I've been waiting for a chance to chime in. To defend my beliefs. Care's comments are perfect.
: From what I see we have a "newly discovered" scroll
: from circa 300 AD (about 170 yrs after the event)
: alledgedly written by Judas or someone on his behalf, since
: I doubt that he wrote after he committed suicide.
(Yeah. And WHO was it? Not those directed by God to write, as in previous books. The last disciple, John, had already died on the island of Patmos. It had already been established that "not one word would be added to nor taken away from" the texts that had already been identified as having been the only manuscripts "dictated" from God to humans, commonly known as the Hebrew scriptures [Old Testament] and the Christian Greek scriptures [New Testament]. In other words, Revelation was it.)
: What really gets me - and I do understand that mainstream
: theology "blames" Judas, but...
: Here is my take...
: IF G-D hardened Pharoah's heart, then Pharoah is not
: responssible, if G-d decided that Judas was to do what he
: did, then Judas is not responsible.
: For, IF G-d determines that a human is to play a role by being
: the "bad" guy, then that is a G-d directed role
: & no matter what , that person is STILL following G-d's
: Rule.
(Yes. AND...it was in Judas' heart to do what he did all along. Not only did Jesus point this out ["Do what you must do quickly"] but the PROPHETS had PROPHESIED what Judas would do. Now, is all of a sudden EVERYBODY who had a hand in writing the scriptures WRONG? No.)
: The only controversy that I can see is the quote, "Jesus
: made me do it" because Jews (and Jesus WAS A JEW) do
: NOT believe that Jesus was G-d in any manifestation - not
: the Orthodox, the Reform, the Conservative, the Liberal,
: nor the Messianic.
: There is only 1 G-D and G-d does not have a multiple
: personality disorder!
(Very clear in the scriptures. Especially when the disciples are questioning Jesus about the "date and the hour" of the "end of this system of things" and he tells them "It is a secret NO ONE knows, not the son, nor the angels, but that only the father knows." Pertinent question here: How, if Jesus was God, could he keep a secret from himself?)
: Add to the idea that 170 years (at least) of mostly illiterate
: scribes copying the scroll, then a few literate scribes
: copying the scroll & adding or deleting what they felt
: was right or wrong, then the next scribe with a few errors
: on top of any possible changes....
: Come on!!!! Who can possibly consider this as anything
: important???
(The scriptures say: There will be many false prophets. The "prophets" basically said there would be stuff presented in the end times that would try to sway people away from what was important. Here, we've already blown this manuscript off as unimportant.)
Thank you, Carol. We're all wrapped up in newspaper stuff, but I had to take time to post this. There are a lot of Judeo-Christians out there who are willing to be mislead by the littlest of things. There are a lot of non-Judeo-Christians whose belief systems might change in light of any kind of division (also prophesied) among the Judeo-Christian belief systems. We need to be really careful about "texts" appearing after the ones that were clearly defined as divinely dictated have already been identified as the ones we're to believe.
In this day and age, it seems nobody wants to be responsible for his or her own actions..."somebody else" is always at fault for what someone does (look at the litigious society we live in.) This "manuscript" is just perfect for those who believe someone else is always responsible for his or her own actions. "The devil didn't make me do it, God made the devil make me do it, so it's ultimately all God's fault!"
Uh-huh. Like I said...be careful.
Ang
DNMM
