thought for the day/ Barnabas and his epistle

I thought it more fitting to show a picture of the church of Antioch than some astro picture.  I can't seem to find enough pictures of the inside, imo.  There's a few corridors and things inside.

Quote for the day,

"Now the assistants of our faith are fear and patience." - Barnabas(epistle of Barnabas 2:2)

{ acts 4:13 has people marveling that John and Peter were ignorant men}

Barnabas is considered a Jewish Cypriot(a kind of Greek island,maybe where the iron age first started). Acts 4:36 And Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, (which is, being interpreted, The son of consolation,) a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus,

Acts 14:14 Which when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, hence Barnabas is an apostle of Jesus Christ according to Acts.  Barnabas and Paul, in chapter 14 here are with a priest of Jupiter.  The Jupiter priest does something, which is rather unclear, and Paul and Barnabas come out screaming why bother with this Jupiter religion? Paul gets stones but survives anyways.  Paul and Barnabas go back and forth from Antioch. Today, there's a well known church built into the side of a cliff overlooking the city of Antioch.

Acts interestingly enough says the Gentiles accepted the new Christian message because the Jews rejected it.

Barnabas is traditionally identified as the founder of the Cypriot orthodox church.  Note, Barnabas dates to early first century along with Paul, so this is very early for the Cypriot church.

Colossians 4:10 Aristarchus my fellowprisoner saluteth you, and Marcus, sister's son to Barnabas,  Here, Barnabas is a cousin of the author of the gospel of Mark.  He's spelled here Marcus.  Iraneous mentions a Marcus, and Mark is spelled Marcus in Empress Prescillus tomb.

His Hellenic Jewish parents called him Joseph.  Some people make much of Jesus Christ being born or associated with a  father named Joseph - they suggest this is shortened version of Josephus.  Here, we could see that Jesus Christ is born(written into history) by Barnabas!

In acts 9, Paul is Saul.  He more or less learns of the Christ idea from an Anias priest; he has his vision.  Then, Barnabas, in acts 9:29 brings him to the apostles of Christ.

11:22 Then tidings of these things came unto the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem: and they sent forth Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch.  And of course, Acts 11 is famous for saying the first Christians were so named in Antioch - Acts 11:26

Acts 13:14 has Paul and Barnabas on missions together.  Acts 13:1 has amongst Barnabas as a preacher of christinaity, a Herodian of Tetrarch.

Acts 13:6 says they found a false prophet names Barjesus.  Of course, there's no explanation of why he's considered a false prophet. 13:8-11 has Paul pissed at another supposedly false prophet/sorcerer. Saul/Paul somehow makes the man blind and others are awed at Paul's magical powers.

13:21 has a contradiction. God gives Saul a king of he tribe of Benjamin; but, Genesis says god gives a king of the tribe of Judah(49:10)

Gal. 2:9-10, Well, Gal 2:1 Then fourteen years after I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and took Titus with me also.  Emperor Vespasian's son Titus was with Paul and Barnabas.  Back to 2:9-10, 2:9 And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision.  James the Just and some others of the 'Odd Judaism' gave the keys to Paul and Barnabas to lead the way for Christianity.

Acts 15:37-41 have Paul and Barnabas in a little bit of a disagreement.  Barnabas wants to being John Mark along, but Paul doesn't.  He chooses Silas(Silas of the Da Vinci Code; well, the character is named after him.  Silas is a Herodian if you read Robert Eisenman's "James brother of Jesus) instead.

Galatians  2:12-13 has Paul showing more disagreement with Barnabas.  Barnabas seems willing to hang out with James the Just.  Once again, if you read Robert Eisenman's "James brother of Jesus" you'll see that Paul and James the Just were in competition for making the new 'Odd Judaism.'

Clement of Alexandria makes Barnabas one of the seventy followers of Jesus Christ as pointed out in Luke.(Stromata, ii, 20).  Clement is from Alexandria, and other sources also suggest some relation of Barnabas to the city of Alexandria. Original church fathers Origen, Eusebius, and Jerome all consider Barnabas epistle to have been read in the city/library of Alexandria.

Barnabas doesn't seem to know of a Gospel of Mark(or any other gospel), but he mentions many ideas if not similar ideas to a Gospel of Mark(and Jesus Christ). And what do we find in there?

The introduction chapter has a lot of trying to win over converts without saying anything substantial.  I like this quote which shows the type of thinking I've found amongst the religious,

"Even a 400 A.D. Bishop of Constantinople Gregorius of Nyssa noticed this type of thinking and complained,

"People swarm everywhere, talking of incomprehensible matters, in hovels, streets and square, marketplaces, and crossroads. When I ask how many oboloi I have to pay, they answer with hairsplitting arguments about the born and the unborn. If I inquire the price of bread, I am told that the father is greater than the son. I call a servant to tell me whether my bath is ready; he rejoins that the son was created out of nothing.""

For instance, Epistle of Barnabas chapter 1:5, "For which cause brethren, I also think verily that I love you above my own soul : because that therein dwelleth the greatness of faith and charity, as also the hope of that life which is to come."

- After the quote that starts this, Barnabas turns around and says science and knowledge are o.k - a contradiction

- Chapter 2 of Barnabases epistle is mostly about anti-sacrifice. This is kind of interesting is you know Frazer's "The Golden Bough" which shows much of ancient religion/mythology was about sacrifice to appease the gods. Jesus Christ is to kind of make a easier friendlier sacrifice. Frazer, in his Golden Bough, mentions a Roman emperor who gets some slave to go through some cult groups tortuous mysteries to see what those mysteries are without going through the sacrifice himself!. 

It's interesting how the Hebrews did make some thought progress beyond most cultures before them in argueing that idols were not gods themselves. My favorite story is that of Rachel in Gen 31, who hides idols and images. Well, maybe that doesn't exactly argue against idols, but they later would.

4:13 has what I consider the smoking gun for making up Jesus Christ. "Then he clearly manifests himself to be the son of god. For had he not come in the flesh, how should men have been able to look upon him, that they might be saved? - There were many sungods throughout history - Osirus, Dionysus, Bacchus, but they never came in the flesh. Here we see that the Christians came up with a logic to midrash the old testament.  They needed to tease out of the old testament Jesus Christ to see what properties he had and maybe even what he said. I do believe it's called carnalisation.

Barnabas doesn't appear to know of any gospels, and neither does Clement of Alexandria, so who after them could have make the Gospel of Mark?  We know the epistle of Barnabas came after the first Jerusalem temple destruction because he mentions it(as does the Gospel of Mark, and everyone here knows).  And we know that Barnabases epistle was read in the city of Alexandria.  So, it has to be some Alexandrian who made the first Gospel of Mark(probably proto-Mark; or wasn't completed till the council of Nicea).

Barnabas says in his Epistle that the name jesus comes from gematria - VIII:11-14 . . . 10 and 8 are I and H, which he says are linguistically Jesus(well, he just says they 'denote Jesus').

Chapter VII:5 has the twelve followers of Jesus Christ being twelve because that's the number of the tribes of Israel.  As Josephus points out, the twelve tribes of Israel are just the twelve constellations of the zodiac.

So, in the Epislte of Barnabas we have an argument for a Gospel of Jesus Christ, or Mark(assuming Mark is the first Gospel), and that it's probably written in the city of Alexandria.