Gestas and Dysmus

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JASON FILLEY

1.	Please reconcile the following problems concerning the statements of the 
criminals on either side of Jesus during the crucifixion:

Matthew:  The two criminals 'reviled him in the same way' as the crowd.
Luke:	One criminal reviles him, but the other recognizes him as the son of 
God.
Mark:	The criminals also reviled him.
John:	Two criminals mentioned, but no quotes from them.

Specifically, Luke disagrees with Mark and Matthew.  John, stressing signs 
as the proof of Jesus' divinity, doesn't see anything spectacular about the 
comments of a crucified criminal, especially since nothing miraculous is 
happening - Jesus is just hanging there naked, nailed to a cross.

Explain why the accounts differ and explain why John didn't quote the 
criminals.

2.	Apply the same standards you use in your harmonization  to the texts 
from the 'Narrative of Joseph of Arimathaea' and the 'Gospel of Nicodemus' 
 (included below).

Is there a single item in them that cannot be harmonized with the canonical 
accounts?

3.	Finally, without using words like 'obvious,' 'evident,' or 'patently,' 
explain how we can determine which (if any) of these accounts are 
historically accurate, as opposed to pure theological fiction.  Please 
remember that we can't just dismiss a claim merely because it SOUNDS 
ludicrous or fabricated.  Otherwise, we could just offhandedly reject the 
claim that Lazarus, Jesus, and 'many saints' came back from the dead.  One 
person's fairy tales are another person's dogma.

And be careful not to argue from silence.

***************************************************************************
All canonical quotations are from the Revised Standard Version.

Matthew 27 *****
38	Then two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and one on 
the left.
39	And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads
40	and saying, "You who would destroy the temple and build it in three 
days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross."
41	So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, 
saying,
42	"He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let 
him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him.
43	He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him; for he 
said, 'I am the Son of God.'"
44	And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same 
way.

Luke 23
32	Two others also, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death 
with him.
33	And when they came to the place which is called The Skull, there they 
crucified him, and the criminals, one on the right and one on the left.
34	And Jesus said, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." 
And they cast lots to divide his garments.
35	And the people stood by, watching; but the rulers scoffed at him, 
saying, "He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, 
his Chosen One!"
36	The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him vinegar,
37	and saying, "If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!"
38	There was also an inscription over him, "This is the King of the Jews."
39	One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, "Are you not 
the Christ? Save yourself and us!"
40	But the other rebuked him, saying, "Do you not fear God, since you are 
under the same sentence of condemnation?
41	And we indeed justly; for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; 
but this man has done nothing wrong."
42	And he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."
43	And he said to him, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in 
Paradise."


Mark 15
27	And with him they crucified two robbers, one on his right and one on his 
left.
28	(And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "And he was counted among 
the lawless.")  [Not in most reliable manuscripts]
29	And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads, and saying, 
"Aha! You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days,
30	save yourself, and come down from the cross!"
31	So also the chief priests mocked him to one another with the scribes, 
saying, "He saved others; he cannot save himself.
32	Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross, that 
we may see and believe." Those who were crucified with him also reviled 
him.


John 19:
18	There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, 
and Jesus between them.
32	So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other 
who had been crucified with him;

Narrative of Joseph of Arimathaea  I *****
...two condemned robbers were sent from Jericho to the procurator Pilate; 
and their case was as follows:--

The first, his name Gestas, put travellers to death, murdering them with 
the sword, and others he exposed naked. And he hung up women by the heels, 
head down, and cut off their breasts, and drank the blood of infants limbs, 
never having known God, not obeying the laws, being violent from the 
beginning, and doing such deeds.

And the case of the other was as follows: He was called Demas [Dysmus], and 
was by birth a Galilaean, and kept an inn. He made attacks upon the rich, 
but was good to the poor--a thief like Tobit, for he buried the bodies of 
the poor. (2) And he set his hand to robbing the multitude of the Jews, and 
stole the law (3) itself in Jerusalem, and stripped naked the daughter of 
Caiaphas, who was priestess of the sanctuary, and took away from its place 
the mysterious deposit itself placed there by Solomon. Such were his 
doings.

