The Infancy Gospels

My question is about the so-called “Infancy Scriptures.” I saw a special on them today and was surprised at how the Lord was depicted, supposedly as an angry and unruly child. The special said that Jesus had to learn how to master His emotions as any child would and that later He became a great leader. Do you buy any of this?

Q. Thank you so much for this site. It is a real blessing and very helpful spiritually.
My question is about the so-called “Infancy Scriptures.” I saw a special on them today and was surprised at how the Lord was depicted, supposedly as an angry and unruly child. The special said that Jesus had to learn how to master His emotions as any child would and that later He became a great leader. Do you buy any of this? What exactly are these “Infancy Scriptures”? They seem disrespectful to me!

A. Both Thomas, of doubting Thomas fame, and James, the half brother of Jesus, are said to have written about the so-called missing years in the Lord’s life. (The time between the flight to Egypt and the incident in the Temple when Jesus was twelve.)

These “infancy gospels” were not included in the Bible because it’s been determined that they weren’t written by their purported authors, contain historical and theological errors and were not in use in the early church.

The oldest copy of Thomas has been dated in the 6th Century while the work of James didn’t show up until the 10th. They’ve become popular in liberal circles where the divinity of Jesus and the accuracy of the Bible are often called into question and are trotted out around Easter time when interest in the Lord is higher. You’re right to be offended by these purely fictional accounts.