Ancient Bible Denies Christ’s Death On The Cross

With relish, Gumsu Sani Abacha posted it on her Facebook wall recently. It was about a book of Barnabas, dicovered by some customs officials when they burst a ring of smugglers. The content contradicts the general belief that Jesus Christ did not die on the cross and that he did not claim to be the son of God. It was first published by hyperperspective.com.

This discovery, according to the online publication, turns modern Christianity on its head! It added that this bible, dating as far back as 2,000 years, details the Gospel of Barnabas, a disciple of Jesus Christ, which shows that Jesus wasn’t actually crucified and doesn’t claim him to be the son of God, but instead a prophet. The book charges that Apostle Paul was “The Impostor.” The story is completely different. “In the Book of Barnabas, Jesus wasn’t crucified, but ascended to heaven alive, and Judas Iscariot was crucified instead.”

The National Turk issued a report saying that the bible was seized from smugglers in a Mediterranean operation. The report states the gang was charged with smuggling a variety of things, such as antiques, illegal excavations and even explosives. The book is valued at around $28 million. It added: “That’s quite the find!” Experts and Authorities in Tehran insist that the book is authentic. It’s written in gold lettering on loosely tied leather in Aramaic, the language of Christ. “There are connections that can be drawn between this text and Islam, and it directly contradicts the New Testament’s teaching. In it, Jesus also predicts the birth of Prophet Muhammed, who founded Islam 700 years later.”

Experts believe that during the Council of Nicea, the Catholic Church went through and hand picked the gospels that form what we know the bible to be today and omitted the Gospel of Barnabas (among others) in favor of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. These original texts surfaced over time, and this new discovery is especially worrying to the Catholic church.

So what does this mean for religions derived of Christianity? It’s a bit of a predicament. The Vatican has asked Turkish authorities to allow them access to the book for examination. The big question is: will they accept it as evidence, deny its validity, or call it a “Muslim lie” as “Truth” Magazine did in 2000?

Hyperperspective reported further that to many people, this book is seen as a cause for hope. But what does this mean for atheists? Is it a real text or a hoax? And does it even really matter? With any luck, this newly discovered text will force theologians to ask deeper questions about their faiths instead of believing it without thinking. “Only time will tell. In the meantime, keep an open mind, be respectful of the beliefs of others, and remember that it’s our responsibility to take care of one another and this place we call home.”

Read more at http://higherperspective.com/2014/05/1500-year-old-bible.html#tOFETjQbjtaYW0G0.99

However, other Christians think this “discovery” is a means of weaking their faith as they will wave it off as one of the apocryphal books. These are books or statements or claims that are of dubious authenticity. In other words, such books are “secret, or non-canonical.” A biblical canon, or canon of scripture, is a list of books considered to be authoritative scripture by a particular religious community, like the Council of Nicea. Moreover, Apocryphal books are not counted among the Septuagints (original books of the Bible translated into Greek from Hebrew)

In fact, the discovery has not swayed many Christians. Tolu Strange T posted this on Gumsu’s wall: “This story contradicts itself..the Vatican has nothing to do with the Holy Bible. In fact the bible is against a lot of things- The Vatican practice.”

Ify Daniel argued on the same wall: “This can never turn modern Christianity on its head. The bible is the book of law and Christianity is a way of life and the deep relationship with God, his son and the Holy Spirit. As Christian we should not be moved at controversial topics like this, our confession is that jesus Christ is the son of God and he died for us and this great testimony makes us overcomers. He rose from the dead, and is seated at the right hand of God Almighty.”

For such topics or books like this, here are 21 reasons given by anothe group of Christians that Apocryphal books should not be given serious consderstion because they were not products of inspiration (http://www.bible.ca/catholic-apocrypha.htm):

The Roman Catholic Church did not officially canonize the Apocrypha until the Council of Trent (1546 AD). This was in part because the Apocrypha contained material which supported certain Catholic doctrines, such as purgatory, praying for the dead, and the treasury of merit.

Not one of them is in the Hebrew language, which was alone used by the inspired historians and poets of the Old Testament.

Not one of the writers lays any claim to inspiration.

These books were never acknowledged as sacred Scriptures by the Jewish Church, and therefore were never sanctioned by our Lord.

They were not allowed a place among the sacred books, during the first four centuries of the Christian Church.

They contain fabulous statements, and statements which contradict not only the canonical Scriptures, but themselves; as when, in the two Books of Maccabees, Antiochus Epiphanes is made to die three different deaths in as many different places.

The Apocrypha inculcates doctrines at variance with the Bible, such as prayers for the dead and sinless perfection.

