America 1982-Chapter 484 - 90: I’ve been at home_3
Tommy Hawk rubbed his temples twice, looking helpless as he said, "He... has been under a lot of pressure with work recently, causing some mental disorder."
"I thought... I thought Dr. Duny would execute them, like many extremist sects do, as reported in the newspapers and depicted in films." Nick explained to Hanks in a low voice, "Sorry."
Hanks glanced contemptuously at Nick and asked Tommy, "That California backer, are you sure he doesn’t bear a grudge against the candidate, and that’s why he sent him here? You should make it clear, maybe that backer actually supports Jeff Raven’s opponent."
Soon, the door opened from the inside, and two middle-aged Caucasians, a man and a woman, stepped out. They were dressed plainly, the typical poor folk from the Florida countryside, and glanced at Tommy and the others with embarrassed faces before lowering their heads and hurrying away.
Hanks pushed the door open, "Doctor, Tommy Hawk is outside, and he has brought along the film crew for Mr. Jeff Raven’s campaign documentary to follow and shoot."
"Please let them in," said Gary Duny’s voice.
After receiving permission, Hanks stepped aside, and Tommy and Nick, carrying the camera, walked in. A white-haired old man with tortoiseshell glasses and wearing a plaid shirt and jeans stood by a large desk, came forward to shake hands with Tommy, and after exchanging pleasantries and sitting down, with Hanks leaving the room, the unassuming Gary Duny looked at Tommy with a puzzled gaze:
"To be honest, although I spoke with you on the phone before, Tommy, I still don’t understand your intentions here, and I am puzzled as to who Mr. Jeff Raven is, what he’s running for, and what his connection is to me."
By this time, Nick even began to doubt whether Tommy had been joking with him earlier. This old man did not seem like the stern and serious religious scholar, nor did he seem like the articulate preacher who adeptly cited scripture. He seemed more like... an elderly civil servant on the cusp of retirement from some city department. Aside from a silver chain with a cross around his neck, there was almost no other religious ornament to be found.
Furthermore, it didn’t seem like this old man was among the wealthy elite of the church. If he ran his church in a non-established town, and all his believers were poor, how could he possibly provide substantial funding to support Jeff Raven’s campaign?
Could it be that Tommy really was in awe of the man and had come specially to make his acquaintance?
After discussing the beautiful scenery of Garden City, Tommy turned to Gary Duny, asking earnestly with an inquisitive tone, "You see, Dr. Duny, I stumbled upon some information about you and your church. Those documents indicated you believe the New Testament was incorrectly transcribed, changed too much, and that no one has even seen the original manuscripts since its inception. It’s a pseudo-gospel, unlike the Old Testament where everything is verifiable."
"I previously studied at Princeton Theological Seminary, mainly focusing on the authentication of religious texts. From what I understand, yes, the New Testament has issues with reconstructing the original text. I didn’t call it pseudo-gospel, but from a research perspective, there are various inconsistencies across the different Gospels in the New Testament, and they differ greatly in style." Even though Tommy had started by discussing matters of religious texts with him, which was somewhat impolite, Gary Duny still gave his concise and earnest reply:
"For example, the ’Gospel of John,’ compared with the other Gospels, portrays a Jesus that doesn’t seem like Jesus, more like a mortal who has acquired special powers and likes to show off miracles. A more serious problem is that the 21st Chapter of the ’Gospel of John’ was added many years after the book was written. From a textual criticism perspective, we can trace the history of these Gospels, no matter how many manuscripts there are. As long as the original text exists, it can always be traced. But the problem with the New Testament is that countless scholars have tried to trace it back, just like the Old Testament, to find its original text. After centuries and countless scholars’ successive efforts, all point towards one answer: there is no original text, the content is reconstructed by later generations."
"My mom is a Catholic," Tommy said after a pause.
With a smile, Gary Duny responded, "Catholicism is one of the three major denominations of Christianity. Of course, your mother can decide which denomination she wants to belong to."
"When I was very young, I was troubled by a question, Doctor. About the portraits in the Bible’s Gospel books, my mother is a devout Catholic. Back then, our home was filled with those Gospel images. I grew up looking at them, and one day, I realized something. In the ’Gospel of Matthew,’ Jesus looks like a man. In the ’Gospel of Mark,’ Jesus resembles a lion. In the ’Gospel of Luke,’ Jesus is like an ox. And in the ’Gospel of John,’ Jesus is portrayed as an eagle. At that time, I asked my mother and the priests at the church, receiving today’s standard response: these are the various forms Jesus showed to different Angels Envoy, where the human figure represents Jesus’ humanity, the lion His royalty, the ox His humility, and the eagle His pride. After getting that answer, I asked another question. This time, the priests gave me no answer, only my mother pulled me aside, gesturing for me to be quiet. My question was, if they were all Jesus’ faithful Angels Envoy, why would he treat them differently? Why be proud towards Angel Envoy John and humble towards Luke?"
