[Rockingham]

Almost certainly bogus. In the ancient world, the money was in selling scrolls, with those in the business copying material already published, taking free submissions, or paying writers to come up with something new that would sell.

In modern terms, the Gospel of Thomas is at best unauthorized fan fiction, or, more likely, it was composed as lurid, Roman era fiction that exploited the popularity of Jesus to sell scrolls. In a roundabout way though, the Gospel of Thomas also helped to smuggle Jesus into Roman households.

I can imagine there were sometimes angry conversations when a Roman father saw a son or daughter reading a Gospel of Thomas scroll. The father may have been placated to a degree though by being told that it was fiction and not really a Christian scroll.

There remains a possibility that the story of Jesus bringing clay birds to life had an earlier and less dodgy origin. We may learn more as new manuscripts come to light or new methods of analysis make formerly illegible material readable.

[Elsie]

You make Joseph Smith cry.