In order to rise above darkness, people must follow the teachings of Jesus because ...

[Guest guest]

>

> " During the 1970s, a leather-bound Coptic papyrus [1] was discovered

> near Beni Masah, Egypt. This has been translated and appears to be a

> text from the late 2nd century A.D. describing the story of Jesus's

> death from the viewpoint of Judas. The conclusion of the text refers

> (in Coptic) to the text as " the Gospel of Judas " (Euangelion

> Ioudas).

>

> According to a 2006 translation of the manuscript of the text, it is

> apparently a Gnostic account of an arrangement between Jesus and

> Judas, who in this telling are Gnostic enlightened beings, with

> Jesus asking Judas to turn him in to the Romans to help Jesus

> finish his appointed task from God. " Wikipedia

>

> Note: i believe this to be the true reason: " to help Jesus finish

> his appointed task from God. " i will be posting excerpts from " The

> Gospel of Judas " where it becomes clear that Jesus had no

> problem/fear facing a physical crucifixion. This book also debunks

> the myth that Jesus died for the sins of humanity, which also never

> made much sense to me.

>

> But now the whole story of an institutionalized Jesus is taking a

> clarity of comprehension and comfort of conscience never experienced

> before. Jesus is the revealer of the God within, the true God

> Almighty that is Brahman! Over the next few weeks/months i will

> give evidence of the Jesus and His unfinished teachings that the

> Comforter without and the Holy Spirit within have brought us to

> remembrance. To achieve that i have ordered the following books:

>

> i) The Gospel of Judas (Edited by Rodolphe Kasser, Marvin Meyer, and

> Gregor Wurst);

> ii) The Sermon on the Mount According to Vedanta (Swami

> Prabhavananda)

> iii) Gospel of John in the Light of Indian Mysticism (Ravi

> Ravindra);

> iv) An Introduction to the Theology of Religions: Biblical,

> Historical and Contemporary Perspectives (Veli-Matti Karkkainen);

> v) The Unknown Christ of Hinduism: Towards an Ecumenical

> Christophany (Raimon Panikkar)

>

> It is going to be a great Christmas,

>

> jagbir

>

>

 

Book Review: Reading Judas - The Gospel of Judas and the Shaping of

Christianity by Elaine Pagels and Karen L. King

Author: Regis Schilken — Published: Apr 11, 2007

 

For thousands of years, Judas Iscariot has been reviled as the

betrayer of Christ, the man who purposefully pointed out Jesus,

possibly with a kiss, to an armed group of men who had come to take

him away. But an archeological find made public by National

Geographic provides a different slant on both Jesus and the man who

supposedly betrayed him.

 

Sometime in the 1970s, a gospel according to Judas, translated from

its second century Greek into Coptic, was discovered in Middle Egypt

near Al Minya. Although damaged considerably, scholars did a

remarkable job translating it into English by April 2006.

 

With Reading Judas one must conclude that the synoptic gospels of

Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and now Judas', portray the betrayal of

Jesus as divinely willed by God. Jesus states his foreknowledge of

Judas' act clearly: " The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl

with me will betray me " (Matthew 26:20-23). If so, then what Judas

did to fulfill the will of God and Old Testament prophecies cannot

damn the man forever into the annals of history as a mad traitor.

 

One of the clearest messages in Judas' Gospel is his disagreement

with the apostles and the original church fathers concerning why God

became incarnate. Judas believed Christ proclaimed a message of love

and life and joy. He believed in forgiveness and the resurrection of

the soul after death.

 

But he adamantly opposed any idea that a good god would ever accept

or require blood sacrifice of animals or human beings as martyrs for

their faith. Suffering is not an essential ingredient for salvation;

God did not need the offerings. In Reading Judas, the tortured,

bloodied account of the Son of God being shamefully tortured for his

sheep as the " pascal lamb " (I Corinthians 5:7) and then being

crucified as a redemptive act " for the forgiveness of sins " (Matthew

26:8) horrified Judas Iscariot.

 

Furthermore, according to other gospels, Jesus had commanded his

followers to " ...eat my flesh ... drink my blood ... " (John 6:53-55).

This was unthinkable to Judas as something possibly touching on

cannibalism. Subsequently, the hideous annals of Christians actively

seeking martyrdom so they could die like Jesus and gain instant

access through the pearly gates was unconscionable.

 

One can see why Judas Iscariot stood staunchly at odds with the

earliest Christian church. But what was Judas' message for mankind -

for worshipping God? Reading Judas claims the Savior took him aside

for intimate, personal instruction before his crucifixion. Jesus told

Judas that our world is " ... a kind of primeval darkness and

disorder " similar to that mentioned in the Bible's opening verses.

 

In order to rise above darkness, people must follow the teachings of

Jesus because " ... the image of God they carry deep within makes them

superior to the rulers of chaos " (Judas 13:16-17). By following

Christ's exemplary life and his teachings each person " turns upward

to the holy race " (Judas 9:26-30). When death comes naturally, the

body will die, but the soul will join God in eternity.

 

Reading Judas is a highly controversial work, not because of its

authors, but because of Judas' words. It begins by explaining how

Judas was deigned to betray Jesus as part of a divine plan. Yet

Judas' gospel reveals over and over his disbelief that a Divine God

would request blood sacrifice of any human being, particularly an

incarnate son. Since Judas' gospel " ... ends as he hands Jesus over

to the enemies who will kill him, " one wonders about this vicious

circle of reasoning.

 

I would highly recommend Reading Judas to any reader, Bible believer

or not, looking for a mind-provoking book, one that will cause some

consternation of thought about historical Christianity and its

earliest apostles, disciples and gospel writers. It is well written

and easy to follow.

 

For those readers tolerant of religious history beyond the more

accepted, traditional gospels, Reading Judas raises issues about the

nature of God, Jesus' incarnation, his death, and the terrible

sacrificial deaths of martyrs at the hands of Christian persecutors.

No doubt The Gospel of Judas exists, but its words might trouble a

reader trying to reconcile how any god could set up a man as

sensitive as Judas for a demonic traitor.

 

http://blogcritics.org/books/article/book-review-reading-judas-the-gospel/