The Jesus You Were Never Meant to Meet
One Jesus survived. Dozens were erased. This is the story of the ones you were never meant to meet.
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Truth doesn’t fear scrutiny. It invites it.
For most of us raised in the church, there was only ever one version of Jesus.
The serene figure in flowing robes. Born in a manger. Gentle, all-knowing. Performing miracles, dying for sin, and rising in triumph. That version of the story is presented as historical fact.
But history, unfiltered by theology, tells a far more chaotic—and revealing—story.
A Fragmented Faith with Many Faces
In the earliest centuries of Christianity, belief in Jesus wasn’t unified. It was fragmented, experimental, and sometimes flat-out bizarre by modern standards.
Some early Christians believed Jesus had no real body, only the appearance of one—like a spirit in disguise. Others said he had a twin brother named Thomas, and that Jesus communicated secret wisdom only to him.
A sect known as the Ophites worshipped Christ as a serpent, believing the snake in the Garden of Eden was not Satan, but a divine bringer of knowledge. During their rituals, it’s said they would allow a live snake to crawl across the communion bread before consuming it.
There were stories that claimed Jesus was born not in a stable, but in a cave. That his crucifixion was an illusion—or worse, that someone else died in his place while he watched.
And these weren’t fringe fanfics. These were gospels. Read, copied, and passed along by real communities of believers who considered themselves just as Christian as those who would eventually label them heretics.
When Jesus Was Dangerous
One of the most vivid alternate accounts of Jesus comes from the Protoevangelium of James, an apocryphal gospel written in the second century.
In it, as Mary gives birth, birds freeze midair, the earth pauses, and everything goes utterly still—a moment outside of time. A skeptical midwife named Salome doubts Mary’s virginity and insists on examining her.
Immediately afterward, her hand is consumed by fire—it withers, shrivels, and becomes useless. In agony and panic, she begs God for healing. She’s only restored after touching the infant Jesus, who miraculously heals her.
Then there's the Infancy Gospel of Thomas—which reads more like a supernatural horror tale than a Sunday sermon. In this account, the boy Jesus, still only five years old, is dangerous.
He forms birds from clay on the Sabbath—breaking the law—and when rebuked, he claps and the birds come to life and fly away.
A child accidentally bumps into him, and Jesus strikes him dead on the spot.
When a teacher tries to discipline him, Jesus blinds the man with a curse.
Eventually, he learns to rein in his power, but the early portrait is clear: this Jesus is volatile, powerful, and very different from the meek and mild version we were taught.
Erased by Design
So what happened to all these stories? Why were we never told about them?
They were destroyed.
As one particular version of Christianity gained power—especially after aligning with the Roman Empire in the fourth century—it began purging all the rest. Competing gospels were banned. Scrolls were burned. Theologians were excommunicated. Sects were labeled dangerous and driven underground. Some of their members were even executed.
It wasn’t a matter of one truth rising to the top—it was a matter of who had the authority to decide what counted as truth.
What survived wasn’t the most accurate or most ethical version of Christianity. What survived was the version most willing to silence the others.
The Illusion of Consistency
Today, we’re handed a neatly packaged Bible and told it speaks with one voice. But that voice was manufactured—painstakingly curated by centuries of councils, controversies, and censorship.
When people say they’re following “the Word of God,” they rarely realize how many other words of God had to be burned, banned, or buried to give that book the illusion of consistency.
If the earliest Christians couldn’t even agree on whether Jesus was divine, human, or both...
If some believed he had siblings and others said he didn’t...
If entire sects had different gospels, different rituals, and a completely different understanding of salvation...
Then what exactly are we still calling “Christianity”?
This Is Why It Matters
Because if your belief system was shaped by power—not truth—what does it say about the faith that resulted?
And if stories of a snake-Christ, a miracle child with a temper, or a midwife burned for questioning are erased not because they were disproven but because they were inconvenient...
Then what else was lost?
You were never supposed to meet the other Jesuses.
But now that you have…
What will you do with that?
This space is for all of us who were handed fear and called it faith. Who were taught to sacrifice ourselves for the comfort of others. Who are finally learning to take it all back.
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