are pretty much as they were before she died. I kiss her photo every morning and say good morning and every evening I kiss it again and bid her good night. I repeat what we always said after “I love you forever” as well. The whole house is my memorial. I don’t want to forget one thing about our life together. All my memories of Pat bring tears and smiles and both happiness and despair and I never want them to go away. Every time I am in Church or at our grave I say a prayer for Pat and feel the warmth of her memory kneeling there beside me. I tried to finish the projects she was working on where I could either by myself or asking a friend to complete it. I put together, “Quiet Love … eyes to see and words to tell the truths that are most true.” Quiet Love … Poems,” “Found Poems: the blood and bone remember.” And “Grief: journey to GOD and us.” I bring flowers (lilacs when in bloom) to the grave as often as I visit it. I keep a running letter to her and air anything that may have been left unsaid. All her books (authored by her and her favourites) are together on the shelves she kept them on. I remember her on all our anniversaries and on family birthdays. I try to live my life in a way she would have wished. I repeat, I want to keep her memory alive in me until we reunite in our place in Heaven. It is part of her dwelling in me and me dwelling in her. I want her presence to get ever stronger in me.
Eric C. Bow 