A Swiss foundation and National Geographic magazine are to publish translations of the ancient Coptic text discovered in Egypt in the 1970s.\n\nAlthough the full details have not yet been made public, snippets discussed in academic circles say it will prove Judas was acting at the behest of God when he sold Jesus to the Romans for 30 pieces of silver.\n\nIts publication will raise fears among traditionalists that efforts may be made to rehabilitate a man whose name is synonymous with betrayal.\n\nSympathisers with Judas contend that had Jesus not been crucified, he would not have been subsequently resurrected to save humanity.\n\nThe translator of the Gospel of Judas is Rodolphe Kasser of the University of Geneva, the world's leading Coptic scholar. The torn and tattered papyrus text had been offered to potential buyers in North America and Europe for decades after it was found at al-Minya in Egypt. \n\nIt resurfaced recently as the property of the Maecenas Foundation based in Basle, Switzerland.
130234
3rd or 4th-century document called "The Gospel of Judas" was launched upon an unsuspecting world yesterday by no less a biblical authority than the National Geographic magazine in Washington. Its contents were "explosive", according to Mario Roberty, president of the Swiss foundation which now owns the ancient papyrus manuscript. \n\nSo as the heat faded from the television lights at the press conference, has 2000 years of orthodox Christianity been overturned? Well, not quite. But it was all jolly interesting, for those who love that sort of thing.\n\nHalf of the 62-page codex, written in Coptic script, is devoted to an account of the final days of Jesus Christ written from the viewpoint of the man who has for two millennia been excoriated as Christ's deadly betrayer. The text begins: "The secret account of the revelation that Jesus spoke in conversation with Judas Iscariot three days before he celebrated Passover..."
90683
This is true. :) Matthew (Levi) did [seem to] want to prove to the Jewish that Jesus was actually the Messiah, thus all the Old Testament stuff.\nI would guess an original Hebrew copy cannot be found because of the persecution. The Greek copies were probably made prior to the Hebrew version being destroyed. The copies were likely sent out to others, while the copier, I would imagine kept the original for himself to use. Only specualtion, of course.\n\n***\nOh, and borrowing heavily from Mark? Probably because the gospel was written a time after the events occured. He may have wanted to keep his facts straight. Or it could have been a coincidence, seeing as there were writing about the same thing.
251459
Its interesting in that it claims Judas was the one crucified, and that Jesus ascended into heaven.\n\nit also claims that jesus foretold of a final prophet for all men, "the blessed one" - the blessed one, when translated into arabic becomes "Muhammad".
196670
Because it was widely believed to be the work of gnostics, which were a mystical denomination of early Christianity. Their writings can be compared to our Christian fiction, like the Left Behind Series - which may or may not be true, but are certainly NOT scripture. The reason they were written was that in those days, there were few who had access to the Bible as a whole, and few could read. They read what they could, and when they had questions, they wrote these "gospels" and other works to answer those questions as best they could with limited resources. They also believed that one god created the earth and that another was actually God, which we know by reading the Bible is an unfounded conclusion. I suggest that you read a book on the subject of all the writings that were not included. The National Geographic Channel special on the gospel of Judas may also be helpful.
204709
Joshua.  People like you crack me up.  Really!  You argue about biblical-specific entries and events as if they were factual and undeniable.  "written 4000 years ago"  On what?  Notebook paper?  Do you have some copies of those 4000 year old writings?  Do you have some secret text that nobody else has ever seen?  Are you on heroin or acid?  What's your trip?  None of the authors of the NT witnessed the alleged resurrection.  No matter how you stretch it, there are no actual accounts of it.  Most of the NT was created and written in 320AD under the direction of Constantine the Great, and its puirpose was NOT for historic accuracy.  Its purpose was to create a doctrine at the Council of Nicea that all factions of religious doctrine could agree upon and pull everyone together.  Why does it appear that there only a few people that post here regularly who actually know this?  Is your only source of "history" the Bible itself?  Are you crazy enough to use the Bible to prove the Bible?  Talk about illogic!\n\nThe original poster is correct -- if the notion of god portrayed in the bible is accurate, then there is no need for "free will" -- God already knows how things turn out.  He already knows who chooses free will and who doesn't choose free will, how they act, and who the sinners are and who goes to hell.  He already knows the choices people made in the past and what they'll make in the future.  He already knows how things will turn.  Already been there.  Outside of the time line?  Fine, state it however you wish.  It's still the same.  He's all knowing.  He knows how the "souls" will turn out. There's no need for a test on earth.\n\nThe question is not flawed at all.  Your assumption that the Bible is incontrovertible is flawed, and your statements of biblical myths as assertion are ridiculous.  It is one of hundreds of unprovable myths on this whole planet, full of fatal flaws, like the one this question raises.
