The gospel of John does not say that you cannot know God prior to death. I'd be happy to chat about that off-list if you want.
The (gnostic) gospel of Thomas is indeed a scary gospel especially to people who see themselves as the sole gatekeepers to God and all truth. While gnosticism IS about having special knowledge, it's really not a 'make your own way' kind of religion. The early church's wrangling with gnosticism is pretty interesting if you're into that sort of thing. -----Original Message----- From: Gruss Gott [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, May 01, 2008 11:12 AM To: CF-Community Subject: Re: "The Golden Compass"... what's this about Atheism? Cause I like him! But, either way, it's 'whether, when, and how' that are the questions. John says not until you die and only if you do the rights things in life. Thomas says yes and it may be via, say, Buddhism, and you could know him anytime. Those viewpoints are VASTLY different and certainly Thomas' is a threat to organized religion as it asks individuals to "know God" in their own way. That is, Thomas would say that Shito is just as good as no organized religion if it works for you. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;192386516;25150098;k Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:259534 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
