What is your opinion on the author using the apocrypha?

Use this forum to discuss the May 2019 Book of the month, "Misreading Judas" by Robert Wahler
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Re: What is your opinion on the author using the apocrypha?

Post by Jsovermyer »

There are a lot of books left out of the Bible. I had always seen the King James version and was amazed at how many more books were in the Catholic Bible. If the author is making a case about Judas, it makes sense that he would use the Book of Judas
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Post by ReneeBrown »

A G Darr wrote: 05 May 2019, 16:44 I didn't have a problem with the author using apocrypha. There are a lot of books left out of the Bible. It is hard to say which books were left out because they are false and which were left out because they did not align with the Church's agenda. That is not to say I totally believe the "Gospel of Judas" is a true gospel, but I also do not completely discredit it.
Yeah, that is so true. I never really thought about it in that way. What some churches consider to be apocrypha, others could consider to be scripture.
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Post by Artizi »

I feel taking the generally less accepted scripture as its basis does not take away from the validity its theory. After akk there are Christian groups which do not consider every one of these so called Apocryph books to deviate so far from their belief system.
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Post by Summer_Moon »

I did not have a problem with it. There are many books left out and it helps to know what is in a book that was left out. It really only helps his book by leaning on apocrypha.
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Post by Ferdinand_Otieno »

reneelu1998 wrote: 04 May 2019, 16:06 I noticed that the author starts right out (and throughout the entire book) relying heavily on the "Gospel of Judas" which is considered apocrypha by most people since it isn't included in the canonical Bible. Do you think the author relies too heavily on this one book of scripture?
Yes, I think the basis for his book and his new Gnoticism views relies heavily on the Gospel of Judas
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Post by briellejee »

katinabuchanan5 wrote: 05 May 2019, 16:39 Yes. I think Wahler only intends to use this story in particular because he wants to prove a point. Moreover, the point is that he believes that the Christian Faith short changed the real meaning of the Life of Judas because of what Christianity is supposed to be about all together. I think that he best explains himself, when he asks over and over, if the reader could just picture with him. I find that most times the Life of Judas causes penetration, instead of acceptance. The same inquisition should apply today. Most people are very accepting of what happens today, without a question and I find biblical questions to be just that, just questions. And I really do think that the author was good at making the point of that is what he has always believed. But my overall, opinion is that it's okay and acceptable to talk about apocrypha, per say.
woah this sounds really interesting, and I must say, I do agree with you. Apocrypha is something that is vaguely familiar to me thus I am not sure of my stand to it. but this one sheds a light.
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Post by Ferdinand_Otieno »

:techie-reference: :tiphat:
briellejee wrote: 12 May 2019, 06:39
katinabuchanan5 wrote: 05 May 2019, 16:39 Yes. I think Wahler only intends to use this story in particular because he wants to prove a point. Moreover, the point is that he believes that the Christian Faith short changed the real meaning of the Life of Judas because of what Christianity is supposed to be about all together. I think that he best explains himself, when he asks over and over, if the reader could just picture with him. I find that most times the Life of Judas causes penetration, instead of acceptance. The same inquisition should apply today. Most people are very accepting of what happens today, without a question and I find biblical questions to be just that, just questions. And I really do think that the author was good at making the point of that is what he has always believed. But my overall, opinion is that it's okay and acceptable to talk about apocrypha, per say.
woah this sounds really interesting, and I must say, I do agree with you. Apocrypha is something that is vaguely familiar to me thus I am not sure of my stand to it. but this one sheds a light.
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Post by jessinikkip »

I think that it isn't a problem the author uses Apocrypha. In my opinion, the church basically left out anything that didn't agree with what they wanted when they put together the first edition of the Bible. I've read portions of the Apocrypha, and it isn't that it has information that contradicts the Bible (feel free to let me know if I'm wrong, as I haven't read the whole thing), but that it's either different or written by people they didn't want to focus on.
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Post by Ferdinand_Otieno »

jessinikkip wrote: 12 May 2019, 13:10 I think that it isn't a problem the author uses Apocrypha. In my opinion, the church basically left out anything that didn't agree with what they wanted when they put together the first edition of the Bible. I've read portions of the Apocrypha, and it isn't that it has information that contradicts the Bible (feel free to let me know if I'm wrong, as I haven't read the whole thing), but that it's either different or written by people they didn't want to focus on.
:techie-reference: :no-spoil:
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Post by EvaDar »

A G Darr wrote: 05 May 2019, 16:44 I didn't have a problem with the author using apocrypha. There are a lot of books left out of the Bible. It is hard to say which books were left out because they are false and which were left out because they did not align with the Church's agenda. That is not to say I totally believe the "Gospel of Judas" is a true gospel, but I also do not completely discredit it.
I don't think I could have said this better myself. I have never really understood why there is so much more external authenticity assigned to the books of the New Testament than to the more recently unearthed ancient texts. I don't think it is farfetched to think that there was an agenda that drove the standards for inclusion in the Bible. It seems to me there is quite a bit of material in the Bible that is of questionable veracity because of mistranslation and misinterpretation. So much of it is translations of translations of someone's memory (often years later) of someone else's written or spoken word. I respect that people's faith propels them to trust that the Bible is the Word. I have just come to believe that it's more complex than that.
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Post by Uinto »

Intrigue sells and the author uses this to his advantage. The fact that the majority of people have no idea about the existence of this book is a fertile ground for controversy.
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Post by Tiffanyli »

I do think that he relies too specifically on that gospel. I didn't have a problem with the use of that specific apocrypha, but I feel like his argument would have definitely been stronger if he was able to find evidence or examples to back up his argument from other sources. Since it's hard to say whether or not the information is false, he should not have ignored the bible altogher, only focusing on the "Gospel of Judas".
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Post by Dragonsend »

Apocrypha was used quite a bit, like someone else stated there are many ancient writings that were not used in the Bible. We don't know why they weren't included but I don't think it was for misdirection purposes. Here the author uses other writings "out of context", the writings seem to be more in line with what the Bible says then actually debunking the Bible. One thing that holds true, translation is difficult but not impossible. Words are words and they say what they say, added to what amounts to a theory or imagery writings then those are words that are written that way. Thank God that when Jesus spoke a parable, they said it was a parable, even though this is probably found in other writings of that time.
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Post by Dragonsend »

jessinikkip wrote: 12 May 2019, 13:10 I think that it isn't a problem the author uses Apocrypha. In my opinion, the church basically left out anything that didn't agree with what they wanted when they put together the first edition of the Bible. I've read portions of the Apocrypha, and it isn't that it has information that contradicts the Bible (feel free to let me know if I'm wrong, as I haven't read the whole thing), but that it's either different or written by people they didn't want to focus on.
Thank you, because I believe you are correct in saying that the Bible was narrowed down for the reasons you stated.
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Post by Jlbaird85 »

I have no problem with people using the apocrypha as additional support to the canonical Bible, but I do believe it can be relied upon too heavily. When trying to contradict the prevailing belief, the author should have used a variety of sources rather than rely so heavily on just one.
All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts

Shakespeare-As You Like It Act II, Scene VII
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