Last week, I wrote about the little things we say, and how important it is that we don’t claim (or give the impression) things are true, when we don’t know for sure.  Sidenote:  Jesus did play soccer, though.  Here’s the statue to prove it.  Is it just me or is it a little disturbing that these girls are not wearing shin guards?  Those sandels are deceivingly hard.

Now, the National Geographic Channel is going to be airing a show called “The Secret Lives of Jesus” as Christmas approaches.  It’s a look at several apocryphal books and the stories they tell about the life of Jesus.

Here are several of the highlights.

• The Infancy Gospel of Thomas tells of a Jesus who turns clay sparrows into real birds … who argues with his parents … who works magic on a miscut length of wood to get his father out of a jam … who causes one playmate to wither up and die, but raises another from the dead.
• Mary Magdalene is identified as Jesus’ closest disciple in the Gnostic gospels of Philip and Mary, sparking speculation over the centuries (including in “The Da Vinci Code”) that they were husband and wife.
• The Apocalypse of Peter quotes the divine Jesus as saying that he didn’t really die on the cross, but that only his “fleshly part” experienced the Passion. Other Gnostic texts claim that Jesus actually traded places with Simon the Cyrene — an innocent bystander who is depicted in the canonical gospels as helping Jesus carry the cross.
• Much more recently, a book published by Russian doctor-explorer Nikolas Notovitch in 1894 purports to be the account of Jesus’ youthful years in the Himalayas, learning at the feet of Buddhist and Hindu holy men. Notovitch said the tale came from an ancient Tibetan document titled “The Life of Issa.” 

Knowledge is a great thing, and studying these books is interesting.  But, as we saw with the DaVinci Code, a book & movie of fiction that caused people to believe untruths about Christ, this new show provides yet another challenge for us to speak truth to our kids.