Reasons To Believe - Spokane Chapter

April 2006 Newsletter

Chapter Meeting: Sunday, April 23, 3-5 P.M.

We invite you to attend our monthly meeting.

A presentation is offered to the group, followed by discussion and questions, and we conclude with snacks and a little club business. This month we'll watch part of the recent debate on the John Ankerberg Show between Dr. Ross and Dr. Walt Kaiser of Reasons to Believe, and Ken Hamm and astronomer Dr. Jason Lisle, of Answers in Genesis.

  • Date: April 23, 2006 (Sunday)
  • Time: 3 - 5 P.M.
  • Hosts: Dan and Cathy Bakken
  • Location: 13003 N. Miami Ct, Mead
  • Phone: 466-2693 (for directions, etc.)

The Gospel of Judas?

By Cathy Bakken

The press has gone wild in the past few days over a newly released manuscript called the Gospel of Judas. They are acting as if this text challenges facts about Jesus and Judas that Christianity has held sacred ever since its inception.

The hype includes a National Geographic TV special, a book, and an enormous PR campaign. This campaign wants to put a new spin on the story of Jesus’ crucifixion. According to this long-lost text, Jesus secretly told Judas to betray Him; so Judas is really a good disciple.

However, this “new” gospel was rejected by Christian leaders as early as 180AD. It falls into the category of “Gnostic” writings. Gnostic writings have been given more credence in the past decade, especially because of the novel The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown, which quotes from them as if they are more valid than the New Testament.

The Document’s History

The document is written in ink on papyrus. It was originally found in Egypt, in the 1970’s, and it is believed to have been shopped around for sale until a Swiss foundation purchased it. The pages are reported to be rather damaged and fragmentary.

The document consists of 62 pages, 31 pages of which make up the Gospel of Judas. Two other works take up the rest of the pages: The Epistle of Peter of Philip, and The First Apocalypse of James. They are part of the Gnostic “canon”.

The document is described as a Coptic text. Coptic refers to the Egyptian language at that time. The gospel was written in a language called Sahidic, which was established as the standard literary dialect of Coptic by the 4th century AD. A handwriting expert working for the National Geographic dates it to between the 4th and 5th centuries (300-400 AD). The carbon dating tests give it the date range of 220-340 AD.

A close-up of a page of the Gospel of Judas. From www.nationalgeographic.com.

What Does It Say?

The gospel consists mostly of a long conversation between Jesus and Judas. Some of its content is similar to many Gnostic texts of the 2nd century AD. In this particular work, Jesus deems only Judas of all his disciples as worthy of receiving this secret knowledge. Jesus then asks Judas to betray him so that his mortal body will be killed and he can rejoin the spiritual

world. Judas agrees and goes to the high priests to betray Jesus: That's the end of the gospel.

Is it Authentic?

National Geographic states in the release that the document "has been authenticated as a genuine work of ancient Christian apocryphal literature".

However, no scholar associated with the find argues this is a first century document, or that it derives from Judas.

National Geographic says the document dates to between 300 and 400 AD, but they like to make it sound earlier, while at least one of their experts puts it at the later date. The best we can say is that the Gospel of Judas is an authentic Gnostic writing. It does not have strong links to the first century AD.

Criticism of the Gospel of Judas Isn’t New

Scholars say that they have long been on the lookout for the Gospel of Judas because of a reference to what was probably an early version of it in a text called Against Heresies, written by Irenaeus, the bishop of Lyons, about the year 180 AD. Irenaeus was a hunter of heretics, and no friend of the Gnostics. He wrote, "They produce a fictitious history of this kind, which they style the Gospel of Judas."

Gnosticism

This is classic Gnosticism, which "taught that salvation is achieved through special knowledge (gnosis)." Likewise, a core tenet of the Gnostics was the "feverish craving to be freed from the body." Both teachings jump out of the descriptions of the Gospel of Judas.

Gnosticism denies the incarnation of God as Jesus, his son. It also challenges whether Jesus could have atoned for the sin of all mankind, if he was not God. Gnosticism has an element of dualism to it – in that there is good and evil, spirit and matter, light and dark, etc. in the universe. This concept is very present in today’s new age movements.

