| As I say, of the four mainstream gospel writers, Luke, Mark, Matthew and John, only John claims that Jesus is god (his gospel is also known as the "I am" gospel, "I am the life, I am the salvation, I am the ....). Omitted or determined heretical by 250AD are the many other numerous gospels that did not share John's view that salvation could be had only through Jesus. Recall that John was written 90 to 100 AD, whereas Mark was written before 50 AD. John was trying to shape the faith and disputing the claims of other Jesus religious writers. ie his portrayal of the beliefs of the doubting Thomas, who most scholars believe was Jesus's most "beloved" disciple, is the disciple who claims in his gospel that Jesus said the divine light that shines within Him shines within us all. John disputes this notion (Polycarp, who is a student or disciple of John, influenced his own disciple Irenaeus enough that he [Iranaeus the first big booster of John's beliefs] starts calling Thomas believers heretics) saying the divine light can only shine if you believe in Jesus. But clearly, according to Thomas's Gospel, Jesus's beliefs were modified by late-comers such as the writer of John's gospel. Your faith in Jesus and what he said and believed, I am afraid, rests on an extensively edited version of the whole truth. A version edited and redacted to help create a single belief system in Jesus, something Jesus never intended. |
