-=> Quoting David Martorana to Clarence Hogan <=-
 ++> On March 9, 1998 Clarence Hogan wrote to
 ++> David Martorana on "Other Side of Self"
 
 CH> Hey, even the best of friends don't agree on everything, but they
 CH> don't try to smother one another by trying to put them in a box
 CH> either, right?
 DM> ?
 From the "?" it looks like I have done it again and assumed too
 much of my reader!  :'(  So will try to be more specific as to 
 what I meant by trying to put one another in a box!
 
 For example, it seems that people have got Yahweh all figured out
 and knows exactly what He has written in The Scriptures and now
 that they have Him all figured out, they conveniently put Him in
 a box and smother Him/His Words and only convey their own personal
 understandings BUT not His and no longer allow Him to speak for
 Himself in The Word except when it is convenient to them and their
 thoughts and then they take Him out of the box and allow Him to 
 speak for Himself, and to my way of thinking, friends will NOT
 do this to friends, so did I muddy that up any better?  ;)
  
 DM> Also I reread the Naj Hammadi Gnostic Library again; several
 DM> years and with wide sweeps through other material, I understood
 DM> a lot more of what I was reading this time ....though still not
 DM> a bell ringer .
 
 CH> I wouldn't mind reading that Library myself, does a local Library
 CH> have it?
  
 DM> "The Nag Hammadi Library"  translated by members if the Coptic
 DM> Gnostic Library Project of the Institute for Antiquity and
 DM> Christianity ... under Direction of James M. Robinson
 DM> Harper & Row, Publishes 1977 first edition
 DM> 
  
 DM> My library does not have a copy. I've found that much of my
 DM> search material has been available on interlibrary loan. I've had
 DM> books from California libraries sent to me (via library) in
 DM> Maryland. 
 
 Thanks and my local Lebanon Library will not get books on that 
 basis without accessing a fee, however, the Gallatin Library is
 only a few more miles away and they will get me books on that
 basis with no charge, so I will try there!
 DM> ALSO!!! If you don't mind reading monitor screens, the entire
 DM> Nag Hamadi library text is available on the WWW with a
 DM> phrase or word search facility.
 
 Hey, now that is an excellent suggestion which I had not thought 
 to ask before and since I have over 3GB free hard drive space on
 my new 4GB PC, is it too large to down load to my PC, or is that
 impractical or not possible?   I have a word search program already
 in my PC that I can use on it!
  
 DM> It is an awkward read from a Christian view (the book having been
 DM> loaned to good friends of mine (mostly fundamentalists)). It
 DM> presents four distinct levels of view across its 50-ish different
 DM> works (some fragmentary) .....Pagan, Pagan/Christian, Christian and
 DM> sectarian. It presents a most unusual view of what some Christian
 DM> groups in 3/4 th century Egypt were reading/believing. It also
 DM> presents material that the early church fathers were not happy with
 DM> i.e. "very large" role of women and critical role of Mary Magdelene
 DM> as well as the "tensions" between her and Peter. Its Gospel of Thomas
 DM> is MOST teasing of an early Christianity not yet set down into
 DM> sequential polished biblical cannon text. It also contains a rather
 DM> wondrous poem about women "The Thunder Perfect Mind". Aside from
 DM> fragments of curious interests, it made me feel sad that so much of
 DM> such early material was confiscated and burned ... denying ME an
 DM> opportunity to read it.                     ......can't win em all!!! 
 I know, after thinking about it, that I have some references to it
 in some of my reference works here in my humble library, however
 could not turn them up in my recent search, just too many books to
 remember where everything is at even though I had started a reference
 notation in my notes for my commentary to help me find previous read
 references to a subject!  However, just too many books and references
 have gone under the bridge before I got my first PC two years ago and
 most of them will have to be gone through again to get entered!  And
 as said, I have the Gospel of Thomas and must refresh my memory on it
 again when time permits!  And yes, it is a shame that so much material
 has been lost, destroyed/burned, etc., in the past, for I have always
 had a longing to be able to read all the original documents/scrolls of
 our Father's Word and not just these copies!
Just another humble servant of The Kingdom.......clarence.......
... .\|/...\\|//...\|/...\\|//... Time to mow the tagline again.  :'(
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