text: gospel of judas?? hey!!! somebody answer this please!   what is your reaction to the recently discovered/televised judas' gospel? my mom, a devout catholic, hates it very much... much like iraneaus' reaction with mystics and gnostics... hm... and is the catholic church denouncing it? please, some updates! thanks! the gospel of judas is all over the news. it has been hugely promoted by  the national geographic society, which funded its reconstruction and  translation, and has been trumpeted by practically every major news  publication in the world. usa today's front-page headline is typical:  "long-lost gospel of judas casts 'traitor' in new light."  until recently this gnostic gospel was thought to have been lost and was  known only through irenaeus' late second century condemnation thereof in  his refutation of all heresies, but a copy from the third or fourth  century that was found in egypt a few decades ago was purchased and  restored. the translation of the fragmentary writing was published on  april 6.  the gospel of judas presents judas in a positive light as the only  disciple who truly understood jesus and who betrayed him only because he  was asked to do so.  according to irenaeus, it was produced by the egyptian cainite gnostics  who claimed that cain, esau, the sodomites, korah, judas, and other  villains of biblical history were actually enlightened heroes who  valiantly kept the gnosis or knowledge of the truth alive. according to  this cult, a god named hystera created the world and another deity  called "sophia" allegedly assisted the aforementioned people (refutation  of all heresies, book i, chapter 31,  http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf01.ix...  the gospel of judas begins with the words, "the secret account of the  revelation that jesus spoke in conversation with judas iscariot." jesus  allegedly tells judas that the world was created in a manner different  than the account in genesis and that "an evil god named nebro rules the  lower world of humans." judas is the "thirteenth spirit" who was  appointed to release jesus from the physical body in which he was  trapped. the jesus of the gospel of judas laughs a lot, even laughing at  the way the disciples pray and praise god. in this strange writing it is  judas rather than jesus who is glorified by entering a "luminous cloud."  the gnostic jesus described in the gospel of judas is not almighty god  or the creator of the world, does not die for man's sin, and does not  rise bodily from the dead. it is no gospel at all.  egypt was a hotbed of heresy and fanaticism in the early centuries after  christ. many other strange "gospels" originated there, including the  gospel of thomas that purports to give details of christ's childhood  (such as giving life to a dried fish and causing the death of one of his  playmates).  egypt also gave us the sinaiticus and vaticanus codexes and the handful  of similar new testament manuscripts that contain an alexandrian type of  text preferred by modern textual critics and the translators of the  modern bible versions.  "for there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old  ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our god  into lasciviousness, and denying the only lord god, and our lord jesus  christ" (jude 4).  "but there were false prophets also among the people, even as there  shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable  heresies, even denying the lord that bought them, and bring upon  themselves swift destruction. and many shall follow their pernicious  ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of" (2  pet. 2:1-2).   to know more, click here... http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bibletruths_forbelievers/