Do you believe that the discovery of the Book of Judas, that contradicts centuries of Catholic Church dogma, was downplayed and the relevance of the contents supressed, in order for the church to maintain its spiritual dominion over its members?
2006-08-24 04:19:51 · 14 answers · asked by drumrb0y 5 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
The mission of the Catholic Church is to maintain the truth of the deposit of faith, which necessarily includes all that has been truthfully revealed by God for our salvation.
Anything that is contrary to that revealed truth must necessarily be identified as false and be excluded.
That's why the various false gospels and other non-inspired works are not included in the Bible.
They are contrary the known truth.
The Catholic Church actually experienced Jesus, Mary, the apostles, Judas' betrayal of Christ, the crucifixion, the resurresction, and all the other related events. It didn't just read about them in a book, a couple of thousand years later.
And because the Catholic Church was personally founded by Jesus Christ, and given its' authority by Christ as well, the teachings of the Catholic Church stand alone, and are beyond reproach in this and many other important aspects of the faith.
In the end, what you or others choose to believe is irrelevant when it comes to the God revealed truth of the matter.
The gospel of Judas was long ago consigned to the trash heap of history because it is not only false, but clearly and irrevocably false.
Anyone who understands true scripture can see that in a minute.
As for spiritual "dominion" ... the church teaches today, the very same truths that were taught by Jesus and the apostles 2000 years ago.
Believe it .... or don't. The choice is yours!
2006-08-24 04:54:37 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
The book of Judas is not a new discovery. The early church fathers decided on which books to include in the bible as divinely inspired. The book of Judas was on of the many gospels that were not included. Some of these were adopted aas copthic gospels by the coptic church. The book of Mary Magdelene is one other example of these coptic gospels. Just as today there are many news channels some spin to the right and others to the left these are just differing slants on the same story. to include every possible account (gospel) would make the bible a library not a book
2006-08-24 11:28:24 · answer #2 · answered by fstopf4 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The use of the word dogma here is probably the wrong word.
The Catholic Church defined the books of the bible based upon apostolic tradition. In fact, the bible is part of the apostolic tradition. Apostolic traditions are those stories, books, letters, works of art (Luke painted), songs, beliefs, services and practices from the apostles. The Book of Judas is not part of the apostolic tradition so it is excluded. It isn't to maintain dominion, which sounds awfully conspiracy theorist, but to maintain the original message as handed on to the people the apostle's chose as their successors (See Acts 1:46 for the first apostolic successor Mathias the first bishop). Each Catholic bishop can trace his ordination directly back to the apostles. Each bishop's job is to make sure the truth is proclaimed and not altered. The Book of Judas is a late book and was cleary not of apostolic origin. Pope Innocent in 405 promulgated the list of books that we now call the bible on his authority. If you reject the papacy you reject the authorizing party for the bible.
2006-08-25 21:06:47 · answer #3 · answered by OPM 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Book of Judas has been known about for 1000s of years and was declared to be heretical.
It is the duty of any church to confront teachings that they do not feel are true. It is not about maintaining a spiritual dominion over members. It is about guiding them in the truth.
2006-08-24 11:27:06 · answer #4 · answered by Sldgman 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Church did not "suppress" the Book of Judas in order to "maintain its spiritual dominion over its members."
It did so because the Book of Judas is simply not inspired Scripture. That's the only reason.
2006-08-24 11:24:41 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
This is one area where I will actually defend the Catholic Church.
The book of Judas is a secular writing that cannot be backed up or proven with other writings from the time period that it was written or the time period that it happened.
It is sort of like if I wrote a book on Bill Clinton. I have knowledge of who he was, but I have no idea of his true life, only media reports and hype. Now if someone found my book 2000 years later and purported it to be true, that would be a shame. But I do believe there would be a faction of people who would want to believe it to be true.
If you want "amunition" so to speak on the Catholic Church, there is plenty without having to look for more. Try Exodus chapter 20 verses 1-17 right inside the Catholic bible. These are the verses of the original God given commandments.
In the Catholic bible in exodus, the commandments are listed exactly as God gave them, and exactly as our bibles list them.
Now in the Catholic bible, jump back to the quick find pages in the back of the bible and find the ten commandments. You will notice that the scripture reference is still there, but the commandments themselves have been grossly changed.
The command to make or have any graven image, or to bow down to it, or to worship it, Has been left out. Commandment 10 has been split into two commandments, instead of being left one.
That is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit by the words of the Catholic bible as well as Christian bibles.
May God forgive them, I am scared that they actually know what they do.
2006-08-24 11:31:27 · answer #6 · answered by cindy 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
If its conflicting, then it is not dogma. It is just 'non-canonical'. However, despite my nit-picking, the answer is yes... ALL religions attempt to suppress new information which conflicts with orthodoxy. Just look at the rabid attacks upon science, by Christianity, in response to the Big Bang theory and evolution. This is nothing more than the latest episode in the shameful progression that included Christianity's insistence that the earth is flat, the sun circles the earth, the earth is the center of the universe, etc.
2006-08-24 11:40:40 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The gospel of Judas was written about 180 A.D. However it was written by a group of heretics called Gnostics who believed that Jesus was only a man and not God.
Catholics of both of that time and now do not believe it is true or inspired by God.
This is clearly shown when Catholics selected which gospels and other writings should be included in the New Testament, the gospel of Judas was not included.
2006-08-24 21:19:18 · answer #8 · answered by imacatholic2 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes.The church is also a political arena with many gladiators fighting the lions in different dens.
2006-08-24 11:22:12 · answer #9 · answered by eugene65ca 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I believe so. They would need to or else a lot of things would just simply unravel...
2006-08-24 11:22:44 · answer #10 · answered by the redcuber 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