The Childhood of Jesus

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Rose Garden
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The Childhood of Jesus

Post by Rose Garden »

Some years ago I was introduced to this writing on the childhood of Jesus:
The Infancy Gospel of Thomas

Excerpt:
1 But the son of Annas the scribe was standing there with Joseph; and he took a branch of a willow and dispersed the waters which Jesus had gathered together. 2 And when Jesus saw what was done, he was wroth and said unto him: O evil, ungodly, and foolish one, what hurt did the pools and the waters do thee? behold, now also thou shalt be withered like a tree, and shalt not bear leaves, neither root, nor fruit. 3 And straightway that lad withered up wholly, but Jesus departed and went unto Joseph's house. But the parents of him that was withered took him up, bewailing his youth, and brought him to Joseph, and accused him 'for that thou hast such a child which doeth such deeds.'
Recently, I came across this description of the childhood of Jesus Christ, written by my friend who saw it in a vision:
The Childhood of Jesus

Excerpt:
He had this love for everything. He had this way of loving everyone and everything. At a very young age He learned to heal hurt animals.
I was shown a time when Jesus saw a hurt bird. He saw it had a limp and could not fly. He was around three years old. He was very intelligent by then and had a very large vocabulary. When he saw the bird He had compassion on it and He felt compelled to help it. I saw the young boy quietly walking toward the bird, softly talking to it. He had a way of talking to animals. I could tell the bird was responsive to Him. The little bird started to move toward the Boy Jesus. Hurt and frightened birds have a tendency to run and not understand the desire of the rescuer to help. Running is a way of protection. But not this bird she knew that The Boy was not going to hurt her, in fact I could see how the bird was feeling and it felt peace and somehow knew that Jesus was going to help her.
When I read the first account of Jesus life, I put it on a shelf in my mind, not knowing whether it was true or not. But when I recently came across this other account of Jesus' childhood, it seemed so much more in line with what I understand Jesus' nature to be. I believe Jesus likely had power over life and death in his childhood but I don't believe that he used that power to throw temper tantrums and kill off kids who were teasing him. This second account is so much more like what I would have imagined Jesus to be in his childhood.

Juliet
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Re: The Childhood of Jesus

Post by Juliet »

I don't know one way or the other, but one thing I don't like is people think He didn't have emotions, because He was perfect. I would like to have a definition of perfection that allows all emotions to color the personality of our Lord, and ourselves.

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AI2.0
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Re: The Childhood of Jesus

Post by AI2.0 »

I like the stories where Jesus is kind and heals animals--but there are some awful ones where he sounds like a brat. I seem to remember one where he pushes a kid off a roof! Actually, I found some of those stories of Jesus' childhood in the apocyrphal writings to be amusing.

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AI2.0
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Re: The Childhood of Jesus

Post by AI2.0 »

I was trying to find that story, but found this instead, it's interesting;

https://www.themonastery.org/blog/2011/ ... gon-tamer/

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AI2.0
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Re: The Childhood of Jesus

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I found the story, apparently I misremembered it, Jesus is accused of pushing the kid off the roof, but he brings him back to life to have him tell everyone that he didn't do it. He does kill a kid who accidentally bumps into him, though. Anyway, there are more of these stories in this blog--pretty funny. And I guess we can see why the Apocryphal writings are interesting but not worth much if you're looking for inspiration.

http://marikablogs.blogspot.com/2009/01 ... years.html

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Rose Garden
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Re: The Childhood of Jesus

Post by Rose Garden »

Juliet wrote:I don't know one way or the other, but one thing I don't like is people think He didn't have emotions, because He was perfect. I would like to have a definition of perfection that allows all emotions to color the personality of our Lord, and ourselves.
I think our ideas of perfection are seriously skewed.

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Rose Garden
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Re: The Childhood of Jesus

Post by Rose Garden »

AI2.0 wrote:I was trying to find that story, but found this instead, it's interesting;

https://www.themonastery.org/blog/2011/ ... gon-tamer/
Interesting article. The only way we can truly know the nature of Jesus is to interact with him. The Lord I converse with through the veil and who speaks peace to my soul assuring me that I am of great worth to him does not seem like the child in these stories who wipes out someone who merely bumped into him in the street. I feel fairly confident in dismissing the stories of the child Jesus who kills and blinds people in his tantrums.

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Re: The Childhood of Jesus

Post by Finrock »

AI2.0 wrote:And I guess we can see why the Apocryphal writings are interesting but not worth much if you're looking for inspiration.
Not to go off topic, but that really depends on the Apocryphal writings. It is too broad of a brush to say that based on these stories of Jesus' life all Apocryphal writings are just interesting but not worth much in terms of inspiration. There are many dozens, if not hundreds, of Apocryphal writings. Some are clearly inspired by the Holy Ghost while others not so much. I think Joseph Smith nailed it on the head when he revealed in D&C that some of the Apocryphal writings could reveal many sacred pearls if guided to them through the power of the Holy Ghost.
D&C 91 wrote:1 Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you concerning the Apocrypha—There are many things contained therein that are true, and it is mostly translated correctly;

2 There are many things contained therein that are not true, which are interpolations by the hands of men.

3 Verily, I say unto you, that it is not needful that the Apocrypha should be translated.

4 Therefore, whoso readeth it, let him understand, for the Spirit manifesteth truth;

5 And whoso is enlightened by the Spirit shall obtain benefit therefrom;

6 And whoso receiveth not by the Spirit, cannot be benefited. Therefore it is not needful that it should be translated. Amen.
-Finrock

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BruceRGilbert
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Re: The Childhood of Jesus

Post by BruceRGilbert »

https://youtu.be/bXNB2yxSwI8

Glen Kimball was L.D.S.

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