What do you think about the Gospel Of Judas? \n\nIs it true...or false?
201173
Jesuit scholar says Gospel of Judas does not merit name 'Gospel'\n\nBy Cindy Wooden\nCatholic News Service\n\nROME (CNS) -- The Gospel of Judas was unimportant to most Christians when it was written hundreds of years ago and it is unimportant today, said a Jesuit professor who has convoked a series of ecumenical studies of the historical Jesus. \n\nJesuit Father Gerald O'Collins, a longtime professor of Christology at Rome's Pontifical Gregorian University, said the text, like the gospels of Mary Magdalene and Philip, "does not merit the name 'Gospel.'" \n\nThe National Geographic Society unveiled the document April 6, posting a copy of it on the society's Web site, www.nationalgeographic.com, and releasing English translations of portions of the text.\n\n"A 'Gospel' is a literary genre -- established by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John -- focusing on the life, death and resurrection of Jesus," Father O'Collins said. \n\nWhile including events supposedly related to the life of Jesus, the Gospel of Judas and the others really are texts "attempting to bolster the importance" of the personalities they are named after, not of Jesus, the priest said. \n\n"They are not summaries of the good news," he said.\n\nThe texts come from the gnostic tradition, a religious-philosophical current popular in the second, third and fourth centuries. The gnostics claimed to have secret knowledge unavailable to the vast majority of people and focused so strongly on the spiritual and intellectual that they despised material creation, including the human body. \n\nIn the year 180, St. Irenaeus condemned the gnostics, mentioning particularly a Gospel of Judas.\n\nFather O'Collins said the most important thing about the text released in early April is that "it shows just how right Irenaeus was in saying the gnostics were against mainstream Christianity and Judaism, they were against our God." \n\n"To give Judas greater credit," the Jesuit said, the gnostics "portray Jesus giving him secret knowledge. It was a nice try," but there is no evidence to support the claim.\n\n"It was junk then and it is junk now," he said .\n\nFather O'Collins, who between 1996 and 2003 convoked a series of ecumenical, interdisciplinary summits for scholars on the historical Jesus, said it was "ridiculous" for anyone to claim publication of the Gospel of Judas will challenge mainstream Christianity. \n\nEND
280128
I think it's crazy, considering the book is FICTION!!!!!\nI think the people of Opus Dei are more against it than the Vatican because they think everyone will use the monk as an image to stereotype members of Opus Dei.\nI honestly think there are too many people involved to be able to "hush up" Jesus being married and having a baby, but when reading the book it all makes sense...\nI guess that's the controversy...fiction that is so good, people take it as fact.  But if reading one book makes you change your faith in whatever you have believed all your life, then you were never really a believer in the first place, right?
136441
It is the absolute Truth. Everything discussed in the book is Undeniable Fact. The Church has stolen the Truth from the people for too long! Jesus is the male part of a duality that involves Mary Magdelene.
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
177146
Yes. It says that Judas was the best of all the apostles, and did what Jesus asked. To quote fairly close to it, Jesus said, "You will be greater than all the others Judas. For you will sacrifice the man that clothes me."
316130
I'm an ordained evangelical minister and see no problem with either the movie or the book. The problem is that Dan Brown has stated that the book and movie are fictional, but Christians say it's misleading--but their problem is that they are trying to pick apart DVC without going to the Bible to find out what is true in DVC and what isn't. If they'd just stick with the Bible as their source for truth and read it and absorb it, and keep in mind that DVC is fiction, then it's absolutely no problem. I just wonder how many Christians are seeing the movie or reading the book without opening their Bibles. :-(
212281
honestly, i need to know more about the facts surrounding the gospel of judas before i make any analysis.  that being said, i think this is a gimmick to promote the da vinci code movie.
332463
Let's see... bible says Jesus walked on water, turned water into wine, rose dead people (disciples also rose dead people), who knows what else; DVC (((((a novel)))) says Jesus was a married man with kids. Which is likely closer to the truth?\n\nHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA\nHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA\nHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA\nHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA\nHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA\nHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA\nHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA\nHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA\n\n...Please excuse me, but the laughter of Jesus in the gospel of Judas is contagious.
289006
I do believe that there is some truth to the Code and to the subjects covered in the book. I have reexamined the painting of the The Last Supper and I absolutely see the image of Mary Magdalene in the picture and I believe that Jesus could have been married and also fathered a child. You have to have an open mind and want to contemplate the possibilities that it could be true because I truly believe that it is very possible.
654978
Jesus' purpose was to bring us a message from our creators. There is some truth to the teachings of the Christian church but a lot of it has been distorted. A lot of Christianity's beliefs were predicated upon the teachings of St.Paul.\nSaul of Tarsus (St. Paul) was commissioned with the onerous task of 'selling' the concept of Christianity so Christ's 'Gospel' message would remain alive and valid until the time of the Apocalypse when we would all be in a position to understand the mystery behind it all.\nUpon following Paul's lead, the Church's initial elders, in their limited wisdom,  did an excellent job of attempting to explain away the bizarre events that took place at that time. Although somewhat embellished, the story surrounding Christ's dilemma had to remain alive until today.\nIn order to ensure this would happen, something very dramatic had to occur in order to impress the citizens of that day that this 'Christ' person was worthy of note. \nOne effective way of ensuring that Christ's message would remain alive, would be to undertake the performance of a 'miracle'. Therefore, what better solution was there to have him die and then be brought back to life? The primitive superstitious minds of that day would, undoubtedly, have been overwhelmed by such an event and predictably carried its phenomenal story forward for a long time.\nAlthough he wasn't too excited about it, Jesus knew this particular event had to take place in order to ensure the continuance of its legacy for years to come.\nThe newly revealed 'Judas Gospels' describes well how Judas, who was Christ's confidant, was asked by him to undertake his 'deed' of betrayal in order to ensure that the prophesy of the Old Testament scriptures be fulfilled.\nAnd, the Nazarene knew before his impending death that he was to be 'recreated' afterwards under the aegis of his 'Father' in order to complete the biblical prophesy as described.
