Is it true that the Gnostic Texts are older than the New Testament books...

Originally posted by arpgme
Because I know that there are a lot of contradictions that don't make sense in the New Testament, and there are even FALSE spiritual truths in there and honestly I find The Gospel of Thomas to have MORE truth in it...I heard some theories that the Essenes were one of the first groups.

Yes and Yes, The Gospel of Thomas has so much truth in it. It is my favorite Gospel of all of them.

If you are interested in the Essenes and Yeshua, here's a book that I would recommend wholeheartedly:

books.google.ch...=onepage&q&f=false

reply to post by 1nOne

Please show us where in the "New Testament" it is written that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is an Essene.

I don't use the Bible as my resource, so no, I won't show you.

You are wrong. I HAVE DONE MY OWN RESEARCH, and I don't JUST USE WIKIPEDIA. I can list PLENTY of sources that show you he was both a Jew AND a member of the Essene community, and Elaine Pagels isn't one of them. I hadn't heard of her until recently. Whether he was part of that community which rose above religious doctrine or not, he was STILL A JEW by birth. The Essenes were a sect of the Jewish race that did their own multi-traditional study, were highly revered, and respected.

Back off. You are mistaken. It's not my job to shut up just because you want me to.

reply to post by 1nOne

The Essenes -- From Jesus to our Time
by Olivier Manitara

This unique book will truly shed some new light on the mystery surrounding the Essene origins of Jesus. An extremely important book for all those who want to learn more about the birth of Christianity, the Essenes, their way of life.
In fact, almost all of the principal founders of what would later be called "Christianity" were Essenes: not only Jesus, but also St. Ann, Joseph and Mary, John the Baptist, John the Evangelist, and others.

ISBN 1-894341-00-7
Paperback, 5.37" x 8.37", 80 pages

www.essenespirit.com...

Here's another book NOT by Pagels. See gnostician's post 2 above, as well...

Here's a pbs article. You know, the Public Broadcasting System? Where they aren't sell-outs to special interest groups?
The Essenes and the Dead Sea Scrolls
What does the discovery of these scrolls reveal about first century Judaism and the roots of Christianity?
author: L. Michael White:
Professor of Classics and Director of the Religious Studies Program University of Texas at Austin

Among the cache of scrolls that we now call the Dead Sea Scrolls, are three distinct types of material.

First, we have a collection of copies of the actual books of the Hebrew Scriptures. These people were copyists. They were preserving the texts of the Bible itself.

Secondly, there were commentaries on these biblical texts. But these commentaries also show their own interpretation of what would happen. This is where we begin to get some of the insights into the way the Essenes at Qumran believed, because of the way they interpret the prophecies of Isaiah, or the prophesies of Habakkuk as well as the way they read the Torah, itself.

So among the scrolls, then, we have a complete set of almost all the biblical books, and commentaries on many of them. "The Isaiah Scroll" is one of the most famous of the biblical manuscripts. And the commentaries on Isaiah is also very important for our understanding of Jewish interpretation of Scripture in this period.

Good enough for ya? Want some more?