Gospel of Judas

**nugundam93** · April 12th, 2006 05:01 AM

was anyone able to watch NG's feature?

how was it?

**city** · April 12th, 2006 08:17 AM

Originally Posted by oldblue

Judas himself wrote the Gospel of Judas. He survived his own suicide when the branch holding the rope bent. The Gospels of Matthew and Luke had conflicting accounts on how Judas hanged himself. But according to Judas, he tried to hang himself to get to Jesus. When he saw him crucified, he knew that the only way to reach his master was in spirit or in other words, to kill himself. Even until the end he remained loyal to his master's wishes and wanted to be with him. Yun nga lang, he didn't have the strongest faith that Jesus will live again. and that was his betrayal.

judas was a writer? Where did you get this article?

**explorer** · April 12th, 2006 09:23 AM

as early as high school, i was already aware that some sector of the Christian religion have excluded some 'books' which the catholic bible have....the deuterocanonical books.

http://ic.net/~erasmus/RAZ110.HTM
http://watch.pair.com/apocrypha.html

FrankDrebin · April 12th, 2006 01:36 PM

Originally Posted by nugundam93

was anyone able to watch NG's feature?

how was it?

Mamayang 10pm uli sa National Geographic.

Anyway, it also makes me think God/Jesus has a plan with Judas since Jesus was not that stupid to include Judas as an apostle.

**baiskee** · April 12th, 2006 01:41 PM

nakow...mahabang debate na naman to. :D

basta naniniwala ako sa DIYOS... tapos.

**artpogi** · April 12th, 2006 01:57 PM

Originally Posted by nugundam93

was anyone able to watch NG's feature?

how was it?

ayun, confused din daw si Judas just like Rustom

**cardo** · April 12th, 2006 02:12 PM

basta, panoorin nyo na lang yun program sa National Geo... ok naman, very intriguing

even NG did'nt have a say on it, they presented the facts and they leave it to your faith and you on what you believe - safe answer if you asked me hehehe.

**oldblue** · April 12th, 2006 02:58 PM

Originally Posted by city

judas was a writer? Where did you get this article?

in the gospel of judas, jesus considered judas the most important among his disciples. and after reading some parts of the gospel, I'm beginning to think he is. the other 11 simply fell silent when asked who Jesus was in the garden of Gethsamane.

what does this imply? that they are not entirely sure also who their master was. if they really had the best in faith with Jesus, then they're confident that Jesus can surpass that obstacle, given that he was a divine person. in fact it was Peter who committed the greater sin bec. he denied Jesus, hence had little faith with Jesus.

**cardo** · April 12th, 2006 03:38 PM

kala ko mga gnostics nagsulat ng judas gospel?

confused i am

**niky** · April 12th, 2006 03:42 PM

Originally Posted by oldblue

Judas himself wrote the Gospel of Judas. He survived his own suicide when the branch holding the rope bent. The Gospels of Matthew and Luke had conflicting accounts on how Judas hanged himself. But according to Judas, he tried to hang himself to get to Jesus. When he saw him crucified, he knew that the only way to reach his master was in spirit or in other words, to kill himself. Even until the end he remained loyal to his master's wishes and wanted to be with him. Yun nga lang, he didn't have the strongest faith that Jesus will live again. and that was his betrayal.

P're... don't do things like that...

...baka seryosohin ka nang tao!

Some facts as stated in the National Geographic Special

The sole existing copy of the "Gospel of Judas" dates from around the 3rd-4th Century, but from Church letters and writings, it apparently existed as early as the 2nd Century.

The four Gospels included in the Bible are only four of about thirty different Gospels that existed during the early years of Christianity. Most of these Gospels had conflicting views on Jesus and the faith, and early Church leaders picked the four currently accepted Gospels as being most representative of the Church and faith.

The so-called Gnostic Gospels, which includes Thomas, Mary Magdalene and Judas, were preferred by the so-called Gnostic Christians, who were very introspective and contemplative. They focused more on the mysteries of Jesus and the philosophical/theological questions of his teachings.

The early Church branded the "Gnostics" as heretics because their inward and meditative nature was contrary to the needs of the early Church for control and power over all Christians. In other words, these Gospels were excluded for mostly political reasons. And many of them were too theologically complex for popular consumption, anyway.

The Gospel of Judas is seen by experts not as a firsthand account, but more of a philosophical discussion of the nature of Jesus' betrayal... if it was foreordained by Jesus, then, is it not a holy thing to aid him in vesting himself of his material body?

Of the four Gospels, of note, it is only in the ones which were written later where Judas is portrayed as a villain. The earliest Gospel (Mark, I think) does not portray him as a villain and actually has some parallels with the Gospel of Judas... interesting, eh?

In later Gospels, they focused more and more on Judas, turning him into a villain... in fact, giving him qualities that people use to stereotype Jews (greedy, money-loving, etc.). They also espoused the message that Jesus was betrayed by the Jews, when in fact, he was tried and killed by the Romans. This is because of the increasingly anti-Semitic/Jewish nature of the emerging Catholic Church. This anti-Semitic nature was reinforced by the Jews' criticism of the Catholics for accepting Gentiles (non-Jews) into the Judaic faith. This is also one of the reasons why Rome became Catholic in later years. Don't you ever wonder why Pontius Pilate is not portrayed as a villain, when Jesus' execution was his decision? Very political indeed.

It was a very very interesting show. Most of the experts involved are actually true believers or of the faith. Obviously, to be an expert at this, one has to be very interested in the history and theology of Christianity. At no time was the Gospel of Judas presented as "Gospel truth", either.

-----

If this is ever replayed, I suggest any good Christian has it as their duty to watch this.

Watch it with an open mind. Don't shout "heresy!" as soon as you see something you don't believe. Remember, the Bible and its teachings were collated and edited by political leaders within the Church centuries after Jesus' time... there are absolutely no firsthand accounts of Jesus in the Bible as even the Four Gospels were not written by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John... but were written in their names, just like the "Gospel of Judas" was not written by Judas himself.