633119
Then obviously all of us Egyptologists are part of a vast conspiracy to all somehow come up with similar translations of the same text independently of one another, defend those translations based on the premises of the grammar that has been worked out over the past 200 years, and not ONE of us has broken ranks and told the world.  Nor have any of the other philologists who frequently work with Egyptologists noticed or pointed out the discrepancy. \n\nDamn, I wish I'd known that we didn't know what the hell we were doing.  It would have saved me a lot of late nights translating "The Ship-Wrecked Sailor"; "The Marriage Scarab of Amenhotep III;" the various commemorative stelae of the Tutmosids and Amenhoteps; "The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant;" "The Hekanakht Letters"; various medical texts and any number of other texts.  Not to mention having to carefully identifiy each part of speech, explain verb forms, and defend my translation in front of several other students and my professors.  And I really could have done without looking up words in the Worterbuch:  going from glyphs, to transliteration, to German, and then to English sucks.  Obviously, my entire graduate career has been a waste of time.  \n\nStrange how all those translations worked out almost perfectly and made sense seeing as how we really have no idea what we're doing...
195578
I haven't heard of anything like this. There seems to have been little contemporary references to Jesus in Roman sources so such a letter would be priceless. \n\nHowever, Dennis Lemon of Gay News was convicted of blasphemy in 1978 in Britain for printing a letter from a Roman centurion claiming that he loved Jesus. There is no basis for thinking that such a document existed. For a start, many centurions were illiterate.
183798
Pope Benedict has denounced Judas in his first Easter sermon at St. Peter's Basilica.He said Judas was a greedy liar:"He evaluated Jesus in terms of power and success.Love did'nt count".\n The 26-manuscript says Judas was singled out by Jesus from the other apostles and entrusted with revealing his whereabouts to the Romans."You will exceed them all" the papyrus quotes Jesus as saying,"For you will sacrifice the man that clothes me".\n Islam says that the man in the cross is not Jesus,but Judas.Jesus was saved by the Almighty and lifted to heaven.He will come back and bring back all people to the right path.This is what Muslims all over the world beleive and accept.This is revealed in Quran by Almighty.\n By the gospel of Judas, Jesus himself has chosen Judas to sacrifice as the man that cloths him.For the one who hangs in cross is not Jesus but Judas.\nThe manuscripts are kept at National Geography Society,Washington.It was written around AD300.
32323
It seems that when Jean François Champollion deciphered the ancient Egyptian writing (using Rosetta Stone and others), he discovered that it was still quite similar with Coptic despite the time difference. Coptic hasn't been a spoken language since the 1600's, but is the liturgical language of the coptic church and hence has been well preserved (as Latin has been).\n\nSo I think he used coptic to get the ponunciations.\n\nAbout "Ra": We don't really know what the vowel is. In fact, I don't think we know any vowels!\n\nHopefully and expert is online and can give a better answer!\nCheck out the source. I Didn't have time to read it properly.
590691
Time will tell... If there's any truth to the rumor of the 3rd letter of Fatima, then maybe the countdown is around the corner. More on this later.\n\nBut in answer to your follow up questions: Yes; yes; maybe; yes; and finally, a BIG YES!\n\nThere are huge vaults in several levels of undergound basement containing actual and original manuscripts, hermetically sealed to preserve their antiquities, that have been gathered eons ago --well, since they gained power as the Official State Religion of Rome, circa 325 AD or thereabouts. These vaults are called the 'Archives' of the Vatican.\n\nThe Knights Templar followed the victorious First Crusade and were sanctioned by the reigning King of France, under the auspices of the then pope, in early 12th century AD. Their military mission was to  protect and provide safe passage to Christian pilgrims en route to Jerusalem and back home. They started out with humble beginnings and the original nine knights took vows of Chastity, Poverty and Obedience. Their rule of conduct was based on the Cistercian monks' manuals.\n\nTheir Order grew rapidly and gained favor with the pope who ordered all monarchies to support them and their cause. In the process they became very wealthy and started to build their temples [mostly round floor plans] along the route and in their travels. They are credited to have started retail banking as we know it today: deposit your gold/cash in one temple at home and withdraw it anywhere along the way to Jerusalem or back by presenting your receipt.\n\nTwo centuries later, the Order had gained so much substantial power that King Phillip and Pope Clement decided to have them all eliminated by execution on trumped up charges of heresy, spitting on the cross, homosexuality, sodomy, idolatry, etc. and were burned at stake. Their Grand Master at that time was Jacque de Molay, who cursed the King and the Pope to die with him while he sizzled at the stake. Within months, both the Pope and King died too.\n\nJacque de Molay is CREDITED to have founded the Freemasons... Fascinating stuff, isn't it??\n\nSeek and you shall find.\n\nPeace be with you!
515151
I don't think there are actually writings original to the mithras sect anymore. I believe the information is mainly from secondary sources.\n\nI could be wrong, though--and would liek to know of a good translation if anyone out there is aware of one!
