WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Judas Iscariot, vilified as Christ’s betrayer, acted at Jesus’ request in turning him over to the authorities who crucified him, according to a 1,700-year-old copy of the “Gospel of Judas” unveiled on Thursday.

In an alternative view to traditional Christian teaching, the Judas gospel shows the reviled disciple as the only one in Jesus’ inner circle who understood his desire to shed his earthly body.

“He’s the good guy in this portrayal,” said Bart Ehrman, a religion professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “He’s the only apostle who understands Jesus.”

The Judas gospel’s introduction says it is “the secret account of the revelation that Jesus spoke in conversation with Judas Iscariot.” Later, it quotes Jesus as saying to Judas, “You will exceed all of them (the other disciples) for you will sacrifice the man who clothes me.”

“The idea in this gospel is that Jesus, like all of us, is a trapped spirit, who is trapped in a material body,” Ehrman said. “And salvation comes when we escape the materiality of our existence, and Judas is the one who makes it possible for him to escape by allowing for his body to be killed.”

Rev. Donald Senior, president of Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, said the document revealed the diversity and vitality in early Christianity.

“The question becomes … does this tradition, this alternative story, if you like, in the gospel of Judas have a claim that in some sense is equal to the rival claim of the gospel tradition?” Senior said.

It is not known who wrote the Judas gospel. The copy unveiled on Thursday is of a document mentioned critically in the year 180 in a treatise called “Against Heresies,” written by Irenaeus, bishop of Lyon in what was then Roman Gaul. It spoke out against those whose views about Jesus differed from those of the mainstream Christian Church.

In the Bible’s New Testament, Judas is portrayed as the quintessential traitor, accepting 30 pieces of silver to betray Jesus by identifying him to Roman soldiers. The biblical Gospel of St. Matthew says Judas quickly regretted his treachery, returned the silver and hanged himself.

The New Testament contains four Gospels — of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John — but many more so-called apocryphal gospels were written in the first centuries after Christ’s death, attributed to such disciples as Thomas and Philip and to his female follower Mary Magdalene.

HIDDEN IN EGYPTIAN DESERT

Ehrman, Senior and other experts on Christianity spoke at a briefing at the National Geographic Society, which unveiled a translation of the Judas gospel and which helped authenticate, preserve and translate the document.

The leather-bound copy of the gospel was written in Coptic script on both sides of 13 sheets of papyrus, and spent most of the past 1,700 years hidden in a cavern in the Egyptian desert, said Terry Garcia of the National Geographic Society.

This document was probably copied from the original Greek manuscript around the year 300, Garcia said. Discovered in the 1970s near Minya, Egypt, the volume — including the gospel and other documents — was sold to an Egyptian antiquities dealer in 1978.

The dealer offered it for sale without success, and eventually locked it in a bank safe deposit box in Hicksville, New York, for 16 years, which hastened its decay. In images displayed at the briefing, the papyrus looked like brown, dry autumn leaves.

Garcia said it had crumbled into more than 1,000 pieces.

In 2001, the Maecenas Foundation for Ancient Art in Switzerland began an effort to transcribe and translate the volume from the Coptic. In the next years, scientific tests — including radiocarbon dating, ink analysis and multispectral imaging — showed the document was copied down around 300.

The Judas gospel is being published in book form by National Geographic and pages from the papyrus manuscript will be on display at the society’s museum in Washington starting on Friday. The manuscript will ultimately be housed at the Coptic Museum in Cairo.

Jain religion recognises the fundamental natural phenomenon of Symbiosis or mutual dependence, which forms the basis of the modern day science of ecology.
Life is viewed as a gift of togetherness, accommodation, and assistance in a universe teeming with interdependent constituents.

Jain whether monks, nuns or householders, therefore, affirm prayerfully and sincerely, that their heart is filled with forgiveness for all living beings and that they have sought and received the forgiveness of all beings, that they crave the friendship of all beings, that all beings give them their friendship and that there is not the slightest feeling of allienation or enmity in their heart, for any one or anything. They also pray that forgiveness and friendliness may reign throughout the world and that all living beings may cherish each other.

Participate in an exploration of Bible Mysteries that are relevant to today’s events. The origins of the conflict between Arabs and Jews; Muslims and Christians. Ancient Chronology, Lost Tribes, Dead Sea Scrolls, Origins Of Christianity, Egyptology, Biblical Archaeology, Torah Codes etc. The object is to find practical solutions to intractable problems and mysteries based on evidence not myth, logic not emotion, reality not faith. Much of the original research has been and will continue to be the subject of prime time network television specials. Comments, critiques and contributions, both intellectual and practical are welcomed and acknowledged.

Very interesting…

Welcome to the Internet Encyclopedia of Religion, a collection of hundreds of definitions and illustrated encyclopedia articles on religion, spirituality, philosophy, and other supernatural terms and concepts. Here you can find informative, balanced, introductions to religions old and new, sacred places, religious concepts, historical events, doctrines, religious rituals and practices, philosophers, religious leaders, paranormal phenomenon, gods and goddesses, and much more.

The Internet Encyclopedia of Religion has been developed with two main goals in mind: convenience and reliability. It is convenient because numerous sources have been compiled into one place under each alphabetical entry, all on a single site - no need to check a bunch of books or slog through search results to get a comprehensive, well-rounded idea of the concept. The Encyclopedia of Religion is reliable because it is derived entirely from sources that are authoritative and well-respected, all of which are clearly documented under each entry.

Huna is the healing and spiritual shamanism of ancient Hawai’i. In these pages you will find teachings that were once secret and carefully guarded. Today they are taught openly. Huna is neither Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) nor is it Hypnosis. If you’re interested in spiritual growth and personal development, or expansion of your awareness and your connection to universal spirit, then you’ll find that getting in touch with the consciousness on these pages will awaken something inside you that perhaps you only dimly remember.

The Gnostic Society Library contains a vast collection of primary documents relating to the Gnostic tradition as well as a selection of in-depth audio lectures and brief archive notes designed to orient study of the documents, their sources, and the religious tradition they represent.

Egypt had by tradition a great variety of gods and what today can be labelled as “spirits” and “fairies”.
The total of them all was over 2.000, but many of them had similar characteristics and appeared all over the country by different names. The huge diversity is due to the fact that before the country was united the Nile Valley was divided into about forty self ruling areas (later to be provinces - so called nomes) where the ruling tribe had its own deities. Almost all gods had one thing in common - they had a counterpart of the opposite sex and manifested themselves on earth through animals.

The Buddha was born Siddhartha Gautama, a prince of the Sakya tribe of Nepal, in approximately 566 BC. When he was twentynine years old, he left the comforts of his home to seek the meaning of the suffering he saw around him. After six years of arduous yogic training, he abandoned the way of self-mortification and instead sat in mindful meditation beneath a bodhi tree.

On the full moon of May, with the rising of the morning star, Siddhartha Gautama became the Buddha, the enlightened one.

The Buddha wandered the plains of northeastern India for 45 years more, teaching the path or Dharma he had realized in that moment. Around him developed a community or Sangha of monks and, later, nuns, drawn from every tribe and caste, devoted to practicing this path. In approximately 486 BC, at the age of 80, the Buddha died. His last words are said to be…