Posted on 04/13/2006 8:12:35 AM PDT by Mr. Silverback
Welcome to Holy Week, American style. Just as millions of Christians are preparing to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, the media is once again out to debunk historical Christianity.
Just last weekend I was in an airport bookstore and saw the new book counter filled with numerous editions of The Da Vinci Code. Then I picked up the New York Times, and there I was greeted with the headline on the front page that read, “In Ancient Document, Judas, Minus the Betrayal.”
You probably have seen the hype, including a one-hour National Geographic TV spectacular: After seventeen hundred years, the story goes, the long-lost text of the so-called “Gospel of Judas” has re-surfaced. It claims that Jesus secretly told Judas to betray Him; so Judas is really a good disciple.
Well, it’s not a new discovery. This “new gospel” and the heresy it espouses—Gnosticism—were rejected as fiction by Christian leaders and the Church as early as 180 A.D.
Gnosticism was an attempt to add to Christianity an essentially Eastern worldview dressed up with Christian language. It was presented to the Roman world as the true Gospel—complete with endless mysteries that only those with secret knowledge could unravel. Many unsuspecting people were enthralled with Gnostic writings, particularly their sometimes gory and salacious initiation ceremonies. Christian pastors and theologians repeatedly rejected all forms of Gnosticism, until, by the middle of the third century, it had all but disappeared.
But now it is back with a vengeance, with supposed discoveries and works like Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code. It provides the means for Christianity’s detractors to debunk the historical Jesus, and it certainly sells books. Seven million copies of The Da Vinci Code is testimony to that. Gnosticism has particular appeal today because of the postmodern age, which has rejected historical truth. So you can find God any way you wish, through your own group. This, of course, is the belief that is at the root of the spreading New Age movement.
The danger is that we have a biblically illiterate population. People today don’t know—maybe don’t care—whether there is a difference between the Gospel of Judas and the Gospel of John. They are unfamiliar with the work of the ancient canonical councils of the Church (which rejected the Gnostic “gospels” time and again) or even of the basic creeds or confessions of the Christian Church. Sadly, people are as gullible today as ever.
Now it is tempting to get angry at National Geographic and the liberal press for unleashing this fraudulent “gospel” at the beginning of the holiest week of the year. But don’t. Instead, let’s use the media attention to debunk the debunkers, to point out to friends that this regurgitated Gnosticism—the Da Vinci Code and the “gospel” of Judas included—is nothing more than historically unsupportable fantasy.
Then we can point them to the knowledge that is accessible to all people that has been accessible to Christians for two thousand years and proven historically accurate. It’s called the Bible.
But whatever you do, get informed first. Come to our website (see further reading below) or call us here at “BreakPoint” (1-877-322-5527) and find some of the resources that we are offering. And get busy because millions can be suckered in—unless you and I set the record straight.
I think your post is a very clear cut explanation. I would add that the MSM is driving these questionable interpretations of religious events - from the *DaVinci code to this latest Judas gospel.
Without arousing doubt about fundamental Christian belief, the social secular and liberal agenda fails.
*Yes, I know the "it's only fiction" defense.
I'm sure that as one of the faithful Judas was high on the Lord's list until those last few hours.
But without Judas, there might not have been Christianity at all.
To me, this is the most salient point that Colson makes.
If people were even aware of what is stated in the Bible, these wierd suppositions would never be able to see the light of day.
Looks like some others piled on as well. You can't get away with anything around here!
The Albigensians in the south of France during the Middle Ages were gnostics. Gnosticism has survived even to this day, if you count all Christians who believe that they have "special knowledge" that departs from the canonical scriptures. That gnostic vice is the same vice that resulted in Adam's fall. "Eat of this tree and ye shall be as gods!" Orthodox Christianity has never been about special knowledge.
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The idea that Judas was “unsung and unrecognized hero” of the 12 apostles? Afraid not – Jesus called him the “son of perdition” and “the devil.”
