Gospel of Judas, eh?
So, they say that they have the “Gospel of Judas”…
According to the radiocarbon dating, the book dates to AD 240 at the earliest. And there’s only one copy. So, you really have no idea if what’s said in that book is authoritative or not (in other words, how do you know it’s an accurate copy?).
But what really gets me is the way that this is portrayed as being a Christian work. Gnosticism is not now, nor has ever been, a sect of Christianity. You can believe whatever you like, but at least have the intellectual honesty to label yourself as what you are.
Gnosticism is a belief system that among other things is a never ending quest for knowledge and spiritualism. Gnosticism can take Christian beliefs into it, but that’s a one way street. Christianity does not take the beliefs of other faiths and incorporate them into its doctrine. You can call yourself a Christian-Whatever, but in the end, Christian is a modifier on the Whatever, so you’re really just a Whatever borrowing Christian ideas.
So, take the Gospel of Judas as it is, a very old book that’s been uncovered. It has as much meaning to Christians as if one discovered an ancient and previously unknown Confucian scroll, that is, it’s an interesting old document of absolutely no spiritual significance.
April 25th, 2006 at 11:32 am
Christianity was never tottaly unified system. Since the begining it was mixed with “whatevers” (including Gnosticism). In a broad sense Christianity is “whatever” of Judaism. The Judaism is “whatever” of Shumerian, Mesopotamian, Babylonian and Early Syrian beliefs. And so on.
Every religion (and Christianity, too) does take the beliefs of other faiths and incorporate them. There is no pure religion. Of course, it doesn’t mean that Christianity is false or not original. The uniqueness is in the interpretation and coordination of influences coming outside.
The early apocrypha and non-synoptic Gospels have great significance precisely because by their help we discover how the Christian canon was built. What was thrown aside and what was accepted. Why? Answering these questions whe discover the influences on Christianity by the other religious and philosophical systems.
There is a delight in revealing that early Christianity is a colorfull mix of morality, myths, beliefs, rituals and habits of different groups among jews, egyptians, syrians, greecs, romans, etc.
May 19th, 2006 at 10:54 pm
It is almost impossible to define what truth is. Perhaps the only person who can define truth is God Himself. However, truth is testable. Another words, I can’t tell you exactly what truth is. Yet, with a set of criteria, I can know whether something is true or not.
I have huge problem with the monopolization of the “canon” especially by somebody like Constantine. But Mosses five books (Pentitude) in a sense is the absolute truth for the Jews and for the majority of the Christians. As such, why didn’t God speak again?
Is God testable? Is God’s truth testable? The fundamental question becomes how long will it take.
June 19th, 2006 at 9:43 am
Truth does not take take time to deveolp but the myth. The message of Christian faith and the background story of the Christian faith made its way through the heavy persecution. Disciples of Jesus Christ who were so fearful, when Jesus was caught, were the ones who were even ready to sacrifice their lives joyfully for the sake of the Gospel within two months of the whole event. They could not have done that if it was something fake. They could not have talked (Acts chapter One) about the betrayer Judas, who betrayed Jesus, with in the the two months and written about him with the four decades while many of the witnessed must have been around. There are more than five thousand copies of the manuscripts of the Greek New Testaments while there is only one copy of the coptic Judas gospel. Truth has its reasoning! Whom would you believe? Can a copy found after 2000 years stand against something which has proved itself through all the tests upto this point? It is a complete None sense and a person with common sense will obviously laugh and reject it, far is the question of considering and entertaining it. Would you believe a person who comes on your son’s twetieth birthday and says that he is not your son while the truth is that your wife delivered your son right before your eyes and you got hold of the child from that moment and took care of him every day?!
September 1st, 2006 at 8:07 am
As far as I know, Jesus Christ came to earth to fulfill God’s will; to be sacrficed as a lamb to deliver the mankind from its sins, thus paving the way for manking to be accepted in God’s eyes. It has always been intriguing to me why such a perfect and holy creature like Jesus Christ would need a “medium” or a traitor to fulfil his Heavenly duties. Why is blame put more on Judas Sicariotes and less so on Pontius Pilatus or the Jews? Judas did not execute Jesus Christ, the Romans, conniving with the Jews did.
I like Jesus Christ and everything he did for me (us), but the magnificence of his actions and deed cannot come at the expense of any innocent individual. Why would a true Christian want to perpetuate the idea that Judah is a traitor? Even if Jesus Christ was alive, he would have pardoned him long ago – that is the foundation of Christianity. Remember my fellows, Jesus came solely to redeem us.
Well, the bible is the only book that holds that man was created and not evolved. Many books, documentaries and researches “prove” that has evolved form some from into the present. Why is it that I do not believe in science when it it comes to the origin of the mankind, despite the imbalance of the numbers against the bible? The bible is the only source that talks about this truth. Can we ignore it simple because is the only book? My fellows God’s ways are tricky and always narrow.
December 18th, 2006 at 8:18 pm
[...] From The Flannel Avenger:Gospel of Judah, eh? [...]