Conclusion

Perhaps all the hype surrounding this ‘find’ is a way for someone to make some money off of the Da Vinci Code bandwagon, because the Gospel of Judas does not warrant the attention it is getting. In almost any other time, this find would only have made news for a small circle of literary and biblical scholars. We are presented with another opportunity to educate our friends about the Truth.

By the way, in the Fall of 2006, watch for a conference on the Da Vinci Code to be put on in Spokane. We’ll keep you posted!

Web Site of Note

Answers In Creation – www.answersincreation.org

This web site’s subtitle is “Bringing the Bible and Science Together Without Conflict”. It is published by a nonprofit group called “Old Earth Ministries”.

This ‘old earth’ web site focuses on Progressive Creationism, which is the fancy name for the position that Reasons To Believe takes on creation. It does have information on some other old-earth interpretations as well.

The web site is full of articles and resources on a variety of topics. They present the case for an old earth, and face the young-earth creationists head on with rebuttals to many of their evidences for a young earth. Some of the topics covered include: dinosaurs, the flood, geology and the age of the earth, fossils, ice ages, radiometric dating, death before the sin, the interpretation of the Hebrew word “yom”, astronomy and more. You can find a list of books with an old-earth focus, and a list of denominations whose statements of belief are accepting of an old-earth position. You can sign up to receive their monthly newsletter by email.

Answers in Genesis Splits

The parent organization for Answers in Genesis-USA, based in Australia, is breaking off from its US-based daughter organization and its UK organization. The new name for the Australian organization is Creation Ministries International (CMI). It appears that CMI is made up of the former Answers in Genesis organizations in four countries...Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa. Their website is www.creationontheweb.com.

Answers In Genesis (www.answersingenesis.org) is headed by Ken Ham, who founded Answers in Genesis in Australia, and moved to the US in 1987. The UK AiG organization is staying with the US organization.

On their website, CMI states, “In late 2005/early 2006, the US ministry withdrew themselves from the international ministry group (with the exception of the UK) with an expressed desire to operate autonomously from the four other offices bearing the same ‘brand name’. At that time, in the midst of discussions about this and other differences in operating philosophy (not involving the statement of faith or similar), the Australian office was formally invited to form its own website. This required a new name to avoid confusion.”

CMI will continue to publish their magazine Creation, and the Journal of Creation (formerly TJ). According to the AiG-US web site, AiG-US wanted to put out a new, more ‘relevant’ magazine called Creation Answers in an attempt to gain more subscriptions. However, “irreconcilable differences arose concerning the printing and distribution of Creation magazine in the United States. AiG–U.S. as a result had to modify its strategic plan to offer just the new ANSWERS magazine.” Then, “after the appointment of a new board in Australia in late 2005 and the establishment of a new direction there (including a name change to CMI), AiG–U.S., being autonomous, decided to institute a more formal business relationship with CMI.”

Who We Are and What We Do: Your Local Reasons To Believe Chapter

We're here to answer your questions and help local Christians and churches get more answers about science and the bible issues.

  • We offer trained apologists and bring in national speakers to speak at local churches and other events to share these exciting discoveries.
  • We build alliances with churches, ministries, and groups to share the Reasons to Believe message.
  • We help Christians overcome their fear of science and equip them to use it as an effective tool in spreading the Gospel.
  • We reach out to skeptics and non-believers with gentleness and respect, encouraging them to evaluate their worldviews.

Contact Information

For more information about the Reasons To Believe Spokane Chapter, contact:

  • Phone: Dan Bakken (509) 466-2693
  • Email:

  • Web Page: www.reasons.org/chapters/spokane

  • Newsletter Editor: Cathy Bakken, cgbakken@yahoo.com

Resources To Know About

www.reasons.org: Many useful documents are available, as well as their daily new "reason to believe" from the latest scientific research.

Reasons' Web Store: Buy the books you read about here! http://store.reasons.org/

Reasons Institute: RTB's online distance learning program. Take college-level apologetics courses. Contact RTB for information at 626-335-1480.

Reasons To Believe television show: Thursday mornings, 3:00 A.M. Pacific time on TBN. An archive of recent shows is at www.reasons.org.

Creation Update Web Radio Show: http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/creation_update/Archives.asp.