Burnishing Bigotry - 3rd edition

Lucy #268: Next you cite John 21:25 to support the statement that ―there are many
teachings and deeds of Christ that are not included in the New Testament accounts.‖
Yes, my Friend … This statement is indeed true. There are quite a few teachings and
more than a few deeds of Jesus that are not mentioned in the Gospels – like Jesus marrying Mary
Magdalene and having children with her, … and like Jesus traveling the Silk Road to China &
back during the ―missing years‖ (where he read the Tao Te Ching and learned the
teachings of Buddhism), … and like Jesus taking up residence in a monastery in
Kazakhstan after his crucifixion, etc etc etc …
Lucy, as I have just demonstrated, this verse flows both ways, and as such has no place
whatsoever in our discussion (or almost any other discussion, for that matter). If you can quote it to
say whatever you want about what you wish Jesus taught or what you wish he did, then I can
quote it to do the same. Or if you really want to cite John 21:25 as proof that the Bible is an
incomplete canon – then you must know that you are opening the door for us to cite legitimate
non-canonical writings (that the early Catholic Church discarded, sometimes for purely political
reasons) like The Apocalypse of Peter (a book that actually was an accepted part of the Bible for
hundreds of years after Jesus‘ crucifixion) as Biblical ―proof‖ that Hell is only temporary and that
all Souls are ultimately saved. Do you really want to go there, my Friend?
―My Father will give unto them all the life, the glory, and the Kingdom that passeth not
away ... It is because of them that have believed in me that I am come. It is also because of them
that have believed in me, that, at their word, I shall have compassion for all men … Behold now
what shall come upon them in the last days, when the day of God and the day of the decision of
the judgment of God cometh. From the east unto the west shall all the children of men be
gathered together before my Father that liveth forever. And He shall command Hell to open its
bars of adamant and give up all that is therein.‖ ~ The Apocalypse of Peter (Coptic edition)
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