Mageth

You mean the field he bought with the thirty pieces of silver that he threw into the temple before hanging himself?

Doctor X

Well, in Lk-Acts he buys the field, visits it, kind of trips and . . . well . . . eviscerates himself. No hanging in that version.

We have had all sorts of apologetics--my favorite--other than the funny one suggested by Lamma that he hung himself until he felt better . . . but . . . apparently too better he exploded!--is that he hung himself . . . rotted off the branch . . . then his corpse hit the ground and . . . well . . . anyways, aside from the fact it does not happen that way, you would think the Lk-Acts author would have clarified the point!

--J.D.

judge

Hi Amlodhi!

Thanks for your reply and the interesting points you bring up.

I am flat out like a lizard on a rock today and will have to do a bit of work to give your questions the attention they require.


One point I will make now is tha I do not beleive the NT (including Matthew) quotes the LXX at any time.

It quotes a version of the OT that no longer exists and which was closer to the LXX than it is to the hebrew texts we reeived from massorectic jews (from the middle ages).

Probably IMO the Nt quotes Aramaic targums that have been lost (or mostly lost)

On more than one occaision the Nt quotes we have are only found in surviving Aramaic targums. On occaision our NT does not agree with the LXX or the surviving hebrew.

A good example is Paul quote of psalm 68 in Ephesians..

You can find more on my thoughts in this thread.

http://www.iidb.org/vbb/showthread.p...threadid=45854

One of the early posts.

CX

I believe that's the thesis of "Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas".

CX

I suspect that would be literally impossible. Firstly the sheer number of inconsistencies and/or contradictions in an anthology like the Xian bible that encompasses so many authors and such a long historical period would make it a cumbersome task indeed for someone to identify all of them. Secondly there is a considerable amount of subjectivity in what constitutes a "contradiction" and what doesn't. Lastly after nearly two thousand years of apologetic effort I doubt there is a contradiction left that someone hasn't already devised an apologetic for no matter how torturous.

Vis-a-vis your statement about belief, I hardly think the inconsistencies in the Xian bible would be enough for a devout believer to be disabused of said belief. That being said you might want to define "integrity" of god's word a bit. Are you a biblical literalist and inerrantist or do you interpret scripture more liberally?

Doctor X

CX:

Methinks Elvis has left the building. . . .

Which is a shame, because a person should be willing to defend their position.

--J.D.

Amos

An argument can be made that the bible was written from the metaphysical plain and here Judas was the personification of Judaism that had betrayed the dual nature of Jesus and therefore served its purpose as a means to the end. Hence it hung itself -- albeit unknowingly or it could not function as a means to the end. Matthew as the Jewish perspective would report such a thing because Jews would see it that way.

Luke is the omniscient perspective and if "all had been made clear" it can be said that Judas spilled his guts in an open field outside of Judaism where things could be examined objectively.

In this interpretation there is nothing synoptic about the Gospels but they are just four different perspectives that compliment each other. So you either go with one or the other because they don't mix very well (God forbid), or it would no longer be inspired.

Amlodhi

Hello judge,

Take all the time you need.

I have heard this stated before, but am not familiar enough with the subject to argue one way or another. Perhaps I will look into it some.

Bummer for the bible code people.

I look forward to your comments on the questions raised in my post; at your convenience.

Namaste'

Amlodhi

Amlodhi

Hello Doctor X and Lamma,

Just an inconsequential aside:

Doctor X (from another thread) - "a [lesser god] to handle the day to day smitings."

Lamma - "Now, did Judas hang by the neck until he cheered up or did he explode in a field?"

Keep 'em coming, guys. I haven't laughed so hard since Penn & Teller's "Bullshit" went off the air.

[P.S. I know a new series is starting this spring.]

Namaste'

Amlodhi

TheDiddleyMan

Okay question....

Even if Judas didn't hang himself, why would he be with the other apostles after the resurrection?


Kevin