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Analysis of the Good News

This was supposed to be a fun assignment, Write a gospel in which you proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ. I had been looking forward to this moment of creation since Monday, so why am I suddenly somber? Probably because, despite the fun exterior of this project, I had to reflect on just what I believe in the bible, and what I would confidently repeat about it. I second-guessed myself a lot on which parts to keep or leave out, and that is how The Good News according to Christelle came to be. Throughout my reflection, I felt it necessary to include a little bit of everything believable to me as I read these last two weeks of class; the birth and infancy narratives, baptism, temptation, and the resurrection. I felt it necessary to mix both the canonical gospels and the Gnostic gospels, especially because some people have never heard of the Gnostic gospels, although some of them seem believable to me. I did not include material supporting the Gospel of Judas because its historical authenticity has never been proven, and also because after being banned by Irenaeus, the other copies seem to have disappeared, unlike the three found copies of the Gospel of Mary. Even when published around 280 C.E. (approximate date from radiocarbon dating), it was attacked, and those people were a lot more privy to what really happened during Jesus life time. Also, my gospel has a few Gospel of Luke overtones. This is because; I found that I relate the most this gospel. It may have to do with the style, language, and arrangement of this gospel, but mainly its content. The genealogy goes way back to Adam, includes unique stories of the prophets Simeon and Anna, Martha and Mary, unique parables like that of the prodigal son and that of the rich man and Lazarus. I felt like it spoke of a friendlier Jesus than Matthews or Lukes, and that is how I wanted mine to be. My introduction therefore intentionally looked a lot like Lukes; it told you why this gospel existed.

Religion 240 2 Lastly, I made my Jesus very modern. In fact, if not for the original stories I decided to include, He would seem completely different. I made his birth to be in the 70s because I feel our world at present needs a little bit of shaking up; there is so much crime that it is categorized, the least evil criminals get a slap on the wrist because jails are over flowing, or the government is trying to redirect money towards rebuilding the economy, therefore cutting corners in other areas. I intentionally made his ministry coincide with 2007, around this time the social networks were created, and becoming increasingly popular, so it would have been easier to access people. He also travelled a lot for accessibility. Furthermore, I made my Jesus be here, not just for the Jews, but everyone worldwide because when I read some of the gospels, they targeted particularly the Jews or the Gentiles, therefore I felt like an outsider. Why should that be if salvation is possible for everyone? Whats more, my Jesus had to be modern, or else it would not make sense for the government and the churchs of the world to be the antagonists of my story. I skipped the crucifixion, not because I do not believe in it, but because I felt like lightning up the mood at this part, especially after watching The Passion of Christ, and also because I did a research about the relationship between cigarette-smoking policies and government taxes. Turns out, a reason why the government will turn a blind eye to health consequences of smoking, and not implement stronger laws on the tobacco company is because the federal excise taxes exceed $15,101,077,000 (Tobacco Taxes and Payments). As for the Churches, I think if their memberships decreased, its officials will grumble and implement ways to draw in new blood. Having to write a gospel was very mentally stimulating. I had to organize my thoughts and reasoning, and even though my gospel is not historically accurate, it represents what I think could have happened if just the time and setting of Jesus life had changed.

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Work-Cited Page
"Infancy Gospel of Thomas." Earlychristianwritings.com. Early Christian Writings. Web. 09 May 2012. "Tobacco Taxes and Payments." Laws & Taxes. RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company. Web. 10 Apr. 2012.