Posted on 01/12/2006 7:42:57 AM PST by Alouette
Proposed ‘rehabilitation’ of the man who was paid 30 pieces of silver to identify Jesus to Roman soldiers in the Garden of Gethsemane, comes on the ground that he was not deliberately evil, but was just ‘fulfilling his part in God’s plan, the London Times reports
Judas Iscariot, the disciple who betrayed Jesus with a kiss, is to be given a makeover by Vatican scholars, according to the London Times.
The proposed “rehabilitation” of the man who was paid 30 pieces of silver to identify Jesus to Roman soldiers in the Garden of Gethsemane, comes on the ground that he was not deliberately evil, but was just “fulfilling his part in God’s plan,” the London Times said.
Christians have traditionally blamed Judas for aiding and abetting the Crucifixion, and his name is synonymous with treachery. According to St Luke, Judas was “possessed by Satan.”
According to the London Times, a campaign led by Monsignor Walter Brandmuller, head of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Science, is aimed at persuading believers to look kindly at a man reviled for 2,000 years.
Mgr Brandmuller told fellow scholars it was time for a “re-reading” of the Judas story. He is supported by Vittorio Messori, a prominent Catholic writer close to both Pope Benedict XVI and the late John Paul II.
Signor Messori said that the rehabilitation of Judas would “resolve the problem of an apparent lack of mercy by Jesus toward one of his closest collaborators.”
He told La Stampa that there was a Christian tradition that held that Judas was forgiven by Jesus and ordered to purify himself with “spiritual exercises” in the desert.
'Judas portrayed with a hooked nose'
In scholarly circles, it has long been unfashionable to demonize Judas and Catholics in Britain are likely to welcome Judas’ rehabilitation.
The London Times quoted Father Allen Morris, Christian Life and Worship secretary for the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales, as saying, “If Christ died for all — is it possible that Judas too was redeemed through the Master he betrayed?”
The “rehabilitation” of Judas could help the Pope’s drive to improve Christian-Jewish relations, which he has made a priority of his pontificate.
Some Bible experts say Judas was “a victim of a theological libel which helped to create anti Semitism” by forming an image of him as a “sinister villain” prepared to betray for money.
In many medieval plays and paintings Judas is portrayed with a hooked nose and exaggerated Semitic features. In Dante’s Inferno, Judas is relegated to the lowest pits of Hell, where he is devoured by a three-headed demon.
The move to clear Judas’s name coincides with plans to publish the alleged Gospel of Judas for the first time in English, German and French. Though not written by Judas, it is said to reflect the belief among early Christians — now gaining ground in the Vatican — that in betraying Christ Judas was fulfilling a divine mission, which led to the arrest and Crucifixion of Jesus and hence to man’s salvation, according to the London Times.
'Fell headlong'
Mgr Brandmuller said that he expected “no new historical evidence” from the supposed gospel, which had been excluded from the canon of accepted Scripture.
But it could “serve to reconstruct the events and context of Christ’s teachings as they were seen by the early Christians.” This included that Jesus had always preached “forgiveness for one’s enemies.”
Some Vatican scholars have expressed concern over the reconsideration of Judas. Monsignor Giovanni D’Ercole, a Vatican theologian, said it was “dangerous to re-evaluate Judas and muddy the Gospel accounts by reference to apocryphal writings. This can only create confusion in believers.”
The Gospels tell how Judas later returned the 30 pieces of silver — his “blood money” — and hanged himself, or according to the Acts of the Apostles, “fell headlong and burst open so that all his entrails burst out."
And if Judas had never been born, someone else would have had to betray Jesus.
That's it! LOL.
. . . from . . .
Judas represents a salutary reminder of not only our condition but God's disposition toward evil. That doesn't make Judas a saint. (I am not addressing you. I had the same thought upon reading the title to this thread: "Saint Judas?!") But then, I hardly think the Catholic Church would seriously consider sainthood for Judas.
Have you ever read Handbook of Denominations in the United States, published by Abingdon Press? I have, and that's no mean feat let me tell you. As a result, I am somewhat uniquely qualified to answer that question. And thus, let me advise you that your claim of "30,000 Protestant Denominations" is a gross and ignorant exaggeration.
Am I wrong to assume it's because they all believe something different?
You've been willfully wrong about so many things already - why stop you now?
He might have gone to New Jersey?
We're living in very strange times...
He's the son of perdition!!!
Listen to the Lord:
"Joh 17:12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.
From Clarke's commentary:
But the son of perdition - So we find that Judas, whom all account to have been lost, and whose case at best is extremely dubious, was first given by God to Christ? But why was he lost? Because, says St. Augustin, he would not be saved: and he farther adds, After the commission of his crime, he might have returned to God and have found mercy. Aug. Serm. 125; n. 5; Psa_146:1-10. n. 20; Ser. 352, n. 8; and in Psa_108:1-13. See Calmet, who remarks: Judas only became the son of perdition because of his wilful malice, his abuse of the grace and instructions of Christ, and was condemned through his own avarice, perfidy, insensibility, and despair. In behalf of the mere possibility of the salvation of Judas, see the observations at the end of Acts 1 (note).
