Was Judas a Real Person?

[Michie]

Places like the History Channel and certain liberal theology programs float wild ideas about the Bible and early Christianity. Many good Christians hear these ideas and quietly struggle with them. To ask them aloud seems heretical, but precisely because we're afraid to talk about that, the questions never get answered. So we end up with Christians who are well-educated in all areas but one: on the topic of religion, they only hear the liberal case on a whole litany of issues. What's particularly sad about this situation is that these questions often have simple answers.

It's because of that that I was glad to see Bethanie Ryan's blog. In her most recent post, she asks whether Judas Iscariot could be considered a mere literary device. Some scholars claim that his name means nothing more than “The Jew from the place,” and that he likely existed as a stock character to represent anti-Judaic sentiment in early Christianity. As evidence, Bethanie offers the following:

This idea is not a new one. Scripture scholars as of late have played with the idea for various reasons. They see that some of the earliest Biblical materials don't mention him (i.e. Paul and the disputed Q). They see some very good reasons to make a character like that up. The one reason that I find to be the most provocative is that Judas draws even more blame away from the Romans. The early Christian church was in a difficult position. They didn't want to emphasize that the Romans killed Jesus because they wanted to be in the Romans' good graces. Rome was already persecuting them, they didn't need to make more barriers between themselves and Rome. They were also very angry at the Jews who had recently kicked them out of the synagogues. So, what better way to deflect blame from the Romans than to blame the Jews for Jesus' death.
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Like I said, I'm glad that she's asking the question aloud. If Judas isn't real, it seems to me that we couldn't trust even basic things about Apostolic Christianity, since at least one of the Twelve Apostles themselves was fake. Fortunately, I think that this theory is answered easily enough:

I. What's the Deal with Judas Iscariot's Name?​

Continued- http://catholicdefense.blogspot.com/2011/08/was-judas-real-person.html
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[Rhamiel]

some people do not trust the bible... sad...

 

[Irenaeus]

The History Channel is a clumsy amalgamation of ideas that suit the tickling ears of many.

For example, I think it's humorous that the same Channel that wants to dismiss Judas as a literary figure in the Canonical Texts, will ardently resurrect him when it comes to evaluating the presumed authority of spurious Gnostic texts like the Gospel of Judas. Only in that context did Judas in fact live and do the things claimed, or so they would have us believe.

They are doing anything they can to discredit the authority of the Canonical Scriptures and in doing so they contradict themselves again and again.

Unfortunately, I don't think we'll be seeing World War II documentaries and informative television anytime soon back there.

 

[D'Ann]

What is sad is that there is such a question in the first place, but atlas, there is and so it's good to continue to preach the fullness of truth... in giving those answers, even to a society that double talks and will use anything to prove one thing or another while contradicting other things that they have said.

Another thing that I've been hearing a lot recently is that the Holocaust didn't happen and that it was all made up... even though, there are several different parts of evidence that proves that it did happen.

I wonder what people will believe in a 1000 years from now... if there is still an earth... existing.