Rewriting Church History: Jason of Gerasa

NOTE: This TL is based off of texts found in the gospels. Atheist or otherwise, I do not wish for screams of 'ASB!'. It is Christian Church history and as such, I will use the standard for Christian Church History.

DBWI:

The Gospel of Jason and Book of Jason are perhaps some of the greatest New Testament books that deal with Satan and his supernatural demons. It is Church tradition that they were written by Jason of Gerasa although there is significant evidence to support this. They were probably written around AD 74. The gospel is estimated to be written in AD 74 and the latter was written in AD 78 at latest. The Gospel of Jason, along with the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John form the Five Gospels. The first four are considered the synoptic gospels.
 
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AD 34: A man named Jesus of Nazareth was preaching and healing in Judea. He had gathered many followers, but twelve were always in attendence with him unless he sent them out. However, crowds formed everywhere. He took his disciples and crossed the Sea of Galilee to the Gadarenes or Gerasa for he was less known there and docked near the tombs. Immediately afterwards, two men came, each possessed by multitudes of demons. They begged at the man's feet for they knew he was the Son of God. Jesus then asked who they were. "I am Legion for we are many," answered one of the men. The other continued to beg for mercy since they did not want to be sent to the Abyss. So, Jesus cast the demons into a nearby group of pigs which then ran into the sea and drowned. The man possessed by the legions of demons begged to follow Jesus. Instead, he told the men to go tell their friends and families of God's love and mercy. They did.

AD 34 (POD): The man possessed by the legions of demons obeyed Jesus' command; the other remained silent and acted as a new man. The first was taken in by a man and woman who thought he was crazy. The clothed his nakedness and bandaged his body. After the Sabath, he insisted on leaving, but they resisted. In the middle of the night, he left to find this Jesus of Nazareth, not knowing how much impact this would have on the world.
 
Plausable so far; I look forward to reading more. One nit though, John is not not classified as a synoptic gospel due to its styalistic & structural differences from Matthew, Mark & Luke. My hunch is that the Book of Jason will be more like John then M, M & L, is this correct?
 
Cool!

The city in the Gospel account was probably Hippos, not Gerase. Hippos is in the "region of" Gerasa and was also Greek/Gentile, but it was right on the Sea of Galilee rather than a few dozen miles away, so it fits the description better.

Then again, my source for this theory was a biblical archaeologist who worked at Hippos and had a bit of an ego... not too bad, but just enough to make him absolutely, no doubt convinced that "his" city was the location of such a momentous event. :)

Then again again, even a man technically from Hippos could be known as "Jason of Gerasa" to the world.
 
The first huge difference I see resulting from this POD would be a canonical Gospel written by a non-Jew. That could have major repercussions for Christianity's very early history.
 
Very good guesses. And yes, I there are many geographical locations. I basically picked one out of the hat.

Lord Grattan, I was thinking the same thing...after I woke up. I'll probably change that around later. Maybe John and Jason will be the group that's different. For instance, John will focus on Jesus as God while Jason will do the same. But the Book of Jason will be mostly on, well you'll see.

One more thing, there is a dispute over when Jesus died. The dates range from the late 20s to mid-30s, so I'm doing the latest date of AD 36.

AD 34 (continued): The man was living not far from the Sea of Galilee. By mid-morning he had arrived, and he found several men going out to fish. However, they knew (like everyone) about his demons and refused to let him aboard. But what they did not know was that he was healed. He was turned away. The man came to another fishing boat but was welcomed. It was owned by a brother of one of the men who begged Jesus to leave. (He had owned some of the two thousand pigs). Thinking it was better for him to leave for good, the man agreed to take the ex-demoniac across the sea.

Meanwhile in Galilee: Jesus is rejected by his own people in Galilee after he preaches in a synagogue. He then sends his disciples throught the region. They preach in the name of Jesus and God.

The two stories meet. The man was taken over the Sea of Galilee without cost for the fishermen wanted nothing to do with him. It is rumored that they caught a large amount of fish afterwards. Anyway, the man possessed by the legions of demons whole-heartedly tried to find Jesus. He only had to follow the crowds. Much to his displeasure, he came not across Jesus of Nazareth but a disciple. He was a tax collector by the name of Matthew or Levi. But, he was good enough for the man. He saw Matthew cast out demons and heal the sick. He was astounded. Then one night, Matthew told the crowds he was leaving. The man followed Matthew until he was noticed. The disciple attempted to send him away, but he would do nothing. The man begged Matthew to take him to see Jesus for surely that was where he was going. He finally let him come with him. He thought the Jesus would know what to do with him. That assumption would prove to be correct.
 
AD 34 (continued): Jesus was preaching to the people about becoming disciples when Matthew and the other came. He hadn't finished so the two sat amoung the people and listened. As the man heard Jesus speak, he learned that he met the qualifications. He had loved Jesus ever since his exorcism; he had no one else to love now.

After the teaching, Jesus gathered his disciples to pick grain. Matthew took his chance.

"Rabbi, here is a man who wanted to see you. I found him after you sent us out."

Jesus nodded and looked at the man. "What is your name, and where are you from?"

"You know, Lord. You cast out my demons near the Gadarenes. I was afflicted for so long that I do not know my own name. Please, Lord, let me follow you."

"You're faith has saved you. Your name will be Jason for as you were healed so you will be the healer of many. Come, follow me."

Jason thanked Jesus at his knees. Jesus then turned to his disciples and said, "Just as there were twelve of you and another has come so will be the case of Israel. A thirteenth tribe has been added to Israel, a tribe of the Gentiles."

I'm going to need some help separating the gospels into 1-3 years. Any suggestions?
 
Jason wouldn't necessarily need to be added to the Twelve in order to write a Gospel, although I guess that is your whole PoD. Mark and Luke sure weren't, and IMHO it's unlikely that John the Evangelist was, either (signs point to him being a Jerusalemian, I think).

The Twelve were Jesus' very first followers, and after that he had hundreds of loyal people following him around and even going off to preach alone in his name. Jason, again, woudl not necessarily need to be a Number Thirteen in order to do this. Unless, again, that's your whole point.
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Besides, everyone knows that the Thirteenth Apostle was a black man named Rufus.
 
Yes, Luke and Mark weren't disciples. Paul wasn't a disciple either. The thing is Jesus is trying to make a point by making Jason a disciple. He is now leaving the realm of the Jews and and welcoming the world.

Yeah, he doesn't need to be a disciple. In fact, many of the disciples (excluding Matthew and a few others) would agree with you. A few of the other followers will be jealous. But, Jesus picked him for a special reason.
 
The first huge difference I see resulting from this POD would be a canonical Gospel written by a non-Jew. That could have major repercussions for Christianity's very early history.

But there is already a canonical Gospel written by a non-Jew in OTL. :confused:
 
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