RE: Gospel of Judas

There must have been a spectrum of people, let us say before 200 AD, who
wrote about Who Jesus truly was.

The gamut goes from those who wanted and did crucify Him, the scribes
and Pharisees [Matthew 23:13], to the disciples who consider Him Lord
and God [John 20:28].

It is interesting that Jesus never spoke against the people of Israel
rather He spoke against the religious hierarchy. Therefore, saying that
Christ is anti-Semitic is to be ignorant of Scripture or worse.

Surely, some of these writings will be eventually found. What does a
particular one that does not concord with the Gospels prove then? Today
we have the Jehovah Witnesses, the Mormons, the Christian Scientists,
the Moonies, etc. Do not tell me that there were fewer heretics then
than now?

Moorad

Matthew 23:13
[ Eight Woes ] " But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites,
because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not
enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.

John 20:28
Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!"

Moorad

-----Original Message-----
From: asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu [mailto:asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu] On
Behalf Of George Murphy
Sent: Friday, April 07, 2006 9:23 AM
To: Mervin Bitikofer; asa@calvin.edu
Subject: Re: Gospel of Judas

A good point. One commentary on one of the gospel texts in which the
disciples are arguing about which was the greatest says "We can hardly
imagine grown men behaving like this." Huh? That's just how grown men
often do behave, though in our culture we're _sometimes_ more subtle
about
it. & the various "secret gospels" are another illustration.

Shalom
George
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mervin Bitikofer" <mrb22667@kansas.net>
To: <asa@calvin.edu>
Sent: Friday, April 07, 2006 8:07 AM
Subject: Re: Gospel of Judas

> I'm struck by how many of these "secret" gospels follow the theme of
> "Jesus told me something you don't know" (accompanied by appropriate
> nose-thumbing). The canonical gospels have this too -- the disciples

> arguing over who is the greatest, being resentful of each other as
they
> jockey for priveleged position -- inner circle being favored to
witness
> transfiguration, etc. The difference, though, is that in the gospels

> Jesus calls it for what it is and informs them that if they want to be

> great they must be a slave of all. And he had a child stand in their

> midst ... I'm not seeing any of this reprimand in these other
> "gospels". The gospel of Thomas even has Thomas informing the rest
that
> if they knew the secrets revealed to Thomas, they would die! This
is
> real secret code, secret society stuff! I just finished reading the
Da
> Vinci code, and for something purporting to be critical of the
organized
> church (in some valid ways even), it sure is full of secret society
> intrigue and power-grubbing heirarchy. No matter how much the truth
is
> pounded into us, our humanity shows through. Who of us as children
(and
> more recently) hasn't fantasized about having priveleged status of
> information and power? With a condescending magnanimity we survey
the
> "ignorant" masses, and jockey among our own peers -- my dad can beat
up
> your dad! The authentic gospels have some pretty pointed reprimands
for
> such thinking. Unlike Pagels, et all, I think Irenaeous and the
others
> had some pretty valid reasons for rejecting some of these other
gospels.
> The spirit they exude doesn't ring true.
>
> --merv
>
> Randy Isaac wrote:
>
>> I'm not sure why National Geographic is getting involved in this. Is

>> this really novel?
>>
http://www.theolympian.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060406/NEWS/6040
6077
>> Maybe it's marginal for our list too.
>> Randy
>> National Geographic reassembles 1,700-year-old 'Gospel of Judas'
>>
>> THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
>>
>> WASHINGTON -- For 2,000 years Judas has been reviled for betraying
Jesus.
>> Now a newly translated ancient document seeks to tell his side of the

>> story.
>>
>> The "Gospel of Judas" tells a far different tale from the four
gospels in
>> the New Testament. It portrays Judas as a favored disciple who was
given
>> special knowledge by Jesus -- and who turned him in at Jesus'
request.
>>
>> "You will be cursed by the other generations -- and you will come to
rule
>> over them," Jesus tells Judas in the document made public today.
>>
>> The text, one of several ancient documents found in the Egyptian
desert
>> in 1970, was preserved and translated by a team of scholars. It was
made
>> public in an English translation by the National Geographic Society.
>> .........
>
>
>
>
Received on Fri Apr 7 09:44:33 2006