Narrative of Joseph of Arimathaea III**********
CHAP. 3.--Having therefore done many and dreadful things against Jesus that 
night, they gave Him up to Pilate the procurator at the dawn of the 
preparation, that he might crucify Him; and for this purpose they all came 
together. After a trial, therefore, Pilate the procurator ordered Him to be 
nailed to the cross, along with the two robbers. And they were nailed up 
along with Jesus, Gestas on the left. and Demas [Dysmas] on the right.
And he that was on the left began to cry out, saying to Jesus: See how many 
evil deeds I have done in the earth; and if I had known that thou wast the 
king, I should have cut off thee also. And why dost thou call thyself Son 
of God, and canst not help thyself in necessity? how canst thou afford it 
to another one praying for help? If thou art the Christ, come down from the 
cross, that I may believe in thee. But now I see thee perishing along with 
me, not like a man, but like a wild beast. And many other things he began 
to say against Jesus, blaspheming and gnashing his teeth upon Him. For the 
robber was taken alive in the snare of the devil. [3]

But the robber on the right hand, whose name was Demas [Dysmus], seeing the 
Godlike grace of Jesus, thus cried out: I know Thee, Jesus Christ, that 
Thou art the Son of God. I see Thee, Christ, adored by myriads of myriads 
of angels. Pardon me my sins which I have done. Do not in my trial make the 
stars come against me, or the moon, when Thou shall judge all the world; 
because in the night I have accomplished my wicked purposes. Do not urge 
the sun, which is now darkened on account of Thee, to tell the evils of my 
heart, for no gift can I give Thee for the remission of my sins. Already 
death is coming upon me because of my sins; but Thine is the propitiation. 
Deliver me, O Lord of all, from Thy fearful judgment. Do not give the enemy 
power to swallow me up, and to become heir of my soul, as of that of him 
who is hanging on the left; for I see how the devil joyfully takes his 
soul, and his body disappears. Do not even order me to go away into the 
portion of the Jews; for I see Moses and the patriarchs in great weeping, 
and the devil rejoicing over them. Before, then, O Lord, my spirit departs, 
order my sins to be washed away, and remember me the sinner in Thy kingdom, 
when upon the great most lofty throne [4] thou shalt judge the twelve 
tribes of Israel. [5] For Thou hast prepared great punishment for Thy world 
on account of Thyself.

And the robber having thus spoken, Jesus says to him: Amen, amen; I say to 
thee, Demas [Dysmus], that to-day thou shalt be with me in paradise. [6] 
And the sons of the kingdom, the children of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, 
and Moses, shall be cast out into outer darkness; there shall be weeping 
and gnashing of teeth. [7] And thou alone shalt dwell in paradise until my 
second appearing, when I am to judge those who do not confess my name. And 
He said to the robber: Go away, and tell the cherubim and the powers, that 
turn the flaming sword, that guard paradise from the time that Adam, the 
first created, was in paradise, and sinned, and kept not my commandments, 
and I cast him out thence. And none of the first shall see paradise until I 
am to come the second time to judge living and dead. And He wrote thus: 
Jesus Christ the Son of God, who have come down from the heights of the 
heavens, who have come forth out of the bosom of the invisible Father 
without being separated from Him, [1] and who have come down into the world 
to be made flesh, and to be nailed to a cross, in order that I might save 
Adam, whom I fashioned,--to my archangelic powers, the gatekeepers of 
paradise, to the officers of my Father: I will and order that he who has 
been crucified along with me should go in, should receive remission of sins 
through me; and that he, having put on an incorruptible body, should go in 
to paradise, and dwell where no one has ever been able to dwell.

Gospel of Nicodemus X *****************
2 And one of the malefactors that were hanged [by name Gestas] spake unto 
him, saying: If thou be the Christ, save thyself, and us. But Dysmas 
answering rebuked him, saying: Dost thou not at all fear God, seeing thou 
art in the same condemnation? and we indeed justly, for we receive the due 
reward of our deeds; but this man hath done nothing amiss. And he said unto 
Jesus: Remember me, Lord, in thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him: Verily, 
verily, I say unto thee, that today thou shalt be (art) with me in 
paradise.

********************
Good luck,

Jason