Judas, DaVinci, and Duh !!
Hey Folks,
The news story below touches on the rhubarb over the "DaVinci Code" and the "Gospel of Judas." Many leaders of "the Faithful" have spoken out against both, seeing them as challenges to "the foundations of traditional belief by giving an alternative version of the [official] story."
This seems like a big deal, especially so to those "faithful" who believe the Bible is the literal word of God. They see it (the Bible they presently thump) as official, complete, perfect; adding to or contradicting it is impossible because God gave us his words a long time ago; He's not - it is supposed - going to be adding or adjusting now.
Well, there's an historical and factual problem for these folks: different religions don't agree on what "books" actually belong in the present Bible. Historically there have been big fights over what was to be considered actual parts of the real Bible.
These fights were carried on by people, human beings; and people decided - long after Jesus left - which books were (as far as they were concerned) the literal word of God and which weren't. People are deciding today, too, about the"DaVinci Code" and the "Gospel of Judas."
Seems pretty "iffy" to me. It's not like Moses brought the whole thing down from a mountain written out in granite by God's finger and in His handwriting. "He says/she says, they say/we say, I'm right/you're wrong, neh,neh,nehhhh, neh, nehhhh, neh" - sounds like a pretty lame way to establish what constitutes "the literal word of God."
It was lame when it was done originally, and it's lame now. It's like men arguing over how many angels can dance on the head of a pin; if there are angels and they dance and they would condescend to do so on a pin head, what human being would you trust to count them and report back honestly?
- Uke Man
LONDON (AFP) - The head of the worldwide Anglican Church, the Archbishop of Canterbury, is to denounce as "conspiracies" the plot of 'The Da Vinci Code' and the apparent emergence of the 'Gospel of Judas' ancient text.
Doctor Rowan Williams, the Church of England's most senior cleric, was set to use his Easter Sunday sermon at Canterbury Cathedral, in south eastern England, to highlight how religion is approached by the media, according to extracts of the speech obtained by AFP.
"One of the ways in which we now celebrate the great Christian festivals in our society is by a little flurry of newspaper articles and television programmes raking over the coals of controversies about the historical basis of faith," he will say.
"So it was no huge surprise to see a fair bit of coverage given a couple of weeks ago to the discovery of a 'Gospel of Judas', which was (naturally) going to shake the foundations of traditional belief by giving an alternative version of the story of the passion and resurrection."
The 'Gospel of Judas' -- an ancient Coptic manuscript from the third or fourth century -- maintains, as the Bible does not, that Jesus requested that Judas "betray" him by handing him to authorities for execution.
The document was reportedly discovered in Egypt in the 1970s and went on display in Cairo last Wednesday.
"You'll recognise the style, of course, from the saturation coverage of the 'Da Vinci Code' literature," Williams will say.
The news story below touches on the rhubarb over the "DaVinci Code" and the "Gospel of Judas." Many leaders of "the Faithful" have spoken out against both, seeing them as challenges to "the foundations of traditional belief by giving an alternative version of the [official] story."
This seems like a big deal, especially so to those "faithful" who believe the Bible is the literal word of God. They see it (the Bible they presently thump) as official, complete, perfect; adding to or contradicting it is impossible because God gave us his words a long time ago; He's not - it is supposed - going to be adding or adjusting now.
Well, there's an historical and factual problem for these folks: different religions don't agree on what "books" actually belong in the present Bible. Historically there have been big fights over what was to be considered actual parts of the real Bible.
These fights were carried on by people, human beings; and people decided - long after Jesus left - which books were (as far as they were concerned) the literal word of God and which weren't. People are deciding today, too, about the"DaVinci Code" and the "Gospel of Judas."
Seems pretty "iffy" to me. It's not like Moses brought the whole thing down from a mountain written out in granite by God's finger and in His handwriting. "He says/she says, they say/we say, I'm right/you're wrong, neh,neh,nehhhh, neh, nehhhh, neh" - sounds like a pretty lame way to establish what constitutes "the literal word of God."
It was lame when it was done originally, and it's lame now. It's like men arguing over how many angels can dance on the head of a pin; if there are angels and they dance and they would condescend to do so on a pin head, what human being would you trust to count them and report back honestly?
- Uke Man
LONDON (AFP) - The head of the worldwide Anglican Church, the Archbishop of Canterbury, is to denounce as "conspiracies" the plot of 'The Da Vinci Code' and the apparent emergence of the 'Gospel of Judas' ancient text.
Doctor Rowan Williams, the Church of England's most senior cleric, was set to use his Easter Sunday sermon at Canterbury Cathedral, in south eastern England, to highlight how religion is approached by the media, according to extracts of the speech obtained by AFP.
"One of the ways in which we now celebrate the great Christian festivals in our society is by a little flurry of newspaper articles and television programmes raking over the coals of controversies about the historical basis of faith," he will say.
"So it was no huge surprise to see a fair bit of coverage given a couple of weeks ago to the discovery of a 'Gospel of Judas', which was (naturally) going to shake the foundations of traditional belief by giving an alternative version of the story of the passion and resurrection."
The 'Gospel of Judas' -- an ancient Coptic manuscript from the third or fourth century -- maintains, as the Bible does not, that Jesus requested that Judas "betray" him by handing him to authorities for execution.
The document was reportedly discovered in Egypt in the 1970s and went on display in Cairo last Wednesday.
"You'll recognise the style, of course, from the saturation coverage of the 'Da Vinci Code' literature," Williams will say.
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