I watched an interesting program last night on Science Channel called Mysteries of the Bible - this episode was about the lost gospels.
They include one by Peter, another by Mary Magdelene, and one by Judas. The most interesting part of the show, to me, was how they debunked the notion (shared by the WTBTS) that Constantine's council was somehow inspired and picked out the correct four gospels by divine means.
The pictured Constantine as a practically non-religious person except in the sense that he saw a centrally organized system of christianity as a source of political power for himself. Much was made of how he disliked the independent spirit of the gnostics, and therefore viewed Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John as the least politically dangerous of the numerous gospel writings available in his time.
And, of course, again I was reminded of just how uncertain we really are about the writings preserved in the present-day New Testament: They were written at least decades after their events took place, and were the result of verbal traditions told from one person to another. The program suggested that very possibly some of the forgotten gospels were actually older than that of Mark.
Also it reminded me of how much the JWs depend on actions by the early orthodox church for their view of the scriptures - even though they also say that the christian church had become apostate by that time.
Just wondered if anybody else saw this and had any comment.