Page 42 - Disciples News Today

Did go to the ends of the earth to do so. >> but there is little in the acts of the apostles about what happens next. >> the acts of the apostles is badly misnamed. most of the 12 disappear off the landscape of early christianity once we get past the gospels. >> thomas simply vanishes from the pages of the new testament. >> but there is another account of the life of thomas that picks up where the bible narrative stops. dr. nicola denzey lewis has come to the british library, where there is a ra...

The arrest and eventual crucifixion of jesus. we get the sense that they believed this movement was over. >> thomas misses the defining event of christian faith. >> hes not there on easter sunday night when jesus first appears to the ten. he misses out on jesus saying, "receive the holy spirit." it strongly suggests that hed not only abandoned hope in jesus, hed abandoned the other disciples as well. >> where were you?

Growing christian church whose message spreads across the world. >> johns disciples are still around long after the death of jesus. but perhaps the biggest difference is ultimately, in the early jesus movement there is an appeal to gentiles. as soon as the gentiles are converting to this new movement we get a much more successful global kind of mission. >> but johns voice can still be heard in a very direct way through one of jesus most famous teachings, the lords prayer itself. >> father hallow...

Special, but it is mystical because one enters into dealing with the questions of, where did the holy family live? isnt this exciting, though, to be able to think that we are looking at such an important part of human history at this point? >> yes. >> its possible that this house is the real deal because we have to remember that mary was alive during much of the period of the early church and would have passed down the memory of where these places were to the disciples who would then have venera...

Hes supplying really very expensive products to be used in the process of embalming the body. >> first century jewish law said that to touch a dead body would make you unclean, and so for joseph and nicodemus to actually go through the process of preparing jesus for burial, there had to have been tremendous love and devotion just to care for him. >> a rock is rolled across the entrance to seal the tomb shut. three days after the crucifixion, john and simon peter, two of jesuss disciples, visit t...

Question. >> forgive us our sins, for we also forgive those whove sinned against us. >> the answer that comes back from jesus will prove one of the most famous moments in the new testament. >> jesus asks these disciples to tell john that hes doing all these things. its all about action. >> you met with him? >> yeah. >> what did he say? >> the good news is preached to the poor. the maimed walk. the blind see. i am doing all of this stuff, john, so i am what you expected to happen. >> yay! >> as h...

So thomas decided to go to india. >> is it possible the disciple famous for his lack of faith brought a form of christianity here nearly 2,000 years ago? >> in the bible, the resurrected jesus leaves his disciples with a final mission. >> go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit. >> well, apostle means to be sent, and after the resurrection, christ commissions them to go to the ends of the earth to proclaim the good news...

So hes hot headed. he has a bit of a temper of him. hell say things which he then regrets. he changes his mind about things. hes the most three-dimensional of the disciples. >> significantly, according to johns gospel, early on in his ministry jesus renames peter. >> peters actual name is simon, or simeon, and he appears to have been renamed by jesus, and hes renamed peter, or kephas, in aramaic, and this is the word for rock, and it seems to be that hes nicknamed rock because in spite of all pe...

At some point in the first few centuries of the common era. its a little bit of a mystery. it may be there as early as the second century, and maybe its plausible that it even arrived in the first century. >> is it possible the disciple famous in the bible for doubt founded one of the earliest christian churches in india? >> thomas is listed as one of the twelve, so we know that hes one of that inner group of jesus disciples. >> hes best known as the one disciple who wasnt present when jesus fir...

>> a direct line to the very source of christian faith. >> science puts his relics to the test to reveal the truth about doubting thomas. >> a holy festival in the south indian state of kerala, worshippers here follow a liturgy they believe was handed to them directly by one of jesus twelve disciples, a man seven million indians claim brought christianity here: thomas. >> christianity appears in india