It`s a text from the 3rd century, from a christian community referred to as the "gnostics" (from greek "gnosis", which means something like "knowledge", I think). This group had lots of texts, which were discovered at Nag-Hammadi in 1945. The Gospel of Judas was found some 20 or 30 years ago, but hasn`t been translated before now. It tells the story of Jesus and the betrayal (by Judas) seen from a different view than the 4 Gospels which were included in the Bible. In the Judas-gospel, Judas is told by Jesus to hand him over to the Romans, so the Romans could kill him off, and thereby setting his soul free, so that it could be united with God. The gnostics believed that every man has a "divine spark" in him, which was released at death, and it is this divine spark that Judas helps Jesus set free from the flesh. And for this, he would be condemned by all mankind, but rewarded by Jesus, and taken to see the "mysteries in the heavens". Or something like that...(you asked for the layman-version, and that`s all I got, mister ). The publicity-thing around this whole text is kind of weird. It`s not so special, there were perhaps something like 3 dozens of different gospels in circulation at that time, some of which were found at Nag-Hammadi. It`s not written by Judas himself, he had been dead for 300 years at the time, but neither was Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
Hellrider
JoinedPosts by Hellrider
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Gospel of Judas???
by Confucious incan anyone give me a lay man's version of what this is all about??
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Hellrider
Jw:
JW, I would just like to say one thing: The Bible never says that you have to be guided by the holy Spirit to distinguish between a false prophet and a true prophet.
You must study the Bible and meditate on it, at the same time asking for God's spirit to direct you. ( Proverbs 15:28 ; Luke 11:9-13 ) "If any one of you is lacking in wisdom," the Bible says, "let him keep on asking God, for he gives generously to all and without reproaching; and it will be given him." ( James 1:5 )
Believe me, I have studied the Bible well, and from this comment, it would seem that I know it better than you. What does the Holy Spirit have to do with the text in Deuteronomy? Wasn`t this text (chapter 18) given to the jews of Moses days (remind me, how long before Christ...), so that they could distinguish between a false and a true prophet? Was the holy Spirit given to the jews at this time? I believed that even Jehovahs Witnesses agreed that the holy Spirit didn`t appear and start guiding the christians until Jesus was dead. He/it first appears in Acts. It`s not necessary to be spirit-directed to look at a prediction, written down on paper (the Watchtower-magasines), and then see the date come and pass, and see that it wasn`t fulfilled. We don`t need the Spirit for that.
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Hellrider
Jw:
JW, I would just like to say one thing: The Bible never says that you have to be guided by the holy Spirit to distinguish between a false prophet and a true prophet.
You must study the Bible and meditate on it, at the same time asking for God's spirit to direct you. ( Proverbs 15:28 ; Luke 11:9-13 ) "If any one of you is lacking in wisdom," the Bible says, "let him keep on asking God, for he gives generously to all and without reproaching; and it will be given him." ( James 1:5 )
Believe me, I have studied the Bible well, and from this comment, it would seem that I know it better than you. What does the Holy Spirit have to do with the text in Deuteronomy? Wasn`t this text (chapter 18) given to the jews of Moses days (remind me, how long before Christ...), so that they could distinguish between a false and a true prophet? Was the holy Spirit given to the jews at this time? I believed that even Jehovahs Witnesses agreed that the holy Spirit didn`t appear and start guiding the christians until Jesus was dead. He/it first appears in Acts. It`s not necessary to be spirit-directed to look at a prediction, written down on paper (the Watchtower-magasines), and then see the date come and pass, and see that it wasn`t fulfilled. We don`t need the Spirit for that.
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Hellrider
JW, I would just like to say one thing: The Bible never says that you have to be guided by the holy Spirit to distinguish between a false prophet and a true prophet. The guidelines for distinguishing between a true and a false prophet is given in:
Deuteronomy 20 But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded him to say, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, must be put to death." 21 You may say to yourselves, "How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the LORD ?" 22 If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the LORD does not take place or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him.
...it really is pretty simple: If the prophet fails in his predictions, then he/she/it is a false prophet! This, that the prediction either comes true or it doesn`t, is the only criteria that decides whether the prophet is a real prophet, or an imposter! And the WTBTS has shown itself to be the false prophet spoken of in the Bible, numerous times, as all their predictions has failed (1874, 1914, 1915, 1925, 1975, before the literal generation died out in 1995, etc). No need for any holy Spirit to see the wolf in sheeps clothing. All the people can do it, says the Bible. Except for those that have allready allowed themselves to be fooled by the wolf, of course...
