Customer Reviews

Lost Years of Jesus Revealed

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

i first read this book, my copy of which is a first edition that belonged to my dad, as a teenager. many decades later, i have just finished reading it again. my early impressions of the book were the inspiration to try to find the answers to my own questions, and led me to explore all sorts of other religious writings, and even read texts that formed the basis of other faiths, in my own search for God's truth. dr. potter's work, while admittedly the work of a very excited person (who wouldn't be, who had such information to share?), still asks the important questions, and his predictions as to the changes that 'would come' to the new translations of the Bible are, in fact, realized --you can look them up one by one as they are named in the text. i believe that the 'great shake-up' dr. potter predicted didn't come because so many were just not paying attention. the truth is there, but you have to discover it for yourself, just as Jesus did. in truth, we shouldn't be afraid of this knowledge, if we are really to 'live as Jesus did, and do the things he would do.' it is a fascinating, thought-provoking work, that should lead us to further research, and the application of Jesus' teachings (and those of the Essenes) in our everyday lives.

The Rev Dr Charles F Potter first wrote this book sometime in the late 1950's. Before he has written twenty pages, Potter makes the claims that the contents of the Dead Sea Scrolls"disturb" all church-going people and make out-of-date _every_ version of the Bible.

About 50 years later I think of the number of church-goers I know who have only heard of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the number of new Bible versions (ranging form the Good News Bible to the NIV) which have come into existence since. Potter's predictions have come to nothing and his book is now no more than an item of curiosity for those (of us) willing to read...a *wild* theory... once in a while.

I wish I could endorse this book because it points out a few things which are useful and accurate. Potter does point out that the New Testament was written in Koine Greek and not a classical form of the language. Also he is correct in saying that the true nature of New Testament Greek was not realized until the 20th century.

However Potter uses these facts to bolster conclusions which are otherwise unconnected. What does it really matter what NT scholars thought of NT Greek compared to the Dead Sea Scrolls? Not even Carston Thiede uses this argument when he tries to say that some of the manuscripts from Qumran Cave 7 are from books of the New Testament.

Read Potter's book only if you are someone, like me, who will read theories that are really wild just to see what they say.

Potter's book does much to validate the historical Jesus though does not complement accepted traditional teachings. For inspiration I found R. Patton's "THE Autobiography" infinitely more satisfying. Potter has done a commendable job of collating factual information that doesn't unquestioningly swallow orhtodoxy. A valuable reference tool.

This book pretends to be an exploration into "the lost years of Jesus". Unfortunately for the reader the book digresses into a lengthy exploration of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The author condemns scroll research and promises "great revelations" as more of the scroll appears. This book is at least 20 years old, and as far as this reader is concerned, these revelations never came. The author jumps to many conclusions based upon the discoveries up until the book was written with inadequate documentation of his findings. This book was a disappointment to read with too many unfulfilled promises. The author's bold pronouncement that Jesus was a man and not the Son of God is merely the punchline to a poorly worded and developed joke.

Dr. Potter's book is a joyful gloat that ancient texts were found that shed doubt on the deity of Jesus Christ.

Dr. Potter chastises "ignorant" fundamentalists everywhere for attributing the miracles of Christ to the power of God, rather than the power of the human mind. ...