Billy,
I have often pondered this. Jesus clearly knew his scriptures and used them
effectively in his teaching, so my guess is that he was literate. My view is
that, like Socrates, he chose to teach and tell stories and then let others
record them for posterity (hence the New Testament). In a similar manner,
Plato and others recorded and expounded on the teaching of Socrates.
Chris
Christopher P. Hahn, Ph.D.
Constructive Agreement, LLC
<mailto:[email protected]> [email protected]
P.O. Box 39, Bozeman, MT 59771
(406) 522-4143 (406) 556-7116 fax
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Friday, May 30, 2014 2:24 PM
To: [email protected]
Cc: [email protected]
Subject: [RC] What did Jesus write?
Thought provoking Mormon view of the New Testament.
I disagree that the answer to the questions raised in the article
consists of the BoM, which clearly is, shall we say, "inspired
historical fiction." However when you add the insights in the
article to some other facts clearly something is missing
that just maybe can be found.
Of course, it is necessary to get beyond the doctrine that the Bible
is all sufficient unto itself -which many (most) Evangelicals regard
as unthinkable to disagree with. Still, the Bible itself lists over twenty
books that were in the Bible itself in the past, such as "Iddo the Seer" and
the like, and Paul himself alludes to at least one "lost epistle," a letter
that preceded 1 Corinthians, of which there probably were others.
You'd think that there would be a Christian quest for these lost books
of scripture, but there is not. Why not? I don't know but the attitude
which says that the current Bible is all sufficient is contradicted by
the testimony of the Bible itself.
Then there is the fiction -regarded as truth by many believers- that
Jesus was illiterate or, anyway, never wrote anything. Yet his brother James
wrote an important scripture, and another brother named Jude is regarded
as the author of another Biblical text. If two of his four brothers were
literate and were writers what are the chances that Jesus was not
literate and not also a writer?
As for his presumed illiteracy, the Bible tells us he read from the scriptures
(specifically the Isaiah scroll) as a pre-teen in his local synagogue and
afterward interpreted the text in a sophisticated manner. Can anyone
think that as he grew older he became less literate and never wrote
a single word?
Not sure exactly where to go with this, the ideas are new to me at this time,
but for your consideration...
Billy
==============================
Defending the Faith: A 40-day gap in the New Testament
By Daniel Peterson
<http://www.deseretnews.com/author/22746/Daniel-Peterson.html> , For the
Deseret News
Published: Thursday, May 29 2014
Today is Ascension Day, or Holy Thursday. It commemorates the physical
ascension of the resurrected Jesus Christ into heaven as recorded in the New
Testament:
“And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and
blessed them. And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from
them, and carried up into heaven. And they worshipped him, and returned to
Jerusalem with great joy: And were continually in the temple, praising and
blessing God” (Luke 24:50-53
<https://www.lds.org/scriptures/nt/luke/24.50-53?lang=eng#49> ; compare Mark
16:19 <https://www.lds.org/scriptures/nt/mark/16.19?lang=eng#18> ).
Although no documentary evidence for the observance of the Feast of the
Ascension (as it is also known) exists from prior to the fourth century, it was
celebrated almost universally in the Christian church thereafter, along with
Good Friday, Easter and Pentecost. St. Augustine attributed its origin to the
apostles themselves; plainly its observance had become widespread long before
his time.
Ascension Day is traditionally (though not always) celebrated on a Thursday, 40
days after Easter. Its date is derived from the first few verses of the book of
Acts, the second part of Luke’s account of the formative events of
Christianity. Referring to his earlier gospel, Luke writes:
“The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to
do and teach, until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the
Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen: To whom
also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being
seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom
of God” (Acts 1:1-3)
<https://www.lds.org/scriptures/nt/acts/1.1-3?lang=eng#primary> .
But, after three years of public preaching, what remained to be said? The
apostles had been with Jesus almost constantly during that time, walking the
long, dusty roads of Palestine, conversing with him. What did Jesus still have
to teach them for nearly six weeks between his resurrection and his ascension?
Luke himself tells us virtually nothing about what was done and said during
those 40 days. The final chapter of his gospel focuses on Easter Sunday itself.
In Acts, Luke says that Jesus taught his apostles “the things pertaining to the
kingdom of God,” but he doesn’t say what they were. A few items are mentioned
very briefly in Matthew 28 <https://www.lds.org/scriptures/nt/matt/28?lang=eng>
, Mark 16 <https://www.lds.org/scriptures/nt/mark/16?lang=eng> and John 20-21
<https://www.lds.org/scriptures/nt/john/20?lang=eng> .
(For an important article on this topic, originally published in the scholarly
journal Vigiliae Christianae, and then reprinted by the Foundation for Ancient
Research and Mormon Studies, see Hugh Nibley, “Evangelium Quadraginta Dierum:
The Forty-day Mission of Christ — The Forgotten Heritage
<http://publications.maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/fullscreen/?pub=1039&index=1> .”
Did Jesus merely repeat the teachings of his mortal ministry?
Plainly, no. Still unrecognized, walking with two deeply disappointed and
distraught disciples on the road to Emmaus, the newly risen Savior saw that
they had failed to understand his mission. So, “beginning at Moses and all the
prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning
himself” (Luke 24:27 <https://www.lds.org/scriptures/nt/luke/24.27?lang=eng#26>
).
However, the four gospels contain nothing remotely resembling a systematic
exposition of the Old Testament by the Savior. It would be priceless, but we
don’t have it anywhere.
The plain fact is that only some of the teaching of Jesus is preserved in the
New Testament. As the fourth gospel testifies, “there are also many other
things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I
suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be
written” (John 21:25 <https://www.lds.org/scriptures/nt/john/21.25?lang=eng#24>
).
The New Testament offers clear hints that other sayings and teachings of the
Savior went unrecorded. For instance, Paul exhorts the Saints at Ephesus “to
remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give
than to receive” (Acts 20:35
<https://www.lds.org/scriptures/nt/acts/20.35?lang=eng#34> ). However, no such
admonition occurs in Matthew, Mark, Luke or John. Plainly, Paul and his
audience were aware of oral traditions or written documents of which we know
basically nothing.
“Wherefore,” says the Lord in the Book of Mormon, “because that ye have a Bible
ye need not suppose that it contains all my words; neither need ye suppose that
I have not caused more to be written” (2 Nephi 29:10
<https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/2-ne/29.10?lang=eng#9> ).
Some Christians insist that the Bible as we now have it is all there ever was
and all that we should ever want. It seems, though, that the Bible disagrees.
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