Mar 26, 2012

Is The Nag Hammadi Holy Scripture?

Common Sense Commentary: In 1945, twelve leather-bound, papyrus codices, buried in a large, sealed, clay jar were found near Nag Hammadi, Egypt.  Written in the Coptic language, they contained everything from Plato's Republic to the "Gospels" of Thomas, Mary and other religious referrences and comments.  These writtings were obviously written by "professing" Christians 400 to 500 years after Christ.  Many believe them equal to our cannonized Bible.

 The Nag Hammadi fits, I think, in the same clasification as the Book of Mormon, the Jehovah's Witness bible, the Koran and many other religious writtings that have been written about Jesus, the Apostles, the early church and denominational commentaries. There are elements of truth in all of them but they are, nevertheless, interpretations, commentary or inferior translations of what our Bible records. If all of my own sermons and writtings were published, I am sure there would be many mistakes, bad grammer or misstatements in them, as is true of every "human" preacher... whoever. My words are not verbally inspired though they are basically true. The same is true of hymns, Bible Commentaries, and every book ever written or sermon preached by men.. or women. The Mormons, Muslims and Jehovah's witnesses, and most religious believers, are absolutely convinced they are right, though each contradicts the other.  But The Word of God is, as many of you know, singularly, verbally inspired. "All scripture is given by instiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness." 2 Tim.3:16.

Consider the huge amount of print which has been written about Jesus for 2000 years, when much of it was hand written, and by memory, yet nothing compares to it.  If He had been born in 1920, with modern communications capability, the newspapers would still be arguing about it and every kind of revision, eye witness testimony, books, articles and a thousand different denominations, and Bible translations would be flooding the internet, TV and news-media.   It is only natural that professing Christians were still talking and writing about Jesus and the Apostles 400 years later even as Americans still talk and write about our Christian, founding fathers and of Jesus too, of course.  None of it is equal to Holy Scripture.

The Nag Hammadi has many interpretations and probably has some historical value and maybe even some, or many, elements of truth. The Book of Mormon and Koran have enough truth in them to grab the mind and open it up for a perversion of truth. It remains, as always, If a religious idea comes along which is confirmed in the Bible, I already have it and don't need a confirmation. And if it is not confirmed in the Bible, I don't want it because God didn't leave anything important out of the one He gave us 2000 years ago. Neither the Dead Sea Scrolls nor the Nag Hammadi, both discovered after WWII, mean very much to me. I need no confirmation of Scriptural Truth and I don't want any "new revelations" which are not in the Bible which Christians have had for 2000 years. If these new "pseudo-scriptures" were important to God or us, why would He not have shared them with those who have lived and died since Christ's assention until 1945, when these were discovered? Interesting, yes. Important, no.  I too am intrigued by such things but if they do not harmonize with the Bible, they are harmful and if they do, they are interesting but unneeded.

If they discovered Noah's Ark, The Ark of the Covenant, Moses' Tablets of Stone and the original Cross of Christ, It wouldn't adjust my faith or change a single thing I believe. As Abraham told the lost man in hell, when he begged Abraham to resurrect the begger and send him to warn his family ...."If they hear not Moses and the prophets, (the Bible) neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead." Lk.16:28-31. Jesus said that. My Bible tells me all God thought I needed to know about Himself, Jesus, The Holy Spirit, The Prophets, The Apostles, How to be Saved, heaven and hell.

There are those who reverence and embrace these other books as equal to, or even superior to the Holy Scripture of God's Word, the Bible. That reaction  is just another way Satan has in his effort to neutralize the unique power of the real thing... The Holy Bible. "A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump." Gal.5:9.

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