"What a coincidence that they pull this old story out just before Easter. "
Exactly!!
And within days of the "Jesus walked on ice" story.
Soon they'll have us believing Judas and Jesus were ice surfing on the Sea of Galilee together.
I'm getting sick of hearing them talk about these "early christian" writings.
The gnostics were not christians!! That's why we call them gnostics!
My reaction to that was something to the effect of "so?". For the wierd conditions to exist, just when needed, is just as miraculous as walking on liquid water. It's also more consistent with the way The Creator does things these days.
This is the sort of thing President Bush was referring to in his first inagural address when he said:
" After the Declaration of Independence was signed, Virginia statesman John Page wrote to Thomas Jefferson: ``We know the race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong. Do you not think an angel rides in the whirlwind and directs this storm?''
Much time has passed since Jefferson arrived for his inauguration. The years and changes accumulate. But the themes of this day he would know: our nation's grand story of courage and its simple dream of dignity.
We are not this story's author, who fills time and eternity with his purpose. Yet his purpose is achieved in our duty, and our duty is fulfilled in service to one another.
Never tiring, never yielding, never finishing, we renew that purpose today, to make our country more just and generous, to affirm the dignity of our lives and every life.
This work continues. This story goes on. And an angel still rides in the whirlwind and directs this storm.
Right. Gnosticism is the exact opposite of one of the fundamental tenets of Christianity: that it is open to all. You don't need a ticket, whether that ticket is special learning or secret wisdom or something you bought for a few hundred dollars outside the theater. It's free. You just walk on in.