--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb <no_reply@...> wrote: > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "John" <jr_esq@> wrote: > > > > You should consider that gospel as fiction and for entertainment > > use only. > > Finally, someone who agrees with me. The only difference > between JohnR and myself is that I extend his advice to > ALL scripture, no matter what its supposed "pedigree" or > claim to authenticity.
Barry, You appear to be committing the same mistake Adam made in the Garden of Eden. That is, he thought that he was a god. And the rest is history. > > > There's a reason why the Christian Church excluded this writing > Results sectionfrom the official church canon. > > If you had actually read the Gospel Of Judas, you would > know what that reason is. The language he uses clearly > identifies him as a Gnostic, thus raising the question, > "Was his spiritual teacher (Jesus) one, too." The Church > couldn't have that, since they had designated Gnosticism, > Catharism, and other forms of Dualist thought to be heresy. Personally, I have not read the Gospel of Judas. But you have to understand the history of the Christian Church to see how the official gospels were formed. According history books, Constantine, the emperor of Rome, requested all of the Christian leaders, specifically the bishops throughout the then known world, to gather in a synod to determine the official doctrine of the church and to determine which existing books were to be included in the official church canon. For some reason or the other, the bishops rejected many books that were then existing and excluded them from the official canon. >From my own readings, I have doubts about the authenticity of this Gospel of >Judas. From the other gospels, we are told that Judas betrayed Jesus and >committed suicide. Also, some writers believe that Judas was a zealot who espoused the coming of the worldly messiah that was prophesied in the OT. When he realized that Jesus was teaching about a spiritual kingdom, Judas betrayed Jesus for a few silver pieces. > > > More likely, the source of that writing is questionable. You > > should do more research on this matter to satisfy your own > > curiousity. > > As <ahem> should you. > > It's an interesting text, more so for me than for you, > probably, because I can easily recognize the Dualist > elements in it. Were they there in Christ's teaching, or > did Judas project his own Gnostic "baggage" onto a > different teaching? We'll never know. As stated above, it appeared that Judas was a Jew who believed in the return of the old kingdoms led by King Solomon and King David. They believed in a warrior messiah who would conquer their enemies. Many of the Jews today still believe and are expecting for this messiah to come. > > All that we do know is that -- FOR PURELY POLITICAL > REASONS -- the Church felt that it had to stick to > the Party Line it had developed in the first century > after Christ's death. Once the Party Line was in place, > no "gospel" could be earmarked as authoritative if it > deviated from that Party Line. It is more likely that the early Christian Church already had a common tradition and beliefs based on the Jesus experience. The council of bishops was gathered to sort out which books are consistent with the accepted beliefs or faith that were formed at that time.
