Gospel of Judas

I read of this interesting discovery by historians of an ancient text known as the Gospel of Judas which supposedly pointed to the possibility that contrary to the present Christian doctrine that Judas was a traitor and betrayal, he might be the most trusted disiciple of Jesus who was a willing collaborator in the "betrayal" that Jesus wanted.

I hope that such a revelation would send shockwaves through the Christian world and make them see certain "truths" which they have always unquestionly accepted in a new light and begin a crticial examination of the Book. But it is more than likely that most churches would just dismiss this discovery as either trivial, hoax or the work of the devil to confuse God-fearing men. After all, one hallmark of organized religion is its remarkable tendency to ignore evidence that contradicts its belief or to actively persecute the source of that evidence.

While many might be surprised by this new discovery, personally I was not and the reason was that... I have been playing too much video games. Well, to cut a long story short, I completed this fantastic game called Metal Gear Solid 3 which has a more riveting and richer plot than most Hollywood movies nowadays and the story set me thinking that many things could really be the opposite of what it seems. The essence of the story is that the best special agent of the CIA, a woman soldier called the Boss who was personally responsible for training the first ever special operations team known as the Cobras in WW2 defected to a terrorist group within the USSR. Her disciple, the protagonist of the story, Snake was then tasked by the CIA to among other things steal something from this terrorist group and also to eliminate this traitor. At the end of the whole saga which had a lot more twists than most spy stories, Snake killed the Boss, only to discover that all the while she was loyal to CIA and her betrayal was part of CIA's plan and so was her death. In other words, she was loyal to CIA to the last breath even when she knew that it meant not only her death but that she would die with everyone thinking she was a traitor. Of course the game story put the United States government in a very bad light, in how ruthless and hypocritical it is and I have to say that is part of the appeal. I have little doubt that the US government is indeed one of the dirtiest government in the world. More importantly, the story set me thinking if some of the most treacherous people in history were really what they seemed? Could there be some deeper plot behind? The Gospel of Judas seemed to highlight that such a case could really be possible.

I remembered attending a church recently on Christmas and one of the pastors made this joke that no pious Christian couple would hold up their new baby and said "Father, this is my son, Judas." For the name of Judas is certainly taboo amongst Christians. But if the Gospel of Judas is true, it would mean that Judas really superseded the rest of the gang in nobility. It is one thing to die for a cause, knowing that you would be martyred. But to sacrifice yourself for a cause in such a way in which you would be misunderstood and reviled by countless generations hereafter... that is the ultimate sacrifice.