Miami, April 9, 2006 - It has become almost a ritual in modern times, perhaps even throughout the history of man. We become accustomed to what we regard as "truth", only to have the world turned upside down as new evidence comes along that forces us to re-examine the basis of our conclusions, and ultimately abandon what was held as sacred for generations, and in the case of the revelation of the existence of a Gospel according to Judas, almost two millennia. In the latter example, there appeared to be a willful and organized effort by officials of what turned to be the modern Roman Catholic Church to suppress the existence of the new find and its teachings, and to punish the so called "heretics" who espoused a belief that was contrary to the dominant body of beliefs at the time.

    The news of the existence of the Judas Gospel came as a surprise to most but not to scholars who have long expected its appearance at some point in history. According to an article published in the new York Times last week, scholars had been on the look out for the Gospel of Judas because of a reference to that document in a treatise written in 180 A.D. by someone named Irenaeous, the then Bishop of Lyons. "They produce a fictitious history of this kind, which they style the Gospel of Judas", the New York Times quotes the second century bishop as writing. Scholars also disclosed the activities of the Bishop of Lyons in hunting down heretics in an effort to force compliance with official church doctrine. Had there not been efforts to suppress the work of Judas, as the writings of the Bishop of Lyon indicate, it is unlikely that its discovery would have generated the level of fascination we are seeing today. Lesson number one: by suppressing an idea, you may only succeed in giving it wings. After all, Christianity began to flourish after the crucifixion of Christ and the persecution of his followers.

    For centuries Christians, especially those who adhered strictly to the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, have believed not only that the four gospels, Mathew, Mark, Luke and John were the only genuine account of Jesus' life and teachings, but that the writings were undertaken by these wise men themselves; at least I thought so, or was lead to believe so. Historians and scholars point us in a different direction: the four canonical gospels were NOT written by any of the original disciples or first person witnesses to the life of Jesus and that there is only the general agreement that these gospels were probably written within the first century. The New York Times informs us, presumably with the guidance of scholars, that the 26 page Gospel of Judas, is believed to be a copy written in the Coptic language in A.D. 300, of the original Gospel of Judas which was written in Greek. As in the case of the four canonical gospels, the good news, which is another word for gospel, was told to a scribe who meticulously laid out a story based on information which circulated among the faithful through generations and centuries. Lesson number two: early Christianity was not as monolithic as some have been led to believe. If the version told by scholars is correct, there were several sects and cults within the umbrella of the community of early Christians. Those that historians now refer to as Gnostics, represented a minority within the larger Christian community at the time, in the second through the fourth centuries and their beliefs varied vastly from the beliefs of the dominant branch of Christianity. Judas is thought to have inspired this fringe community of Gnostics. Again, according to the New York Times, other Gnostic gospels have been discovered and translated, including those of Mary Magdalene, Philip, Thomas and another referred to simply as "The Gospel of Truth."

    Why the new interest in Judas? Since the beginning of the Christian era the name Judas has been synonymous with traitor. According to Craig Evans, a scholar of divinity studies in Canada, some of the dialogue between Jesus and Judas, may have been spoken in private and failed to be recorded in the New Testament which dealt largely with Christ's public statements. Far from betraying Jesus, the Gospel of Judas purports to portray him as a collaborator, according to God's plan: "You will be cursed by the other generations, and you will come to rule over them", the Gospel of Judas quotes Jesus as saying to Judas. By doing this, he tells Judas: "you will exceed all of them; for you will sacrifice the man that clothes me." Scholars conclude from Jesus' pronouncement that in helping Jesus move beyond his physical flesh Judas acted to help Jesus liberate his spirit and to accomplish the will of the father. Lesson number three: an untruth or a deliberate or accidental fabrication may last for a very long time, but the real truth will unfold in the fullness of time. Other distortions such as the inherent inferiority of one race versus another, or the inferiority of one sex versus the other, have similarly been debunked.

    The obvious question that will arise from discussions of the Gospel of Judas is this: is it genuine or is it a fabrication? On this the scientific community could not be more united. Scientific methods known as carbon dating establish the authenticity of the document without equivocation. But this leaves another question unanswered, and that is, is the written account itself an accurate recounting of what actually transpired during Jesus' lifetime. There does not seem to be a definitive response to this question which itself is irrelevant because both the canonical gospels of Mathew, Mark, Luke and John, and the Gospel of Judas, according to scholars, were written by scribes, not the presumed authors, long after their deaths. It boils down to a question of faith and the ability to submit oneself to official dogma.

    I will not say where I stand on this issue, not out of fear of excommunication, which is less feared in our modern era. But my hope is that if there is any bogus information or misperception about me in the public domain, it will not take almost 2000 years to clear them up and let the truth in. Happy Easter to all.