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The Gospel of Judas

George L. Faull

 

 

The unbelieving world always has to have some kind of a current rage that is supposed to disprove historical Christianity. There has been the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Peter and now the Gospel of Judas. This long lost gospel has supposedly been missing for 1700 years.  It is said by some that it will wreak havoc on Christianity.  "Let’s reason together," as the Lord tells us to do.

1.                          It was written too late to be the words of Judas. Scholars date it in the third to fourth century.  The bowels of Judas that gushed out when he hung himself for betraying Jesus had long been turned to dust by then.

 

2.          It claims that Jesus revealed "secret knowledge" to Judas.  It makes him the hero instead of the villain.  It claims that the other apostles were not given this knowledge which was given to Judas in secret. Jesus said in the New Testament, "In secret have I said nothing."  The gospel of Judas makes Jesus of the New Testament, a liar.

 

3.          This false gospel makes Jesus ask Judas to betray Him and so his act was not one of greed but obedience to Jesus.  Instead of being the son of perdition, it makes him the obedient child of God.

 

4.          Is it reasonable to believe that because something was written years ago that it must be true?  Are there not old anti-Christian writings and old pro-Christian writings?  Which shall be considered true, since both are old?

 

5.          The Gospel of Judas was written in Coptic, (Old Egyptian) where most of the Gnostic sects propagated many false things about Christ.  This is no exception for it contains many ideas, concepts and vocabulary of the Gnostics of that era. It is a farce just like many other old Gnostic writings.

 

6.          Irenaeus rejected a supposed Gospel of Judas in his day (180 AD) saying it was heretical.  This is like saying that ten years ago you had a counterfeit one hundred- dollar bill and when someone recently found one that it is yours.  Even if it is yours, it is still a worthless counterfeit hundred-dollar bill.  Irenaeus said the one that he rejected was a "Cainite" gospel, which was a sect that plagued the church in his day. They also attempted to defend Cain for murdering Abel, and they also defended the perverts of Sodom. They were probably the forerunners of the modern ACLU.

 

7.          This gospel was conveniently released around the time of the Da Vinci Code and the Mary Magdalene hoax. To me it is hilarious to watch their feeble attempts to take away from the historical story of Jesus.  If people were not so gullible it would be good for a laugh.  The trouble is, many who want to disbelieve will buy into the lie of one little Johnny-come-lately manuscript and reject the hundreds of old manuscripts that tell the true story of Jesus.

 

Conclusion:

Each new find of an old text that contradicts the majority texts only proves a man named Jesus lived and died and was buried and lives again.

 

Just as hypocrisy is the compliment that vice pays to virtue so counterfeits implies realities.  Bring on the false gospels about Jesus the Christ.  It only puts His name before the world so that they have no reason not to know He existed and came to save them. 

 

There is no “good news” in Judas’ gospel.

 

Why should we believe the writing of a man who pretends to be someone two centuries dead and an evil man at that?

 

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