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One of the long term effects of growing up a JW...
by Pwned infor me anyways.. i still have nightmares about demon attacks.
that was the one belief that really had a grip on me growing up.
i was terrified of demons and even thought i was being attacked one night for bringing home a toy with a pagan symbol (ying-yang) on it.
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Hellrider
I stopped going around 17, and I still looked under my bed half way thru twenties. And still, whenever my gf goes away for the weekend to visit her mother, I feel at unease, being alone in the appartment. I really hate being that way, that I have this anxiety still, it`s embarassing (to myself). That shit is always going to be with me, I now realize. But here`s a trick that might help a bit: When you`re lying there in bed, and you start feeling at unease, and you know that pretty soon you`re going to have to turn around (you know, to look for that demon that might be hiding behind you, lol), or you have to open your eyes to see if there are any demunz in the room, try to think about something else. Let your mind wander, daydream, travel in your mind to a safe place that you love, but just don`t think about those demons. And before you know it, you`ve fallen asleep (and then the demon`s gonna get you, lol ).
The demon-crap is probably what I hate most about my upbringing, and my parents, mainly my mother, she was literally obsessed with demons. Parents are supposed to calm down their kids when they reach a certain age, and start thinking about ghosts and stuff like that, but JWs do the exact opposite: They feed the childs fear! "No kid, there`s no such thing as ghosts, that`s just silly superstition, but there is something much, much worse, there are demons"! What the fuck is that crap!?!?! (btw, I think Garybuss is wrong this time, there`s nothing wrong with you, this demon-anxiety is very common among JW-kids, especially for those that had parents that were very focused on it. It will often take years to get better).
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607, 70 years, 1914
by crazies insorry for the long post!.
what the watchtower society says:.
24 the book of truthful historical dates ***.
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Hellrider
Hi Scholar.
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Truth and Understanding
by 777 inthe slave is not greater than the master.. jah the almighty was the first sacrifice as the master, where jesus christ was the second as holy or perfect sacrifices.
jah the almighty had to sacrifice loved ones in order to raise a perfect family in discipline and righteousness.
without rebellion there would be no need for discipline, there was rebellion, therefore need for discipline.. .
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Hellrider
Hallelujah, Hosianna, we will eagerly be awaiting your return, oh great Messiah. Return to us, thine faithful flock, provide us with spiritual food, be our shepherd, lead us thru the valley of death and despair, hold thine hand over us, thine people. Amen
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Ultrasound photo of bubs
by Es inhey all,.
i ended up in emergency the other night had a bit of bleeding.
but all is well with bubs, im going to call it she coz i think its a she?????
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Hellrider
Congratulations. It`s very exciting, watching the kid in ultrasound. When my gf was pregnant with our son, she was part of this ultrasound-program, so we got to go regularly for the first 6 months (I think) of the pregnancy, and it was fascinating. This one time (before we knew the gender), we saw him from the side, laying with his arm behind his neck, just relaxing, and his knees bent (like if you sit up in your bed, leaning backwards towards the wall). Then he did a quick forward motion with his hips, so the little penis popped up into the air. It was as if he was saying "look, here`s my thingy". And I instinctively thought "That`s my boy".
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BIG LIE IN THE BIBLE!
by Gill ingod makes the sun shine and the rain fall on the righteous and the unrighteous!.
that's what it says in the bible, (paraphrased to more or less).
matthew 5 :45. so, that being the case, why does he not make it rain in drought stricken areas?.
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Hellrider
Well, who likes rain anyway.
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Truth and Understanding
by 777 inthe slave is not greater than the master.. jah the almighty was the first sacrifice as the master, where jesus christ was the second as holy or perfect sacrifices.
jah the almighty had to sacrifice loved ones in order to raise a perfect family in discipline and righteousness.
without rebellion there would be no need for discipline, there was rebellion, therefore need for discipline.. .
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Hellrider
You are correct in two ways. Disasters do happen and they do not happen because the Almighty GOD brought them. It is because spirits and humans have brought ruin to the earth by everything that they do in stupidity by destroying the environment.
The last time Esteban was here, he blamed mans pollution of the environment also for earthquakes...