mountainman

The Letter of Peter which he sent to Philip (NHC 8.2)

An extract ...

Then Peter gathered the others also.

They went upon the mountain which is called "the (mount) olives,"
the place where they used to gather with the blessed Christ
when he was in the body.

Then, when the apostles had come together, and had thrown
themselves upon their knees, they prayed thus saying,

"Father, Father, Father of the light, who possesses the incorruptions, hear us just as thou hast taken pleasure in thy holy child Jesus Christ. For he became for us an illuminator in the darkness. Yea hear us!"

And they prayed again another time, saying,

"Son of life, Son of immortality, who is in the light, Son, Christ of immortality, our Redeemer, give us power, for they seek to kill us!"

Then a great light appeared
so that the mountains shone
from the sight of him
who had appeared.

And a voice called out
to them saying,

"Listen to my words
that I may speak to you.

Why are you asking me?

Extract of Manuscript:
Nag Hammadi Codex 8.2,
discovered 1948 near the Nile River,
translated by Frederik Wisse,
published 1970.
Dated by C14 to about 348 CE.

Toto

http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/letpet.html

Jesus is evidently annoyed at the bone headed disciples who keep forgetting what he said and ask him to repeat it.

I feel for Jesus.

mountainman

I agree totally with you Toto but ...

Who but a non christian would depict
the twemendous twelve as boneheads?

Toto

The cononical gospels, especially Mark, portray the disciples as clueless boneheads who don't understand what Jesus says. It's a literary device. The twelve don't become superheros until the Book of Acts.

arnoldo

Weally?

mg01

What about the possibilbity of it being polemical and produced by a competing group other than Peters?

I tend think that Mark's alegorical use (to demonstrate to his hellenic audience that even Jesus' Jewish followers missed the point) as a device was picked up by other writers who then ran with it.

Of course Mark didn't invent the device. There's always a sidekick to which things have to be spelled out to for the benefit of the audience.

.

Toto

mountainman is trying to argue that this must be an anti-Christian work of some sort. I am merely pointing out that the orthodox view of the disciples before the Resurrection is that they are clueless.

Toto

I wish Christians would actually read their Bibles.

arnoldo

The twemendous 12 (and others) before Acts; Mark 3:14-15.

Toto

Mark 3:14-15 merely says that the 12 were appointed. You don't see them actually doing anything. (And what's with this "Amplified Bible" version?)

And in the very next chapter of Mark:

13Then Jesus said to them, "Don't you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable?

...

Mark 4:40 He said to his disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?"

41 They were terrified and asked each other, "Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!"

And one could go on - even near the end, Peter denies Jesus three times, and Jesus has to come back and do special tricks to convince the 11 disciples who did not betray him for actual money that he really rose from the dead, as he predicted he would.