Bible Series part 7

Gnostic gospels!  We start to look at the apocryphal works.  Why weren't these included in the New Testament?  What are they?

In this Pit we take a look at the story told in the Protevangelium of James.  This is said to be one of the oldest of the apocryphal works.  In this story you hear about what Mary's parents were like, about Joseph before he married Mary and why he had to take her into his house, and the story of Mary's life before .

Why she was considered an ever-virgin and what would happen if you even dared to check to see if she still was a virgin!  

I find this to be important to know because of the writings that come after it and the evolution of this story as told in other Gnostic writings.  We'll see later how the ideas and concepts will spiral out of control in future writings .

What happens with these writings is what people accuse the bible of having done.  It's interesting that some will argue for these books being authentic, or at least should be included, but not the 27 books that we have now. 

Just the internal and external transmission show that they are not the same as the writings of the NT.  Where the NT was being preserved these are elaborated into something unrecognizable within Christian scripture.