# Ancient manuscript may explain relationship between Jesus and Judas



## heartoflesh (Apr 6, 2006)

(Sorry-- this should have gone in the Manuscripts section-- can someone please move it? thanks)


Randolph E. Schmid, Associated Press
April 6, 2006

WASHINGTON "” National Geographic unveiled an ancient manuscript today that may shed new light on the relationship between Jesus and Judas, the disciple who betrayed him. 

The papyrus manuscript was written probably around 300 A.D. in Coptic script, a copy of an earlier Greek manuscript. 

It was discovered in the desert in Egypt in the 1970s and has now been authenticated by carbon dating and studied and translated by biblical scholars, National Geographic announced. 

Unlike the four gospels in the Bible, this text indicates that Judas betrayed Jesus at Jesus' request. 

The text begins "the secret account of the revelation that Jesus spoke in conversation with Judas Iscariot." 

The key passage comes when Jesus tells Judas "you will exceed all of them. For you will sacrifice the man that clothed me." 

This indicates that Judas would help liberate the spiritual self by helping Jesus get rid of his physical flesh, the scholars said. 

The manuscript was first mentioned in a treatise around 180 A.D. by a bishop, Irenaeus of Lyon, in what is now France. The bishop denounced the manuscript as differing from mainstream Christianity and said it produced a fictitious story. 

There were several gospels in circulation at the time in addition to the four in the Bible. When those gospels were denounced, it was thought that believers hid them away. 

The gospel of Judas was kept by a group called the Gnostics, who believed that the way to salvation was through secret knowledge given by Jesus to his inner circle. 

National Geographic said the author of the gospel of Judas believed that Judas Iscariot alone understood the true significance of Jesus' teachings.

[Edited on 4-6-2006 by Rick Larson]


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## Anton Bruckner (Apr 6, 2006)

sounds like gnosticism. waste of time and effort. the only reason I can see to watch this is to have the knowledge to refute those who will be deceived by this program, and become arrogant in their falsehood.

[Edited on 4-6-2006 by Slippery]


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## BobVigneault (Apr 6, 2006)

"(Sorry-- this should have gone in the Manuscripts section-- can someone please move it? thanks)"

It is as you have requested.


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## BobVigneault (Apr 6, 2006)

I always look forward to seeing National Geographic's and the Discovery Channel's retelling of Bible stories. Not content as Satan was in the garden to infuse a little bit of misinformation into the mix, they turn the truth completely upside down.

They, of course, are trying to produce a tittilating product to tickle the public ears. Sometime they even take the tone that they are helping us poor ignorant Bible-believers by giving us scientific and logical interpretations to keep us from getting embarrassed.

I rolled on floor laughing when I watched Discovery Channel's treatment of Noah, the real story. They followed the info listed here by a BBC newsman. Here are some excerpts:


Did Noah Really Build An Ark? By Jeremy Bowen Presenter, Noah's Ark BBC News 3-20-4

Noah might have been king of a city called Shuruppak. He would have had a kilt, a shaven head and eye make-up, like the figures portrayed in artworks created in what was then known as Sumeria.

The epic of Gilgamesh says Noah had silver and gold, then the currency of wealthy merchants, suggesting he was a businessman.

Instead of building an ark to survive a great flood, he is more likely to have built boats to trade goods like beer, grain and animals.

All the big trading centres of the era were on the River Euphrates and it was cheaper to move goods by water than land. Sumerians were able to build barges about 20ft in length, and marine archaeologists have not found remains or inscriptions of larger vessels.

But they believe they would have had the technology to have built a series of barges and used them like pontoons on which a much larger boat, or ark, could have been constructed.

Tropical storm

Parts of the Euphrates were only navigable at certain times of the year, when the waters were deep enough for large boats.

Noah was likely to have waited for the melt waters to arrive in June and July and, if these had combined with a tropical storm, the river could have flooded the Mesopotamian plain.

The currents in the area would not have taken him towards Mount Ararat, but out into the Persian Gulf. Life would have been difficult, but they could have survived on the animals and beer on board.


Yeah baby!!!! I love this rendition because it makes Noah a kilt wearing brewmaster and beer runner who had his family live on beer until they found a new place to settle. Yummy. I could live off beer.

The program even suggested that because Noah owed a lot of money to his customers that rather than go back and face them, it was easier to just resettle and start again. I'm so disappointed that he turned to wine making instead of barley water.

Anyway, now Judas is the only one who really understood Jesus and the other eleven were dummies. That is jacked up in a way that only National Geographic can do. To think, people get paid to think up that stuff! 



[Edited on 4-6-2006 by BobVigneault]


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## heartoflesh (Apr 6, 2006)

> Yeah baby!!!! I love this rendition because it makes Noah a kilt wearing brewmaster and beer runner who had his family live on beer until they found a new place to settle. Yummy. I could live off beer.



Noah was a Packer's fan.

[Edited on 4-6-2006 by Rick Larson]


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## BobVigneault (Apr 6, 2006)

Hey, that's another reason I like it!


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## heartoflesh (Apr 6, 2006)

Or, given his affinity for boat parties, he could have been a Viking.


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## panta dokimazete (Apr 6, 2006)

Ja!


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