Well-known to church scholars perhaps, but not historically to the church goers in general. These documents and ideas obviously were and are being suppressed from most people. Of course, I don't view it heretical at all that Jesus was from the one true God.
"The current Pope has no fear in the face of a fake story that was first debunked almost 2,000 years ago."
I guess that is why these things have been suppressed all these centuries. The religious leaders had no fear of them.
Why would it be or should it be? There were no books in my Catholic school history classes about George Washington being a space alien either.
These documents and ideas obviously were and are being suppressed from most people.
It's only obvious to your ahistorical mind.
There are thousands of volumes beloved by orthodox Church fathers that have not survived either.
Of course, I don't view it heretical at all that Jesus was from the one true God.
You don't have any authority to opine on the orthodoxy of anything.
I guess that is why these things have been suppressed all these centuries.
They weren't suppressed. If they were, we wouldn't be reading them now.
The rarity of Gnostic texts today has to do with the secrecy and the elitism of Gnostics and nothing to do with the Christians who laughed at their foolishness.
The religious leaders had no fear of them.
The Gnostics were the Scientologists of their day - do you think that the Pope, the Ecumenical Patriarch, the President of the Southern Baptist Conference or the Archbishop of Canterbury are worried that L. Ron Hubbard is gaining on Jesus?
"The current Pope has no fear in the face of a fake story that was first debunked almost 2,000 years ago."
I guess that is why these things have been suppressed all these centuries. The religious leaders had no fear of them.
Respectfully I don't believe that's the point...The fear is not what the documents would do to the chruch, but rather that the documents would fill the hearts of the members pulling them away from the true message of the Gospel, the saving death and resurrection of Christ Jesus.
Here's an analogy...Think of a book you'd rather not have your children read, let's say its a book discussing the great feelings a person can have when you are drunk and how fun it is...Would one choose to keep that book away from their children so they are not tempted to drink to find this feeling? Most parents would and do...The church is doing the same thing with this book...it's unhealthy reading it's heretical, it's false gospel...there is no good reason for the faithful to read it...all that statement and I'm not even Catholic! (Conservative Lutheran, but we avoid the gnostic gospels like the plague as well).
Blessing in Christ!
Which proves what exactly? A recent survey show that most Americans couldn't name the freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment. Does that change anything about the First Amendment or what it says? No, it doesn't.
All this will do is teach those church goers something about ancient rejected heresies that they might now have known before.
Repressed? Or discarded? Why in the world would the Christian Church continue to reproduce the writings of their adversaries? The bulk of important Christian writings have disappeared, the work of men with impeccable orthodox views, but they have vanished . The famous Christian monks who copied stuff did not attempt to copy the Alexandrine library but only such documents that fell into their hands. Many of those likewise vanished over the course of time. Such historical documents we have are the result of chance. We actually know more about Rome during the first century before Christ than we do about the Third Century after Christ,