by Louise Christensen

Created on: October 23, 2009   Last Updated: October 24, 2009

For a certainty the Christian Gospels are really old news. How much of it is good will depend on the reader. Considering how many times most of the writings have been translated into different languages - and back - down through the centuries, it is amazing that any of it is considered original works. The most widely known Christian Gospel is the "Bible" and it is only in the New Testament that any good news might be found; the Old Testament is simply a historical biography of people and times considered to be of religious importance.

There has been some interesting information revealed in recent years concerning the New Testament. Modern archaeologists and scientists who study antiquities have gradually come to similar conclusions: The original writers of New Testament texts did not always agree with one another and not all of them were included in the New Testament. By the time the decision was made to add to the "Bible" the people in power decided that only specific writings would be included in the new section of the bible and it took them two hundred years to decide which. There was an agenda and specific instruction were given on what was acceptable. Under no circumstances were the works generated by women to be included.

Three hundred years after Jesus died the New Testament was finally approved; of all the chapters included, only four were based on the original teachings of those specific disciples. Of those four only one can be said to include verses from an original papyrus written by John. Most scholars agree that those were written at least thirty years after the crucifixion of Jesus. How much of the works from the original writers was actually available would be difficult to ascertain. Writings were not always passed down and how much of the original thoughts of the disciples was included is difficult to prove conclusively. How much of that was distorted through the influences of personal preferences, community proclivities and societal norms at any given time - would be difficult to measure. The original text was handed down in Greek and later translations diverted away from some of those original writings.

Buried in the texts are some shining truths that have managed to survive down through the centuries. Some of the passages are so crucial that prejudice, artifice and ignorance could not obliterate the true message Jesus was trying to get across to his followers. The problem is that so much of it is buried and misconstrued by the remainder of

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