Date:    01-25-95 11:19 (Public)
 From:    LARRY SITES
 To:      DAVID RICE
 Subject: JESUS IN HELL

DAVID RICE to LARRY SITES on 01-20-95 22:44 re: JESUS IN HELL

>RD> Hell is only mankinds grave. The bible even says that
>RD> Jesus went to Hell. Bet you didn't know that.

LS> Quote the verse, please.

Now I realize what his post to me with a verse from acts without 
any context was about. He couldn't even come up with a verse to 
suport his assertation with as his acts 2:31 or whatever only 
says Jesus didn't just die.

DR>I do not recall any Bible verse stating Jesus went to Hell,
DR>but it is part of the Christian mythology of Jesus. It is
DR>said that he went to Hell for three days (just like most of
DR>the sons of god before him) to "plead for the lost souls." I
DR>think Jesus's trip through Hell is in one of the Apocrypha.

Oh, it's in the bible all right, but it's a typo! See below from 
a previous post of mine.

I just finished reading _The Lost Years of Jesus Revealed_ and 
_Did Jesus Write This Book_, both by Charles Francis Potter. He 
proposes that the Books of Enoch and similar writings were 
"lost" on purpose because they document the evolutionary 
development of theology later grafted onto Jesus. In particular 
he points to Enoch as the source for the beatitudes and "but I 
say" and ethical teachings of Jesus. As evidence he cites the 
exclusion of the books of the Psalms of Solomon, Epistle of 
Barnabas, and Shepherd of Hermas. These are found in various of 
the oldest existing manuscripts and attested to by early church 
fathers.

Barnabas, for example, is included in the _Codex Sinaiticus_, 
Clement of Alexandria quotes it as scripture and Origen terms it 
a "Catholic Episle." Barnabas 16:5 quotes Enoch 89:55, 66, 67 
and Barnabas chapter 4 reads "as Enoch says". Enoch was 
recogonized as scripture in the first century by the current new 
testament book of Jude, in the second century by Barnabas and 
Athenagoras, and in the third century by Clement of Alexandria, 
by Irenaeus, and Tertullian. After Hilary, Jerome and Augustine 
it was "lost".

On page 95 of _The Lost Years of J Revealed_, Potter shows that 
the phrase "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." was 
added to Acts 8:37 because it isn't in fourth century Codexes 
_Vaticanus_ and _Sinaiticus_ nor the fifth century Codexes 
_Alexandrinus_ and _Ephraemi_. It's still in the King James 
Version but has been removed from the Revised, American Standard 
Revised, and the new Revised Standard Version. In a strange 
twist of fate, he notes that the ethiopian eunuch falsely 
attributed as saying this, may in fact have been the source of 
the book of Enoch transported to europe where it escaped 
destruction and a copy was discovered late in the 19th century.

On the next several pages, Potter shows that the "he" refered to 
in 1 Peter 3:18-20 that "went and preached to the spirits in 
prison", the source of the credial phrase about descending into 
hell, is not Jesus but in fact originally refered to Enoch! He 
lists several Greek specialists that support this translation: 
Bowyer, Spitta, Cramer, Rendel Harris, M.R. James, Moffattt and 
Goodspeed. In Enoch chapters 6 to sixteen, Enoch not only 
preached to these spirits but the circumstances of their 
imprisonment are explained. This story became a point of 
contention between Augustine and Tertullian. Guess who became 
the heretic and who the saint and which believed what? Fundi 
scholars attribute this little change to a scribal error known 
as "haplography", or writing only one of two identical groups of 
letters occuring near together. Another accident like "losing" 
all the copies of Enoch, no doubt. BTW, these "spirits" were the 
fallen angels of Genesis 6:1-4, Isaiah 14:12 and 24:21-23. Paul 
was apparently aware of this and still afraid of them when he 
gives the reason why women should cover their heads in church in 
1 Cor 11:10, "because of the angels.".

Further evidence of the evolution of biblical theology can be 
found in Luke 3:22 which in the "Gospel of the Ebionites", 
several ancient manuscripts, quotations by Justin, Clement, 
Origen, and even Augustine describes the descent of the Holy 
Spirit as Jesus baptism thus, "Thou are my Son, today I have 
begotten thee." This clear text is the basis for Adoptianism, or 
the belief that Jesus was only a human till god endowed ( or 
adopted) him with divine nature. This belief can be traced back 
through Arius, Lucian, Paul of Samosata, to Theodotus of 
Byzantium and Artemon in Rome about 185 and before that to the 
Ebionites of the first and second centuries, the survivors of 
Qumran and Jerusalem in 70. The Ebionites are also the ones that 
first call Paul a liar! What does the present day bible say at 
Luke 3:22? The "today" has been removed to match the eternal 
divinity dogma and all the Adoptionists are declaired heretics 
even by Augustine who knew what the bible originally said!