Others talk about the inaccuracy of the traditional canon due to the idea that many recollections weren’t written down until sometimes hundreds of years after Jesus’ time.” They are unaware that scholars now agree most of the New Testament was written within 5 to 30 years of the resurrection. Certainly before the destruction of Jerusalem about 35 years post resurrection which wasn’t mentioned anywhere in the NT. Think about it; Paul quoted the writers of the gospels in the book of Acts and also mentions in the creed or “statement of belief” in 1 Cor 15 that over 500 people saw the risen savior and most were still alive at that time.
Happy Pesach!
That is the first thing I thought when I heard about this new Judas gospel! I will take the words of christ over anyone!
Think about it: God's way of "cleansing" syncretistic and heretical revisionism of the Gospel.
Only Christianity had the strength--the staying power--to survive the Trial By Ordeal. It did purify the faith.
Kinda like Spock losing his vision while the pancake monster died. Both Spock and the alien flapjack had to undergo the intense light. It killed the creature, but Spock survived. Same analogy here.
Tells you something about the conviction with which the Gnostics really viewed their faith, huh?
Sauron
You're looking at it as a non-Christian.
As a Christian, the Da Vinci Code, while fiction, is dangerous for two reasons:
(1) Assuming Christians are right, believing in Dan Brown's bestseller will damage your right relationship with God.
(2) Being full of fabrications and a few half-truths, there are many gullible people who will believe what was written. If they read it in a book, it's got to be right, right? ;) The power of a half-truth is stronger than that of a lie.
That's why Christians oppose the book.
HTH,
Sauron
I'm not mad over The Da Vinci Code, and I'm not for censoring it or anything like that. However, it is appropriate for Christians to point out that the book isn't true.
Suppose someone wrote a fictional book, or produced a fictional movie, which depicted Ronald Reagan doing numerous terrible things which he never in reality did. Suppose the author, in interviews, alleged that his book/movie is based on years of painstaking historical research, where he uncovered new truths about Reagan. He never comes right out and says his book is non-fiction. It's listed and sold in the fiction category. But the author makes every effort to imply that Reagan really did do all the wicked things described in his work. The media then chime in, with stories which stop short of stating that the work is factual, but discuss the "taboo-shattering" nature of the book, and how even though it's "technically" fiction, it is "well-researched" and reveals "possible new truths" about Reagan. Suppose the book is written in a style that leads readers to believe it's a biography of Reagan, rather than fiction.
Wouldn't conservatives be well within their rights to point out that in fact the book is totally fictitious, and that it's storyline is made up out of thin air?
It reminds one of the experiment where you start out a rumor by telling the first person, and let it go down a line of 30 people. By the end the rumor that's passed down is nothing like the way it started.
. . . moving quickly away from the seadog's vicinity . . .
"unmasking an ancient heresy"
Well, are there any heresies which are not ancient? It is devilishly difficult to come up with something genuinely new.
I'm this close to clicking the "Report Abuse" link.
News Flash: There are oodles of ancient writing which purport to be accounts of Jesus and his original followers, but were rejected by the nascent Church and excluded from the canon which became the modern Bible.
It seems the media is now treating the weeks before Christmas and Easter attacking our Judeo-Christian heritage and traditions the same way they attack Republicans in the weeks before an election. Twenty years ago it would have been unthinkable to treat heresy and outright fiction as newsworthy topics for debate.
Yep.
An amusing sidelight: Every so often, one of the DUmmies will post a thread about this stuff in Democratic Underground. Grand High Supreme DUmmie Skinner will eventually notice, and shunt the thread to the "crazy aunt attic" of the DUmp -- the "September 11 Forum".
At this point, the 9/11 conspiracy nuts will complain that such threads denigrate their serious research into how Bush and Cheney staged the attacks, and the other moonbats will complain that the 9/11 conspiracy nuts won't listen to their crackpot theories with an open mind.
"the bible as we know it has been rewritten how many times and how much has been lost in these rewritings??????"
It doesn't matter.
The message in the Bible is in the principles,not in the details.
In many cases the details are there, but we don't understand the context. For instance, the qoute "....than a camel getting through the eye of the needle."
One needed to live back then to understand just what 'the eye of the needle' was. It was a gate to keep camels from entering the front yard (or garden) and tearing it up.
Point is, you still got the message about the ultimate folly of pursuing riches and power.
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