Session At

12:00 - 1:00 PM

EVENTS

SOUTHAMPTON
Above Bar Church
Sat. 13 November 2010

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EDINBURGH
Charlotte Chapel

Sat. 29 January 2011

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Dr Dirk Jongkind

Dr Dirk Jongkind is a Dutch biblical scholar who finished his PhD at Cambridge University on Codex Sinaiticus, the oldest complete copy of the New Testament.

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Evidence of History. Dr Simon J. Gathercole

Who has the true message of Jesus?

Probably the most popular idea in relation to the Bible is that books have been missed out or put in due to political pressure and various media have been full of talk about ‘other gospels’.

Here some of the most famous ‘other gospels’ are considered: the gospels of Thomas, Judas and Mary. But first it is important to establish two facts about the very earliest Christians and their beliefs:

  • they believed that Jesus had died as a ransom for our sins.

  • they believed that Jesus had fulfilled the Old Testament.

It is found that while Matthew, Mark, Luke and John agree with these two Christian beliefs, the apocryphal gospels generally do not. They do not fit the pattern of earliest Christian belief precisely because they were written later.

They are less reliable than the canonical gospels both in their picture of history and in their picture of Jesus’ message. For real pictures of Jesus, based on eyewitness testimony, you need to read the New Testament.