And the day following Judas came with his company, to take away the bodies of them that were slain, and to bury them with their kinsmen, in the sepulchers of their fathers. And they found under the coats of the slain some of the donaries of the idols of Jamnia, which the law forbiddeth to the Jews: so that all plainly saw, that for this cause they were slain. Then they all blessed the just judgment of the Lord, who had discovered the things that were hidden. And so betaking themselves to prayers, they besought him, that the sin which had been committed might be forgotten. But the most valiant Judas exhorted the people to keep themselves from sin, forasmuch as they saw before their eyes what had happened, because of the sins of those that were slain. And making a gathering, he sent twelve thousand drachmas of silver to Jerusalem for sacrifice to be offered for the sins of the dead, thinking well and religiously concerning the resurrection, (For if he had not hoped that they that were slain should rise again, it would have seemed superfluous and vain to pray for the dead,) And because he considered that they who had fallen asleep with godliness, had great grace laid up for them. It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins. (2 Maccabees 12:39-46)

The apocrypha contains offensive materials unbecoming of God’s authorship.

Ecclesiasticus 25:19 Any iniquity is insignificant compared to a wife’s iniquity.

Ecclesiasticus 25:24 From a woman sin had its beginning. Because of her we all die.

Ecclesiasticus 22:3 It is a disgrace to be the father of an undisciplined, and the birth of a daughter is a loss.

It teaches immoral practices, such as lying, suicide, assassination and magical incantation.

The apocryphal books themselves make reference to what we call the Silent 400 years, where there was no prophets of God to write inspired materials.

And they laid up the stones in the mountain of the temple in a convenient place, till there should come a prophet, and give answer concerning them. (1 Maccabees 4:46)

And there was a great tribulation in Israel, such as was not since the day, that there was no prophet seen in Israel. (1 Maccabees 9:27)

And that the Jews, and their priests, had consented that he should be their prince, and high priest for ever, till there should arise a faithful prophet. (1 Maccabees 14:41)

Josephus rejected the apocryphal books as inspired and this reflected Jewish thought at the time of Jesus

“From Artexerxes to our own time the complete history has been written but has not been deemed worthy of equal credit with the earlier records because of the failure of the exact succession of the prophets.” … “We have not an innumerable multitude of books among us, disagreeing from and contradicting one another, but only twenty-two books, which contain the records of all the past times; which are justly believed to be divine…”(Flavius Josephus, Against Apion 1:8)

The Manual of Discipline in the Dead Sea Scrolls rejected the apocrypha as inspired.

The Council of Jamnia held the same view rejected the apocrypha as inspired.

They debated the canonicity of a few books (e.g., Ecclesiastes), but they changed nothing and never proclaimed themselves to be authoritative determiners of the Old Testament canon. “The books which they decided to acknowledge as canonical were already generally accepted, although questions had been raised about them. Those which they refused to admit had never been included. They did not expel from the canon any book which had previously been admitted. ‘The Council of Jamnia was the confirming of public opinion, not the forming of it.’” (F. F. Bruce, The Books and Parchments [Old Tappan, NJ.: Fleming H. Revell, 1963], p. 98])

Although it was occasionally quoted in early church writings, it was nowhere accepted in a canon. Melito (AD 170) and Origen rejected the Apocrypha, (Eccl. Hist. VI. 25, Eusebius) as does the Muratorian Canon.

Jerome vigorously resisted including the Apocrypha in his Latin Vulgate Version (400 AD), but was overruled. As a result, the standard Roman Catholic Bible throughout the medieval period contained it. Thus, it gradually came to be revered by the average clergyman. Still, many medieval Catholic scholars realized that it was not inspired.

The terms “protocanonical” and “deuterocanonical” are used by Catholics to signify respectively those books of Scripture that were received by the entire Church from the beginning as inspired, and those whose inspiration came to be recognized later, after the matter had been disputed by certain Fathers and local churches.

Pope Damasus (366-384) authorized Jerome to translate the Latin Vulgate. The Council of Carthage declared this translation as “the infallible and authentic Bible.” Jerome was the first to describe the extra 7 Old Testament books as the “Apocrypha” (doubtful authenticity). Needless to say, Jerome’s Latin Vulgate did not include the Apocrypha.

Cyril (born about A.D. 315) – “Read the divine Scriptures – namely, the 22 books of the Old Testament which the 72 interpreters translated” (the Septuagint)

The apocrypha wasn’t included at first in the Septuagint, but was appended by the Alexandrian Jews, and was not listed in any of the catalogues of the inspired books till the 4th century

Hilary (bishop of Poictiers, 350 A.D.) rejected the apocrypha (Prologue to the Psalms, Sec. 15)

Epiphanius (the great opposer of heresy, 360 A.D.) rejected them all. Referring to Wisdom of Solomon and book of Jesus Sirach, he said “These indeed are useful books & profitable, but they are not placed in the number of the canonical.”