The original, authenticated Gospel of Judas was made publicly available today by the National Geographic Society. It has been carefully examined, authenticated and now translated for the world to read.
The text confirms other writings which state that Judas did not in fact betray Jesus, but followed the orders he was given by Jesus himself. Jesus asked Judas to betray him to the Romans with the expectation that the Romans would arrest and crucify him. Jesus asked Judas to perform this task because Judas was his most trusted disciple and the one person who best understood Jesus' underlying philosophy.
The key here is what Jesus actually believed the crucifixion would accomplish. From the NY Times article,
"The account goes on to relate that Jesus refers to the other disciples, telling Judas "you will exceed all of them. For you will sacrifice the man that clothes me." By that, scholars familiar with Gnostic thinking said, Jesus meant that by helping him get rid of his physical flesh, Judas will act to liberate the true spiritual self or divine being within Jesus."
This notion that the `self' (or soul) is separate from the body and contains within it the spirit (or spark of divinity) is expressly stated in the Hindu and Buddhist scriptures which were available to Jesus during the time in which he lived. Hinduism and Buddhism were not distinct faiths at that time (Buddhism was roughly equivalent to the Protestant reformation of the Catholic Church). Furthermore, it has been speculated that during the 19 years of Jesus' life which are not discussed in the New Testament, Jesus actually studied religion and philosophy in Alexandria, Egypt and was quite taken by the teachings of Hinduism as it was known during his time.
Though the title of my diary is a bit of writer's license, it can scarcely be doubted that Jesus was strongly influenced by faiths and philosophies other than mainstream Judaism (e.g., the Old Testament). As more information is discovered about Jesus' life and times, it seems that his teachings are more at odds with the literal teachings of the Old Testament than previously understood. Let the debates begin.
http://www.nytimes.com/...