Was Judas a villain or just an ordinary man caught up in extraordinary circumstances?

Question

aka Do you believe in the Gospel of Judas account or the story of Jesus told by Sylvia Browne?

Answer 1

History does not favor Judas. Did he become a tool of the religious priest? History is just what it is. It is distorted to apaise the will of the Want-ta-bees who seem to die off with no name. History corrects it self, always, even if it takes 2000 years. If the story was true there would be no revelation.

Answer 2

Some people are born treacherous. Some learn to achieve treachery. And some have treachery thrust upon them.

Judas Iscariot, insofar ashe may have existed, was a necessary part of the Passion story. Jesus had to be safe enough that the Jewish authorities couldn't just pick him up anywhere, but he had to be picked up. That meant a betrayal, from the inside. People speculate about Judas's motivations constantly, even in the gospels. In one, the betrayal is his own idea. In another, it was Satan's doing.

The gospel of Judas plays on a common theme, that Judas merely wanted to give Jesus an opportunity to confront his accusers and initiate his true mission of liberating Israel. But in this Gnostic version, the motivation was a little different: Christ had to become free from the human body of Jesus, so Judas set the wheels in motion for his execution. It is a competely different set of assumptions about what Christianity is supposed to be, and it lost the orthodoxy war. The debate was not about what Judas was but about what he had to have done in light of the orthodox understanding of the Passion of Jesus. Consider him a plot device. The evangelists did.

As for Sylvia Brown, I don't think she was anywhere near the event at the indicated time. I'd file her speculations under "entertainment".

Answer 3

Ordinary people may be seen in the role of a villain. The answer to the question lies in what motivated Judas to tell the religious authorities where they could find Jesus.

Judas is called "a devil" in the scripture even before the event. But the gospel story is was not written as a blog, and the writer could easily be laying the groundwork for what was to happen.

A second way to look at it is: Jesus calls Judas as one of the 12 disciples. If one of us had known that Judas was a devil, a betrayer, we would have tossed him off our staff, as soon as we knew. Here is a great example that God's way of thinking differs from our logic. In God's eye then, is Judas really a villain?

But going on to the betrayal event itself. Yes, Judas identified Jesus with a kiss,"the kiss of death", as we have come to know it, but Jesus could have been apprehended at any time during the day when he was in the marketplace. He wasn't in hiding. However, let's assume that since arrest done in secret, the crowded marketplace was out of the question, lest the people be outraged.

The most sympathetic reason for Judas' case is that he thought he was helping to usher in a military form of the heavenly kingdom. We assume he knew the story of Jesus' temptation, and believing that "angels would attend him, lest he stub his foot against a stone," Judas could well have reasoned that no harm would come to his Lord.

When Jesus came before the Sandhedrin and Pilate, in a face off, Jesus could announce that the Kingdom of God was arriving, as all expected. Judas, would have been looking at himself as the catalyst that brought about a new day for the people of Israel. This expectation would explain why, when he saw Jesus being crucified and no angels coming to the rescue, that he went out and hanged himself.

Answer 4

Judas Iscariot was a miguided man whom tried to manipulate God (Jesus) into overthrowing the Romans.

"aka Do you believe in the Gospel of Judas account or the story of Jesus told by Sylvia Browne?"

No.

Answer 5

Judas did what any law abiding citizen should have done. He could have been charged with harboring a criminal if he had not turned Jesus in to the Roman authorities. It was not Judas` responsibility to decide Jesus` guilt or innocence. At least he did not deny knowing Jesus three times before the rooster crowed.

Answer 6

Judas was an ordinary man who believed that Jesus would overthrow the Roman occupiers and free Israel from their oppression. He was a traitor to the true mission of Jesus, which was to establish a permanent heavenly kingdom.

I don't believe anything SB says.

Answer 7

Which Judas... Iscariot the apostle, or Jesus' brother / author of the book of Jude?

Answer 8

Is there a difference? It seems the difference is of perspective.

If my girlfriend cheats on me and lies to me, she might claim she's an ordinary person caught up in extraordinary circumstances. I might see her as a betrayer.

Answer 9

ordinary guy that went astray sold out for a pocket full of silver every man knows his price

Answer 10

Go by the bible not any other.