posted April 14, 2006 11:31 PM              

---

any one heard.?

IP: Logged

Posts: 0
From:
Registered: Aug 2009

posted April 14, 2006 11:41 PM            

---

Yeah. I haven't heard the whole story, but basically, they found texts written by Judas, saying that Jesus wanted him to turn him over.

To me, it's funny when they have archaelogical shows about evidence of Jesus and people point, going, "See! It's the truth. Jesus is God." or whatever. Now this turns up and the Christians I know dont want to face it. I don't know if it's BS or not but I like to think about it. I also like to think of whether Jesus and Mary M. got together or not. I dunno, but I think that showing his human side makes him more interesting. I do not see where this parchment will cause a crisis of faith in those who believe themselves to be faithful.

Then again, I'm not Christian, so I don't have to worry about such things.

------------------
I'm mad, you're mad, we're all mad. - Cheshire Cat

IP: Logged

posted April 15, 2006 02:24 PM              

---

It confirmed a suspicion I had voiced for a long time.

Judas, as a member of the iscariot sect, was a sworn enemy of Rome. Rome's version of a terrorist. Iscariot means "assassin" or "dagger-man."

Therefore, when Rome took on Jesus as their god how could they explain that he was hanging out with this known terrorist?

How could Jesus be their new God, when he was friends with an enemy of Rome?

So, they invented this story that Judas was secretly Jesus' enemy and had betrayed him.

I knew the story had to be off, because as an Iscariot, that made him a fanatical religious zealot. Willing to kill or die.

Loyal to the cause, he'd have been the last one to betray Jesus.

IP: Logged

Posts: 982
From: New Brighton, MN, USA
Registered: Apr 2009

posted April 15, 2006 04:59 PM            

---

Some interesting links and an article.....
Thanks for your thoughts, Theodora & Lynx

http://www9.nationalgeographic.com/channel/gospelofjudas/show_description.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/06/science/06cnd-judas.html?ex=1145246400&e n=2e9a806ba454cdf8&ei=5070

The following is from: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=13097

Gospel of Judas back in spotlight after 20 centuries

Swiss foundation seeks to shed light on controversial Christian text named after apostle said to have betrayed Jesus.

By Patrick Baert - GENEVA
About 2,000 years after the Gospel according to Judas sowed discord among early Christians, a Swiss foundation says it is translating for the first time the controversial text named after the apostle said to have betrayed Jesus Christ.

The 62-page papyrus manuscript of the text was uncovered in Egypt during the 1950s or 1960s, but its owners did not fully comprehend its significance until recently, according to the Maecenas Foundation in Basel.

The manuscript written in the ancient dialect of Egypt's Coptic Christian community will be translated into English, French and German in about a year, the foundation specialising in antique culture said on Tuesday.

"We have just received the results of carbon dating: the text is older than we thought and dates back to a period between the beginning of the third and fourth centuries," foundation director Mario Jean Roberty said.

The existence of a Gospel of Judas, which was originally written in Greek, was outlined by a bishop, Saint Irenee, when he denounced the text as heretical during the second century.

"It's the only clear source that allows us to know that such a Gospel did exist," Roberty explained.

The foundation declined to say what account Judas is said to give in his alleged gospel.
According to Christian tradition, Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus Christ by helping the Romans to find him before he was crucified.

"We do not want to reveal the exceptional side of what we have," Roberty said.
The author of the text is unknown.

"No one can clearly state that Judas wrote it himself," Roberty said, while pointing out that the other gospels were probably not written by their supposed authors either.

The four recognised gospels of the New Testament describe the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and are said to record his teachings from the eyes of four of his disciples, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

The Roman Catholic Church limited the recognised gospels to the four in 325, under the guidance of the first Christian Roman emperor, Constantine.

Thirty other texts - some of which have been uncovered - were sidelined because "they were difficult to reconcile with what Constantine wanted as a political doctrine," according to Roberty.

The foundation's director said the Judas Iscariot text called into question some of the political principles of Christian doctrine.

It could also to some extent rehabilitate Judas, whose name has often come to symbolise the accusation of deicide - God-killing - levelled by some Christian teachings against the Jewish people, he added.

After the manuscript is restored, the text is due to be translated and analysed by a team of specialists in Coptic history led by a former professor at the University of Geneva, Rudolf Kasser.

Jean-Daniel Kaestli, an expert on gospels who has seen the manuscript, said the discovery was "very interesting", although the papyrus was in a bad state.

He added that it was not going to lead to a revolutionary change in the vision of the Bible, although it could shed some new light on parts of Christianity's holy text.

The Maecenas Foundation, which aims to protect archaeological relics found in poor countries, hopes to organise exhibitions around the manuscript and to produce a documentary on the process of unravelling the text.

The full launch is due in Easter 2006.

IP: Logged

posted April 16, 2006 05:12 AM              

---

Yes, I had heard that Judas was the only one of the disciples who understood that Jesus intended to sacrifice himself.

"The account goes on to relate that Jesus refers to the other disciples, telling Judas "you will exceed all of them. For you will sacrifice the man that clothes me." By that, scholars familiar with Gnostic thinking said, Jesus meant that by helping him get rid of his physical flesh, Judas will act to liberate the true spiritual self or divine being within Jesus.

"...The New Testament gospels of John and Mark both contain passages that suggest that Jesus not only picked Judas to betray him, but actually encouraged Judas to hand him over to those he knew would crucify him."

This is true, I've read them.

IP: Logged

Posts: 7
From: The Asylum, NC
Registered: Apr 2009

posted April 16, 2006 08:02 AM            

---

Oooh, there was a speical on the National Geographic channel on "The Gospel of Judas" that I've been trying to catch, but keep missing it.

That's interesting Theodora. Maybe Judas truely did understand Jesus' destiny. And if he was a Zealot, why would he betray Jesus to Rome, his sworn enemy, for his own benefit?

Happy Easter you guys

IP: Logged

posted April 20, 2006 10:34 PM              

---

I'm by no means an expert in any of this, but I do respect other's belief's and faith's, especially when they are not twisted in result.

Yeah, when Judas accepted the "blood money" he didn't know that Rome was basically crushing him, he thought he was getting paid to do something which he really didn't believe in his heart COULD happen to Jesus. Total scapegoat.

But I think the story of Judas goes much further than these basic facts. To me, Judas is VERY symbolic and representative of any one of us alive now who has to deal with that person or shadow in the background which is "going to get us". For example, most of us in certain situations, and especially in those days, would grasp any sense of power they could, and it was THE commodity to own. The virtual Lamborghini of its time, if you will. For those who had little sense of empowerment, especially if passed down from generation to generation, the utter meaning of power was something they never even understood. In other words, they only understood the power of "out there", instead of the power "in here", in their hearts.

Jesus had a great way of demonstrating tremendous humility in the face of a known enemy. He's teaching us how to save those who may not seem deserving, rather than destroy them. To me, that's part of what Judas represents, and in the end it's made very clear that indeed, Judas was NOT a traitor.

------------------
... it's better to light a candle than curse the darkness

IP: Logged