Changing Views of Christianity

In Gore Vidal’s novel about the the Roman Emperor Julian, there is a scene where Bishop George of Cappadocia quizzes a young Julian on the difference between Homoiousios and Homoousios. Julian, the young philosopher correctly articulates that Homoiousios means that Jesus the son is of one substance with God the father while Homoousios means that the father and the son and the holy spirit are one and the same. In the Council of Nicaea held by the Roman Emperor Constantine differences like these were debated, one view point was accepted and the other was suppressed.

Another fundamental teaching of Christianity is that Jesus died for your sins and only by accepting Jesus as your personal savior, you can be absolved of all sins. Before the religion was designed by a committee, there were other competing ideologies about  the death of Jesus and that has now surfaced thanks to the discovery of the Gospel of Judas. The Gospel of Judas consisting of 13 sheets of Coptic manuscripts dated between 220 and 340 A.D reveals that Judas was a friend of Jesus and is asked by Jesus to betray his identity. Though the author is unknown it is obvious that he had issues with the “Jesus died for the sins” concept in general.

But the Gospel of Judas challenges that view and suggests that the fundamental message of Jesus is that we come from God, created in God’s image; when we die and leave the visible world, we step into the infinite world of God, into the divine light, and we go into that glorious light with God. How that happens it doesn’t say, any more than Paul does when he talks about resurrection. But it’s a conviction that’s fundamental to this Gospel. And it’s a very different way to look at Christianity.[FINDING MY RELIGION]

While present followers of Christianity think that the death of Jesus was a kind of sacrifice, the author of the Gospel of Judas thinks other wise. According to him Jesus showed that  he can face death with courage knowing that he is going back to God.

The Roman Emperor Constantine thought that if there was no set creed, the religion would not survive over time. So some doctrines were accepted and some were rejected and were never heard again. Apparently the Emperor had not heard about how Hinduism survived with diverse doctrines all existing within the same umbrella.

Evangelicals who come to sinners like to you and me think they are doing us a favor by offering to save our souls.  The next time one of those conversion fanatics come to save your soul,  tell them about the Gospel of Judas. If they still want to save your soul, tell them you do it the old fashioned way by  creating a word document called “Soul” and press Ctrl-S.