198571
Go here, it explains it and how it was authenticated...\nhttp://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/04/0406_060406_judas.html
136614
Go here and get the full thing, including how it was authenticated.  Sounds real to me.\nhttp://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/04/0406_060406_gospel.html
39587
Even for the books we do know for sure who wrote it, such as some of the letters of Paul, you still have to ask this question.  Just knowing who wrote it does not mean that you automatically know if it is true teaching.\nAnd if you don't know who wrote it, this does not mean it is not true teaching.  Knowing the name of a human author really has little bearing on whether their writing is true.\n\nYou have to look at the content.  Is it accurate with what we know from other accurate sources?  Is it self-contradictory?  Does it contain false prophecy?  Does it contain questionable moral teachings?  You just have to examine it with these types of questions in mind.
316318
it is HERETICAL. I heard parts of it read and I could not believe my ears it is a joke. Christians do not need to worry.\n\nThe "Gospel of Judas": National Geographic Attacks Christianity With Biased "Research"\nhttp://www.godandscience.org/apologetics/gospel_judas.html
629967
its a BOOK..a FICTIONAL BOOK! Its not meant to be taken as TRUTH! I am Catholic, I know what I believe in, and I read the book. It doesn't go against the Bible, it just suggests possibilities that maybe someone in history altered the truth. Dan Brown is an incredible writer because of the fact that he can write FICTION and make people believe that it is the honest to God truth! Its a wonderful book & he NEVER says that it is the truth...he says the CHARACTERS in the book believe it is the truth! \n\n**steps off soapbox**
126984
The Gospel of Judas was written many many years after the apostles lived and their associates (Timothy and Luke). Where did you get your historical research? \nGive me a break. \n\nThe gnostic gospels are from beliefs that began in the 2nd and 3rd century, which meens that the writings come from a time period more than 100 years after Jesus ministry, far later than any New Testament book. Why in the world should we believe that these later documents tell us more about events than the earlier documents? They are simply not useful for trying to understand Jesus ministry and the shape of very early Christianity. (1)\n\nThe gnostic gospels were late arrivals, which is ONE reason why church leaders rejected them ... they lacked authority since their authors were neither (a) apostles of Jesus nor (b) persons associated with apostles of Jesus... and no one knows who wrote those gnostic gospels. (2)
161947
The "Dead Sea Scrolls" don't prove that the Jesus of the Bible was a real person, nor do they prove that such a person performed the miracles attributed to him. \n\n"Noah's Ark" has never been found. That was a hoax and has been well-documented. http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/ark-hoax.html\n\nJust like all the other gospels, Judas' gospel proves nothing. The gospels in the Christian bible as we have it today, were written by anonymous authors, decades after Jesus' alleged death, with numerous contradictions, and they weren't eyewitness accounts.\n\nLaws aren't based on Christian principles. The idea of not killing one another, and treating others as you'd have them treat you, have been around much longer than Christianity has. In fact, the so-called "golden rule" was taught by Buddha hundreds of years before the Jesus story popped up.\n\nIf you want to look at Christian principles, let's see what Jesus allegedly said:\n\nLuke 14:26\nIf any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. (The word "hate" in that verse is "miseo", the Greek word. The same one from which we get other words that indicate hatred, like "misogynist." It definitely means HATE.)\n\nMatthew 10:35-36\nI am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.\n\nLuke 19:27\nBut those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me. (This one is a parable, but read it and make no mistake: who do you think the king is?)\n\nMark 14:3-7\nYe have the poor with you always. (Here, expensive oil is used on Jesus. Instead of using the oil to sell to provide money for the poor, this was his response: "You'll always have the poor." How compassionate.)\n\nThe fact that the Christian religion is supposed to fulfill Judaism, yet completely contradicts it should be more than enough evidence to undermine Christianity, but the ignorance of Christians when it comes to the origins of their own religion prevents them from looking beyond what they're taught at church.\n\nChristianity is supposed to be the "fulfillment" of the "Old Testament" - if so, the Jewish Bible is what must be used to determine what such fulfillment will consist of. Using the Jewish Bible, it can be shown that to date, no one has come who has fulfilled the requirements of the Jewish Messiah. Furthermore, the Messiah was only ever for the Jews - not the Gentiles - so even if Jesus *had* been the Messiah, it wouldn't concern a non-Jew, anyway.\n\nOutside of the Christian bible, which was written by a combination of anonymous authors and Paul (a self-confessed liar), there is nothing to support the existence of an historical Jesus whatsoever. There is nothing that is both historical and contemporary to show that there ever was a Jesus of the Christian bible at all. The so-called Josephus passage that is often cited, was not contemporary (Josephus never saw Jesus, let alone met him), and that single passage is agreed by the majority of historians to be a forgery. After all, if he truly believed Jesus to be "the Christ", why was only ONE sentence devoted to Jesus in all his writings, and why did Josephus himself remain a Jew? Not very convincing.\n\nExtraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. I, too, was once a wide-eyed believer. I truly believed with every fibre of my being that Jesus was Lord. Then I saw the light.\n\nI strongly recommend you research your claims and your supposed evidence a little more thoroughly. They're the same pieces of "evidence" that I once believed existed as well.\n\nGood luck on your journey.