Perdition or destruction is personified; and Judas is represented as being her son, i.e. one of the worst of men - one whose crime appears to have been an attempt to destroy, not only the Savior of the world, but also the whole human race. And all this he was capable of through the love of money! How many of those who are termed creditable persons in the world have acted his crime over a thousand times! To Judas and to all his brethren, who sell God and their souls for money, and who frequently go out of this world by a violent voluntary death, we may apply those burning words of Mr. Blair, with very little alteration:
“O cursed lust of gold! when for thy sake
The wretch throws up his interest in both worlds,
First hanged in this, then damned in that to come.”
That the scripture might be fulfilled - Or, Thus the scripture is fulfilled: see Psa_41:9; Psa_109:8; compared with Act_1:20. Thus the traitorous conduct of Judas has been represented and illustrated by that of Ahitophel, and the rebellion of Absalom against his father David. Thus what was spoken concerning them was also fulfilled in Judas: to him therefore these scriptures are properly applied, though they were originally spoken concerning other traitors. Hence we plainly see that the treachery of Judas was not the effect of the prediction, for that related to a different case; but, as his was of the same nature with that of the others, to it the same scriptures were applicable.
He's lost. Get over it.
Jesus
Are all Protestants like you? Where do you get this? The Scripture says Judas killed himself. Period. Does it matter how he did it? Speculations as to whether the rope broke or not are not "inerrant scripture." They are fairytales made up by people who read too much into the Bible.
However, the Gospel and the Acts do tell two (apparently) different stories. But so do the two stories of Genesis. I focus on the biblical message. Is the message contradictory? No: they both say that Judas committed suicide. The message is not contradictory. We don't know what transpired. I would wager that the Apostles intentionally left out the details of exactly what happened because they wanted to make sure we remember that he killed himself, which is much more important than the details how he did it.
bump with no comment
I disagree with our Pope here.
Judas Iscariot should continue to be portrayed as the traitor that he was.
In hoc signo vinces.
I guess that means no.
Never rely on the MSM to report religious news, especially concerning the Catholic Church or Evangelical Protestant ones. Most likey what was under discussion was a study paper intended for theologians and other scholars. In no way would such a paper be binding on anyone.
Monsigners, priests, cardinals and anyone can theorize and speculate all they want. But that is all that it will remain speculation.
As a Catholic I respect your stand. God bless you.
However, that is not what scripture says. The story is being told that he hung himself in one instance and in another with no hanging mentioned he headfirst spewed his guts.
You are extrapolating.....what is clearly not written.
According to the Dictionary of Christianity in America [Protestant] (Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 1990): "As of 1980 David B. Barrett identified 20,800 Christian denominations worldwide . . ."
("Denominationalism," page 351). Barrett "classified them into seven major blocs and 156 ecclesiastical traditions." This is from the Oxford World Christian Encyclopedia (1982) of which he is the editor. Also, according to the United Nations statistics there were over 23,000 competing and often contradictory denominations worldwide (World Census of Religious Activities [U.N. Information Center, NY, 1989]). This was cited in Frank Schaeffer's book Dancing Alone (Brookline, MA: Holy Cross Press, 1994), page 4. Schaeffer is Orthodox. The 1999 Encyclopedia of Christianity has this to say: "In 1985 David Barrett could count 22,150 distinct denominations worldwide." (edited by E. Fahlbusch, et al., Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1999, vol. 1, p. 800, s.v. "Denomination"). Barrett is the statistical editor. Again citing the Oxford World Christian Encyclopedia (1982): ". . . a projected 22,190 by 1985 . . . The present net increase is 270 denominations each year (five new ones a week)." (pages 15-18)
The definition Barrett worked with was that a denomination was "an organized Christian Church or tradition or religious group or community of believers or aggregate of worship centers or congregations, usually within a specific country, whose component congregations and members are called by the same name in different areas, regarding themselves as an autonomous Christian church distinct from other denominations, churches and traditions."
Barrett breaks down his encyclopedic reference by country. Barrett shows ONLY ONE Roman Catholic denomination in every country.
Even within the Catholic Church, the most diverse forms of Catholicism, the Latin and Eastern Rite, share the same government, the same "religious organization uniting local congregations in a single legal and administrative body." In other words, Canon Law for the Eastern Rite and Canon Law for the Latin Rite come from the same single government, chaired by the same Vicar.
But don't let facts get in the way.
When you have two witnesses to an event and both of them have apparently divergent views of what happened and both of them are reliable witnesses, then the job of the fact finder is extrapolate the truth from the two testimonies.
Here you have two views. A view from the cliff shows Judas hanged or strangled himself. A view from the ground shows that Judas fell and his guts spilled out. On the surface they appear inconsistent. But we must assume that the eyewitnesses (unless they had a motive to lie) were all reporting exactly what they saw happen. Giving them the benefit of the doubt, you would have use some forensic intuition and extrapolate that somehow Judas hanged himself and ended up on the rocks below.
Do you have any other biblical contradictions that you'd like to discuss?
Sentimental thought. Of course that is not what the Scripture teaches, as my quotes demonstrate.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.