The Gospel of Judas (Your views)

[vipvip68]

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National Geographic's show on "The Gospel of Judas" portray Judas Escariot in a different light.

What are your reactions on this ancient document and how will this affect your beliefs on Judas and on the church's gospel?

[dAmNseL jEnY]

I've just watched it.

I was expecting more about the said gospel. However, it only resides on the Last supper until the betrayal. Then it abruptly ended. I was expecting more of it.

[mosimos]

Jesus tells Judas to betray Him
Then the other apostles murder Judas to cover it up
And they substitute Judas on the cross for Jesus
And Jesus and Mary Magdeline get married have kids
And I can have a best seller sell 40,000,000 copies
Movie rights, action figures, wow, I'll be rich!!

Wait, it will never work, too unbelievable.

[mosimos]

This Judas manuscript was not written by Judas. It came out in the Fourth Century and it was wriiten by a Gnostic Sect. There is nothing new or earth shattering about this "revealation".

The media ruckus has more to do with the almighty dollar than anything else.

[mosimos]

The Gnostic gospels, of which there are many besides this one, are not Christian documents per se, since they proceed from a syncretistic sect that incorporated elements from different religions, including Christianity.

From the moment of their appearance, the Christian community rejected these documents because of their incompatibility with the Christian faith.

The "Gospel of Judas" would be a document of this sort, which could have great historical value, since it contributes to our knowledge of the Gnostic movement, but it poses no direct challenge to Christianity.

Is it true that the Church has tried to cover up this text and other apocryphal texts?

These are myths circulated by Dan Brown and other conspiracy theorists.

You can go to any Catholic bookstore and pick up a copy of the Gnostic gospels. Christians may not believe them to be true, but there is no attempt to hide them.


why the eaders of the Gnostic movement have been interested in Judas?

Its because of the major differences between Gnostic belief and that of Christianity regarding the origins of evil in the universe.

Christians believe that a good God created a good world, and that through the abuse of free will, sin and corruption entered the world and produced disorder and suffering.

The Gnostics blamed God for the evil in the world and claimed that he created the world in a disordered and flawed way. Thus they champion the rehabilitation of Old Testament figures such as Cain, who killed his brother Abel, and Esau, the elder brother of Jacob, who sold his birthright for a plate of pottage.

Judas fits perfectly into the Gnostic agenda of showing that God intends evil for the world.

[clarkhkent]

heres the link for thos who cannot watch the geographic channel...

http://www9.nationalgeographic.com/lostgospel

[mosimos]

In the second century there was a non-canonical work that was known as "the Gospel of Judas," and it was used by a sect of Gnostics called the Cainites who Irenaeus attacked in his work Against Heresies. According to Irenaeus,

Others [i.e., the Cainites] again declare that Cain derived his being from the Power above, and acknowledge that Esau, Korah, the Sodomites, and all such persons, are related to themselves. On this account, they add, they have been assailed by the Creator, yet no one of them has suffered injury. For Sophia was in the habit of carrying off that which belonged to her from them to herself. They declare that Judas the traitor was thoroughly acquainted with these things, and that he alone, knowing the truth as no others did, accomplished the mystery of the betrayal; by him all things, both earthly and heavenly, were thus thrown into confusion. They produce a fictitious history of this kind, which they style the Gospel of Judas [Against Heresies 1:31:1].

[jerx d great]

nakalimot jud ko tanaw!! whaaaa! na pa ba kaha ni replay sa!!??

[omad]

OT: @mosimos, please give credit where credit is due, in this case, to ZENIT and it's people for their interview with Father Thomas Williams, Theology Dean. it's their piece, they deserved to be mentioned.

ZENIT - The World Seen From Rome
Code: ZE06040524
Date: 2006-04-05

The "Gospel of Judas"

Interview With Father Thomas Williams, Theology Dean

ROME, APRIL 5, 2006 (Zenit.org).- The National Geographic Society has announced its intentions to publish an English translation of an ancient text called "The Gospel of Judas" later this month.

The 31-page manuscript, written in Coptic, purportedly surfaced in Geneva in 1983 and has only been translated now.

ZENIT asked Legionary Father Thomas D. Williams, dean of theology at the Regina Apostolorum university in Rome, to comment on the relevance of the discovery.

Q: What is the "Gospel of Judas"?

Father Williams: Though the manuscript still must be authenticated, it likely represents a fourth- or fifth-century text, and is a copy of an earlier document produced by a Gnostic sect called the Cainites.

The document paints Judas Iscariot in a positive light, and describes him as obeying a divine ordinance in handing over Jesus to the authorities for the salvation of the world.

It may well be a copy of the "Gospel of Judas" referred to by St. Irenaeus of Lyons in his work "Against the Heresies," written around A.D. 180.

Q: If authentic, what challenge would this document pose to traditional Christian belief? Will it "shake Christianity to its foundations" as some press releases have suggested?

Father Williams: Certainly not. The Gnostic gospels, of which there are many besides this one, are not Christian documents per se, since they proceed from a syncretistic sect that incorporated elements from different religions, including Christianity.

From the moment of their appearance, the Christian community rejected these documents because of their incompatibility with the Christian faith.

The "Gospel of Judas" would be a document of this sort, which could have great historical value, since it contributes to our knowledge of the Gnostic movement, but it poses no direct challenge to Christianity.

Q: Is it true that the Church has tried to cover up this text and other apocryphal texts?

Father Williams: These are myths circulated by Dan Brown and other conspiracy theorists.

You can go to any Catholic bookstore and pick up a copy of the Gnostic gospels. Christians may not believe them to be true, but there is no attempt to hide them.

full transcript of the interview click here

[mosimos]

Yeah I got it from there. . .

But anti-christ people will dismiss it as copy paste. So thanks for the help buddy. :mrgreen: