Page 256 - Demo

252conscientiously believe himself to be what these spurious Gospels allege? Could a Jew conscientiously write such stories, which are purposely written to disconcert and foilthe expectation of that people? Of course, other than a negative answer cannot be expected from me to these questions. Neither Jesus (pbuh) nor his apostles would ever use such an extravagant title among a people already familiar with the legitimate owner of that surname. It would be analogous to putting the crown of the king upon the head of his ambassador, the latter having no army to proclaimhimking.Itwouldbe simply aninsaneusurpation of the rights and privileges of the legitimate Son of Man. Consequently,such an unjustifiable usurpation on the part ofJesus (pbuh) would be equivalent to the assumption of the epithet of “the Pseudo Son of Man” and of the Antichrist! The very imagination of a similar act of audacity on the part of the Holy Christ Jesus (pbuh) makes my whole nature revolt. The more I read these Gospels the more I become convinced to believe that they are a production-at least in their present shape and contents- of authors other than the Jews. These Gospels are a counterpoise to the Jewish Revelations - particularly as a counter-project against the Sibyllian Books. This could only be done by Greek Christians who had no interest in the claims ofthe children of Abraham (pbuh) . The author of the Sibyllian Books places side by side with the Jewish prophets Enoch, Solomon (pbuh) , Daniel, and Ezra, the names of the Greek sages Hermes, Homer, Orpheus, Pythagoras, and others, evidently with the object of making propaganda for the Hebrew religion. These books were written when Jerusalem and the Temple were in ruins, some time before or after the publication of St. John’sApocalypse.