151191
No. But then i dont believe in anything Christian either. \n\nThe Gospel of Judas shows that the gospels were written not about historical facts, but from the theology of the authors. If a gospel author believed something, he wrote a story to 'prove' what he believed. The author of the gospel of Judas believed Judas was doing the will of Jesus, so he wrote a story to 'prove' it. The same is true with the other gospels in the Christians' New Testament.
135122
Here it is, and I'm going to cut and paste from another answer I gave, b cuz I've answered this so many times now...\n\nThe gospel of Judas is not credible. Scientists believe it to be the work of gnostics, a mystical early Christian denomination. People in those times did not have the access to the scriptures as we do today. They rarely had more than one or two books of the Bible at one time, so they often did not know what the other parts said. Gnostics often wrote stories of the way they thought things might be. The gospel of Judas is a philosophical conjecture, not scripture. It was also written at least 100 years after the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John - the 4 gospels present in the Bible that tell of Judas's betrayal.\nAlso, because "gospel" means "good news", and the good news is that Jesus died for our sins, the text would have to include the crucifixion and resurrection. The gospel of Judas tells of neither.\n\nAs for the other gospels, the earliest known manuscripts date from 65 to 95 AD. That is 35 to 65 years after Christ died. It is quite possible then, that even if these were the earliest manuscripts (and not just the earliest known ones) that they are first-hand accounts.\n\nAnd by the way, the verse that people use to say that we are not to add or remove from the Bible is found in Revelation 22:18 - For I testify to anyone who hears the words of the prophecy in this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are mentioned in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the Holy City, and from the things which are written in this book.\n\n"This book" refers to the book of revelation - not the entire Bible. The Bible as a whole book did not exist when Revelation was written. Granted we are not to add or remove from scriptures, but this verse is misused all too often. Furthermore, we are to use good judgement by finding out the origins and intentions of any text before latching on to it as scripture.
153791
I watched the Discovery Channel show all about it, and all I can say is God help us. It is NOT right by any means. Jesus would NEVER say that Judas would surpass the rest of the apostles and enter Heaven that "no angel has ever set eyes on" (which is what is said in this Gospel). This Gospel scares me, nothing good has surrounded it's finding (after finding it, it has been stolen and sought after greedily, and twisted peoples morals in a bad way), and nothing good will come from it. That is my opinion.\nTake care and God Bless
18966
Heh, heh... thanks bro. ;)\n\nI have seen some rare textual changes that have changed the meaning or even elimination of a word because they could not see how it fits. Hebrew letters can look very close to one another, much like our "l" and "i". So any distortion in the leather parchment could be a problem or the flaking of the ink could cause problems as well.\nMy mentor once told me that when the military creates a complex code, they transmit it with parity, or multiple times, so that if the coded message is in any way garbled, they can compare it to earlier or later transmissions. The Bible does the same thing by repeating the important messages several times. This is why Deuteronomy is called Deuteronomy. It's "repeating what we already know is true".\nCan these people explain to me why the entire 2,000 year old Isaiah scroll found in Qumran is virtually identical with the modern copies found in every synagogue in the world?\nRemember that Revelation carries an eternal curse of damnation for anyone who adds or subtracts from the text of scripture, and I do not think King James was hoping for political advantage at the expense of his soul.\nToday, we still have the original Hebrew and Greek text. Changing the scriptures would offer us ZERO political gain. Yet is still translates the same as the original King James, only with todays vernacular. \nI wonder if these people even research beyond their own notions. Do they have such skepticism when they read their dosage instructions for medication?
539515
I saw the same thing and am trying to find that gospel and the gospel of Mary and to tell you the truth all of the gospels they were talking about. I'm not so sure that it is real or fake but the bible says test all things.... also says seek wisdom, not just biblical wisdom. Kudos from me, your on the right track...however, I seriously doubt the authenticity of the book. Googling it doesn't help much!
497359
How much proof can there be for a book writen under the auspices of a pagan roman emperor who worshiped the sun God to his death.\n\nEven The four gospels were not written by the apostles.\n\nThey were written close to the end of the first century long after the apostles were dead and gone. The john who wrote revelations was not the apostle john. He was a poor man kept in prison so long that he simply lost his mind and started to imagine a vengeful God who would punish his captors and anyone like them.\n\nThe bible was created 2 centurys later by the roman empire to change the message of Jesus to something that the Romans found more acceptable.\n\nThis is why it is often difficult to understand. The message of Jesus on the other hand is elegant and simple to understand. You need to separate the message that Jesus left for us from all of the nonsense that the Romans overlaid it with and it will start to become quite easy to understand.\n\nDon't take my word for any of this. Study biblical history for your self and draw your own conclusions. There are many good books on this subject by some intelligent and thoughtful people. Take advantage of their efforts. \n\nEmail if you are interested and I will send so suggested reading material.\n\nLove and blessings.\nDon