Judas Says

I definitely think that the four gopels can't possibly be the only ones written about Jesus. Many scholars believe that the Gospel of Thomas is genuine, in that it has authentic sayings of Jesus. But I don't know about this Gospel of Judas. I think the following quote is very important, though: "Princeton University professor Elaine Pagels said she thinks the Judas gospel will alert contemporary believers to the fact that in earlier times there was not one but several kinds of Christianity. Some would seem strange, even alien, to present-day churchgoers, being more mystical and mysterious than they are used to." A lot of our beliefs -- even those derived from people like Ellen White and Joseph Smith -- are evolutions of those beliefs constructed under Constantine's rule when he was trying to unite all the churches. We're still holding to those beliefs, they haven't gone away yet, at least some of them, so I think most people who read something saying Jesus did something different to what the gospels said he did or said are going to be shocked and tend not to believe it. But knowing how much of our beliefs about Christian theology are really just influenced by what people concluded (under Constantine) in the fourth century, we should keep an open mind. Also after reading that article it's amazing what crap that extremely priceless and important manuscript went through before it actually got published. The thing almost deteriorated! Some people are greedy. You can't put a price on something like that -- authentic or not -- and just let it be ruined because no one's giving you over a million for it. That ticks me off.

---
"Know what is in front of your face, and what is hidden from you will be disclosed to you." - Jesus, from the Gospel of Thomas.

[ # ]