The Gospel of Judas(Paraphrased) by Bruce Shields

This text claims that in private conversations, Jesus tells Judas he will share with him alone "the mysteries of the kingdom" knowledge not shared with any of the other disciples, and asks Judas to hand him over to the authorities so that his body can be sacrificed. The Coptic text goes on to claim Jesus said to Judas, "But you will exceed all of them. For you will sacrifice the man that clothes me."

According to the gospel of Judas, Jesus longed to be set free from this physical shell, which he considered to be, in good Gnostic fashion, the "prison of the soul." Gnostic, or Gnosticism comes from the Greek word gnosis, which means ("knowledge"); It is a belief system that flourished in Hellenistic culture which began in about 323BC.

Gnosticism is a pre-Christian religious tradition defined primarily by the belief that salvation
can only come through enlightenment or knowledge.
This is the key thinking of 90% of cults. Knowledge will get you to heaven.

Let us condense the discussion into 2 aspects.
1. First we will look at the physical document itself.
2. Then examine its content.

1. First we will look at the physical document itself.
National Geographic, who is currently in control of the document, came out with the Documentary called "The Gospel of Judas". They unfortunately did not give the whole or accurate story about the history behind this document. It is because the document itself would lose its significance (or value to the world and National Geographic) as a monumental FIND if its history is that of a non-Christian origin.

They need this document to be equal to, if not greater than the already accepted Christian writings of the Holy Bible we have today, otherwise they are just in possession of another of the many worthless discarded heretical Coptic Gnostic scripts. Such as other so called great finds that later went into the circular file cabinet (or trashcan to the layman), like the illustrious gospel of Mary. This document was found in the 19th Century, and was believed to be the gospel of Mary Magdalene. Its text told us that it was Mary, who was especially enlightened with knowledge by Jesus (sound familiar?), and all the disciples went to her for guidance because the master only shared this information with her.

Won't Judas be upset when he find out?

This document also has blatant Gnostic beliefs with Mary as the center character with the SECRET KNOWLEDGE that Jesus ONLY shared with her. It is obvious why this document was never included into the Holy Scriptures. Gnosticism is not Christianity, nor is it Christ centered.

The illusive Gospel of Peter was discovered in 1886. This Gospel was considered heretical and left out of the Holy Bible for several reasons. Scholars are nearly unanimous in the belief that Peter himself did not author this work, despite first person references meant to give that impression.

In 1945 the Nag Hammadi texts were discovered.This library included tantalizing alternative versions of Jesus' life and teachings, including the Gospel of Thomas, Peter, Phillip and the Gospel of Truth. This long hidden trove of Gnostic writings dramatically increased our contemporary knowledge of these sects' ancient Gnostic beliefs. The Nag Hammadi also included a copy of Plato's Republic. Obviously this library was left out of the Holy Bible because of its Gnostic content which was entirely Non-Christian.

In 1945 they discovered the Gospel of Thomas. This Coptic, or Egyptian Christian, text reflects an emphasis on philosophies, and deemphasizes the events in Jesus' life.

The Gospel of the Savior found in 1990AD. This was another Gnostic writing, and was dismissed because it contradicts Jesus' work on the cross and salvation through Christ alone, therefore it contradicted all the other known and validated works we have in the Holy Bible today.

Gnosticism has been around since before Christianity, and it doesn't matter when someone writes a document that contradicts scripture, the point is that it is a contradiction.

1700 years from now someone may discover a copy of the 'Da Vinci Code' someone threw away after reading, does that make it true? Does simply finding it validate its content? Just because something is ancient, does not make it fact.

National Geographic has ancient documents about Egyptian gods in their possession as well, do these gods exist now just because National Geographic can authenticate their age? No.

The results were all within 300-400 years of each other, which I guess is good enough for National Geographic. Although the paper was tested for age, the ink for some reason was not. They tested the chemical makeup of the ink, but not the age of the ink. The results were the ink was similar to but not a match to any known ink from that time period.

So, what is the conclusion on the age of the document?

It doesn't matter how old or new (if it is a counterfeit), the document is Gnostic in origin and it contradicts the Holy Bible.

2. Let's Examine its Content.

National Geographic claims that Contextual Evidence proves and authenticates the age and validity of the document. The only problem with that is, first of all if I am going to counterfeit a document, of course I am going to mimic the writing styles and language of that day. Only a fool would do otherwise.

Secondly, the contextual content of the document is Gnostic through and through, though National Geographic would no dare to label it so.This would make the document lose its value. The Name "Gospel" of Judas is misleading. It is unclear by reading the contents of this document how it merits this title.