Many years ago, when a lot younger and more foollish, I joined the military (you want more proof of young and foolish?), and during the paperwork phase (that's the part that preceeds the standing in line and waiting phase) some friends and I gave our "religious preference" (for our dogtags) as "St Judas Church of Reformed Agnosticism". Life is definitely strange!

d

Life is like a woven blanket with different colour threads that weave in and out together forming one whole.

That is a good name Dave!

Marilyn another confirmation that happens naturally in us .. hey.  Its wonderful and beautiful.

Greetings,
I have asked myself why Christ's 'accomplice' would commit suicide and all I could come up with is that the flow of his (Judas') faith experienced a severe ebb, without Christ's presence there to console him. Since John is generally considered the favorite of Christ, putting Judas into the spotlight must have been rather sudden, possibly setting up a rather unstable situation.

I have also questionned how long was the time between the crucifixion and Judas' suicide? Since Judas role was secret before the betrayal, who all did he have time to tell his story to before he ended his own life?  Can you help with this, Don?

I am not necessarily out to make Judas a hero--perhaps he was chosen for his deed because of what we would call character flaws, rather than strengths. But I do think new and valid discoveries are possible, exciting, and add to the depth of a great and wondrous story.
bets

Hi Ive always thought that Judas hung himself after he betrayed Jesus because he could not live with what he had done. Ithink Judas thought when he told the sanhedrin were Jesus was ,he really thought in his head that he was helping Jesus ,because Judas trusted the sanhedrin and did not realise that the sanhedrin was just using him to find were Jesus was . Just my thoughts.God bless juditha

Hi All. Why didn't jesus just turn himself in? After all, it was he who preached not harming your fellow human beings in any form or another. If he knew judas was to turn him in, then he would have known judas was going to suffer agony and commit suicide. Causing someone to suicide(knowing beforehand) and not trying to stop it, is a definate no, no, especially for the 'son of god?' who taught love, peace, non-violence, etc, etc....Regards. Spice.

Rob et al,

You just don't get it.  First, both Matthew and the Book of Acts are first century Gospels still within the range of eyewitness testimony and authentic oral traditon.  The author of the Book of Acts is Paul's travel companion Luke.   Luke's sources include "the disciples and other eyewitnesses (Luke 1:2)."  Luke travelled with Paul to Jerusalem where they contacted the apostles and Jesus' brother (Acts 21:18).   Paul himself consults the Jerusalem apostles on a few occasions (e.g. Galatians 1L18-19,  2:1-2).

Secondly, the Gospel of Judas is a 2nd century Gnostic work and there is no evidence that any Gnostic work contains a shred of authentic material from oral tradition.   In fact, there is no clear evidence of Christian Gnosticism in the first century, period.  The Coptic Gospel of Thomas may contain some new authentic sayings of Jesus.  But it is encratite, not Gnostic, and a sayings collection (114 sayings), not really a Gospel.   In any case, the misnamed Gospel of Thomas cannot even be confidently traced to the first century.

Thirdly, it is clear from first century Gospel tradition that Judas commits suicide in response to his betrayal (Matthew 27:4-8).  Mark is Peter's interpreter in Rome and composes his Gospel on the basis of Peter's teaching notes.  Papias verifies this from his conversations with the apostles and those trained by the apostles.  Peter speaks affectionately of Mark's role in Rome (1 Peter 5:13).  Also, Mark grew up in his mother's Jerusalem house church where the apostles and Jesus' family members were available for consultation (Acts 12:12).   More than once, Peter makes it clear that Jesus was betrayed by Judas and was grieved by this betrayal (Mark 14:18-21, 41-45).  Such testimony with an eyewitness connection cannot be nullified by a 2nd century Gnostic Gospel with no historically reliable pedigree.