The Early Christian Writers site includes most of the New Testaments Apocrypha (pseudegriphal works that Eusebius would have called "really spurious") and the works of the men who came to be called the Apostolic Fathers (books accepted by the church as orthodox in doctrince, though not authoritative).Please choose either one of the Apocryphal books or the Apostolic Fathers (the first nine on the link here). What is your evaluation of this book? Is it a book to die for? Does it seem to you useful and/or interesting? Or is it a book you wouldn't mind seeing burned by government officials? Why?
10 comments:
The Apocalypse of Peter is a book that seems to focus on the negative far more on the positive. Unlike most of the rest of the bible which has to deal with redemption it instead focus' greatly on the punishments that will be given to those by what we do in life. It was also very specific on those punishments.
I would never die for this book. In my opinion any book which tells me how horrible the afterlife is going to be is a waste of a time to focus on. Revelations can be interperetive to be cautionary, insightful to the human condition, or numerous other things on a variety of subjects. But the Apocalypse of Peter seems to simply be telling you how horrible you will have it if you do these specific things. I personally thought being burned by aborted childrens tears to be a rather poetic approach to it.
I understand that warnings are needed for what could happen but to focus on it like the linked text did was a very simplistic scare tactic. If my life is going to suck when I die that is all well and good.
If I already was an committed adultery then the punishment it seems has been decided, well screw it then. Why care? You only care if you think that you can change it. And to be honest I didn't see that in the book, I saw people damned for a choice they made and honestly I understand that a sin is a sin and all that jazz and the morality of mortal sins vs venial sins but there was no word in there about them seeking redemption. They no longer had a choice, somehow I believe that is almost as horrible a thing as I can think of.....to say that at a certain point free will stops.
I know that I have said alot in the post and honestly it is because this is one of my major points of contention with many people who talk about anything religous.
John Schirado
I read the Gospel of Thomas. This book is nothing that I would recommend reading. There is no wonder to me why this is not in the bibles that we have today, or in the bible of the old times. This book seems to go against all the other books that talk about the acts of Jesus or his teachings. In this book it shows Jesus as a mean and confrontational person. This is not the same in any of the other books.
This is most definetly not a book that I would die for. I think i might willing give this one up to the fires and push others to throw there copy in as well. Expecially with the added part at the end of the gospel of Thomas. I can see why it is on the spurious list and am glad to see that it was not accepted.
I read the the infancy gospel of james. It was an interesting book to read. However, as for a book to die for no i wouldn't die for it. the other gospels you can peace together the birth of jesus. This book talks more about Mary from the time of her birth. It is good background for nowing why jesus was born with no sin because he was born of the virgin mary who was concieve by the holy spirit in anna. Mary was born with out sin. This book is a book is not a good book to use in the bible because it is not based on for the most part jesus and his birth or his teaching therefore i don't think it should be in the bible but i think and am glad that it has been preserved.
dave potts
The Apocalypse of Peter is one of those books that people focus on a certain point and miss the rest of the story. Most people focus on the punishment that are described in the book, the classes of punishment for certain sins. However, people might not get over that to realize that the ending is even more disturbing than the earlier part. If the righteous ask for it, God will redeem anybody. "It is because of them that have believed in me that I am come. It is also because of them that have believed in me, that, at their word, I shall have pity on men" (Peter). In other words, if people ask God to grant clemency for sinners, God will grant their request. That doesn't seem to fit in the ultimate judgment that the Bible preaches. The description of the punishment for sin is not as offensive as stating that people who have sinned all their lives will by a simple request will be sent to heaven. Why live a godly life if this is true? BURN IT!!!
The Shepherd of Hermes (Apostolic Father book)
I read Vision 1 from this book and found it quite interesting and somewhat comical. Poor Shepherd, he should have known better than to have pulled a naked (I presume, most people don't bathe with their clothes on) woman from her spot of bathing! What was he thinking? I suppose to not think upon the occasion would almost be impossible. After all, she was beautiful! I had to laugh a little!
I found the vision that he received to be very interesting. Maybe it could be considered an allegory for a guilty mind that really does need to repent and think about more righteous things!
I enjoyed the part about the woman in the chair who read from a book to him and instructed him in righteousness. There is only one woman in the Bible that I would think of that could fit this description. She is wisdom herself.
I must be honest, I'm not sure that I would be willing to die for this book. I really enjoyed the read, but I don't think I would die or allow anyone in my family to die to preserve it.
Who ever heard of dying for "any" piece of literature? Is that what really happened? Did people die trying to hide copies of the Gospels, the Epistles, etc.?
One thing that absolutely disturbs me though is the concept of burning books! DONT BURN THE BOOKS! Even if you don't agree, inquiring minds want to know. That's me, an inquiring mind and I definitley like learning about things, people, places, etc. Even if I don't agree it's still interesting.
In studying other religions I have found a lot of things that I didn't agree with, but I have also found some things that I did agree with. Suprise!
Donna Baskins
I read the “Didache,” a book believed to be written by the early church fathers of the Christian church. The “Didache” is just a collection of teachings and is very straight forward. Everything in the book seems to be in line with the teachings of the canonized books of the bible. I liked the book. I don’t know if I would die to preserve the writing, that’s a hard question, but I would imagine that there are a lot of people that would. The way that I understand it is that the book is taken pretty seriously in the Christian church as a whole. I guess that you could say that if there was an argument between saving or burning the book, I would be on the side to save it.
as i read more and more of the bible and learn more about the other documents that have been written i think, why leave some of them out and how does one asnwer that questions, will i die for the current bible or whats writting in other religous writings? its a tough question, but i think we need to to focus on whos right and whos wrong, or what religous writing is right or wrong and work on building a strong relationship with god.
ka'nova willimas
One book that is included in the bible and still considered apocryphal is Revelations. This book describes the end of our lives and the second coming of Jesus. I find it very interesting for its futuristic questioning. I also like the readings of Nostrodamous. Its human nature to look to the future. During the time Revelations was wrote, chaos reigned throughout the eastern world and Christians were facing death everywhere they went.
I read the apocalypse of peter and kind of liked it. it focused on results of what would happen from sinning and explains the view points of some religous people. it shows how people will be punished. i think that if this book was included in the bible more people might not sin as much. i know that the bible is suposed to be about redemption and the glory of god, but it would be nice to see what would happen as a result of mans folly
I read the Gospel of Thomas. The book talked a lot about revealing a "seceret" and tried to convince the reader that these were the things that weren't put in the other gospels. It does mention a few things read in the other gospels, but mostly it is worded in an almost criptic fashion.
I think that the book definately isn't to "die for" but is a book worth keeping around. However, it should have a disclaimor preceeding.
Kevin Dahlberg
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