Long-lost Gospel of Judas to be published

Religion News ^ | Dec 19th, 2005

[Mind-numbed Robot]

How is Judas' betrayal for silver different from Peter's denial to save his own skin?

[Eastbound]

Howdy, Moe. Welcome to Free Republic!

"What it says is that the human will is corrupted, loving evil instead of God and always acts according to the bent of it's affections."

And always would without a paradigm that would reach and convict the soul, regenerating hearts and minds.

[starfish923]

We all sell our salvation for silver. We are all convicted by our sin. Some surrender their lives at Jesus' feet and beg for His forgiveness. Others are so lost in their darkness they can not even see a glimmer of hope. They destroy themselves believing God hates them.
Judas did not wait for the ressurection. His vision did not extend beyond the failure of his own plans and dreams. He died in hopelessness.

Suicide is the final act of hopelessness, despair and a loss of courage. Who knows what finally happened to Judas. His was one of history's saddest stories.

That God loves Judas is a fundamental in Christianity. Only God could love Him. He's easy for us to despise....thus the Judas goat. That is not a bad thing, I think, if we remember your words about him. He was a good lesson for us.

[Killborn]

Heresy stems from idleness!

[HarleyD]

To expand this beyond Judas, the scriptures state:

"For truly in this city there were gathered together against You holy servant Jesus, who You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur." Acts 4:27-28

Everyone of us, both Jews and Gentiles, were gathered together against our Lord Jesus-just as God predestined it to happen.

Man naturally runs to unrighteous things UNTIL the Son sets us free.

[stuartcr]

I don't believe anyone has free-will...we just think we do. As you said, it was foretold. If God really has a plan for us, then I believe, everything we do is part of His plan. I don't see where our choice would come into play.

[Dick Vomer]

Doesn't that by its nature eliminate choice?

I look at it more like, If I was all knowing and all powerful and could see into the future.

I would have seen the Dallas Cowboys suck against the Redskins.... I am in the future and I am in the past and I am in the now....

Just because I've seen the future and can say... the cowboys defense will sucketh on this day.... doesn't' effect the players. Even if I know they will suck, the Cowboys chose to suck.

Now if I was evil, I'd tell the Cowboys all the Redskin plays, have all the Redskin players show up at game time with dysentery and puking and my beloved Cowboys would win... and I could do that for the whole season.

We'd be undefeated and win the Super Bowl.

It would be nice but boring..like a fixed game.

The great thing is allowing the cowboys to struggle, to overcome adversity, to find it within themselves to use the gifts that have been given these fine young athletes and to excel by making their own choices. That way the victory is so much sweeter and comes from the players who I've "created" and not by my manipulation.....

or something like that....I just love football comparisons.

;-)

[HarleyD]

GRPL ping...

[Dick Vomer]

see my post 47

[stuartcr]

Since God knew the outcome of his choice...how is this a choice for Judas? He could not choose otherwise, could he? God cannot be wrong, can He?

[stuartcr]

Wasn't your sin, part of God's plan?

[stuartcr]

How would the cowboys be able to choose whether to suck or not, if God cannot be wrong, and knew they would suck on that day. They had to suck..besides, all the other stuff that God knows will happen, as a result of their suckiness on that day.

[starfish923]

Since God knew the outcome of his choice...how is this a choice for Judas? He could not choose otherwise, could he? God cannot be wrong, can He?

That has already been answered. You might consider reading the thread before you ask questions.

Post #13.

To: Mind-numbed Robot
yes he had a choice...God knew what choice he was going to make.
that's the diff between predestination and foreknowledge...
of course that's just my opinion...and I could be wrong.
13 posted on 12/19/2005 7:31:22 AM PST by Dick Vomer

This is the answer for me, at least. I'm sure not going to discuss with someone who didn't bother to read the thread, so please don't respond to me. Thank you and Merry Christmas.

[dangus]

"I don't think it will unsettle the church," Hedrick said in an interview. "I mean we are not talking history here. We know very little about Judas from the New Testament, and some people have even challenged whether Judas was a historical person." ///

One must keep this passage in mind! Gnostic gospels were not history, or even mythological, but were complete fictions; their only relevance to the truth is they were vehicles for their author's opinions. The "catholic" books of the bible were called catholic because they represented objective, universal truth. Gnosticism was the belief that subjective truth could be obtained in altered spiritual states, or through occultic practives like numerology.

[stuartcr]

That's a pretty poor way to get out of an axplanation. I read it, but it's not an an answer. It explains nothing.

[onedoug]

...mentioned the Gospel of Judas about 180 AD...."

Hmm.

[Doohickey]

Finally these guys are going to get the recognition they deserve!

[Mind-numbed Robot]

...have all the Redskin players show up at game time with dysentery and puking and my beloved Cowboys would win...

Wow! If the Cowboys had the Redskins' playbook, why make the game so messy? :-)

However, the analogy is not bad, IMHO, as I see the scritures as God giving us the enemy's playbook. And as Pogo said, "We have met the enemy and he is us."

[Mind-numbed Robot]

Gnosticism was the belief that subjective truth could be obtained in altered spiritual states, or through occultic practices like numerology.

Isn't faith by nature subjective? Isn't prayer a belief in the super natural?

[Mind-numbed Robot]

I don't believe anyone has free-will...we just think we do. As you said, it was foretold. If God really has a plan for us, then I believe, everything we do is part of His plan. I don't see where our choice would come into play.

There was a recent best selling book, the title of which I can't recall at the moment, on this very subject. The trick is discerning God's plan and the requirement is to want to and to try.