Southside Oracle Archive

Vol. 49, No. .7             SOUTHSIDE ORACLE                      April 14, 2006

The Gospel of Judas

A new Gospel has been discovered! First announced in the newspapers, the National Geographic television channel presented a two-hour documentary last Sunday about The Gospel of Judas. An authentic copy of the Coptic manuscript dating to about 280 A.D., purportedly written by the betrayer of Jesus, has been rediscovered. The published reports suggest that the discovery may prove disquieting to Christians who believe that the four New Testament Gospels relate the true story of Jesus' death. The Gospel of Judas asserts that Jesus asked Judas to betray him, thus absolving Judas of guilt for his act of treachery.

The existence of the controversial Gospel was known to Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons, who condemned it in his book Against Heresies in 180. Our concern is whether it is an accurate account of the ministry and death of Jesus. On the face of it,

it could not have been written by Judas Iscariot who committed suicide about the same time that Jesus was crucified. The apostles Matthew and John had years to compile their Gospels. Judas had none because he was dead. Someone else wrote the material, probably in the late second century.

What, then, are we to make of the so-called new gospel? In the late first century and into the second century, the early church struggled against the inroads of Gnosticism. This was a philosophy beginning to affect the Roman Empire. It assumed various forms, too complex to describe here. Essentially it declared that salvation is found in a special knowledge of the Universe. There is Hidden God and a Creator God. For some, moral codes were irrelevant. Opposition to incipient Gnosticism is evident in the New Testament as in John's condemnation of those who taught that Jesus had not come to earth in physical form (1 John 2:18-25). In essence Gnosticism was an alien philosophy that invaded the Christian faith and threatened the core gospel message.

Gnostics and other false teachers promoted their views through writings that they attributed to the apostles. Examples were The Gospel of Peter and The Gospel of Philip, even though it is clear that neither Peter nor Philip had anything to do with the authorship of those books.         The early church leaders strongly condemned these teachings as heresy. The Gospel of Judas was one of these Gnostic writings that the early church rejected and has no more relevance to truth today than it had in early Christianity.

__Monroe Hawley

The Bulletin Board

Men's Retreat - The annual Southside men's retreat will be next Friday and Saturday, April 21, 22, at Camp Matawa, beginning Friday at 7:00 p.m.

We extend our condolences to the Buettners in the death of Richard's mother, Alma Buettner, on April 6^th.        The funeral was Monday at Holy Cross Cemetery.

The Christian Workers' Meeting will be Tuesday at 9:00 a.m. Dale Nelson of Beloit and Lance Hawley of Madison will discuss lessons from the Minor Prophets.

Some of our youth are attending the camp youth rally at Fallhall Glen this weekend. It is being conducted by the young people from the Northtown Church.

The sick - Martha Sepulveda is recovering from her broken arm and Tom Brockdorf from his recent surgery.

ATTENDANCE RECORD

(*) first service, 143; second service, 96

Consideration is being given to starting a midweek small group Bible study in Oak Creek since we have a number of families in that area. If you have interest, contact Rocky Slaughter who directs our small groups program.

The monthly Tuesday Nights Together meeting will be at 6:15 p.m. on Tuesday, April 18th.

Calendar of Events

April 18 - Christian Workers' Meeting, 9:00 a.m.,

Southside April 18 - Tuesday Nights Together, church building, 6:15 p.m.

April 21, 22 - Southside Men's Retreat, Camp Matawa

April 21 - 23 - WCYC Youth Rally, Fallhall Glen

April 29 - Grounds clean-up day, church building

April 30 - Fifth Sunday elders' forum, 6:00 p.m.

May 12 - Southside Mother/Daughter Banquet, 6:30 p.m.

May 26 - 29 - Memorial Day Southside retreat, Fallhall Glen

June 18 -July 1 -Junior session, Wisconsin Christian Youth Camp, Fallhall Glen

July 2 - 15 - Middle session, Wisconsin Christian Youth Camp, Fallhall Glen

July 12 - 19 - Mission trip to Dominican Republic

To Top