The new document makes a huge difference, in my opinion, as to how people may now regard Judas. Many people do not realize that when early Christian bishops got together at a council -- centuries after Jesus lived -- that they had dozens of potential "gospels" to consider for inclusion or exclusion in what we now call the New Testament. For reasons that we will never know, the bishops chose only four books to be included -- Matthew, Luke, Mark and John. Most of the other possibilities were shelved or destroyed. The Gospel of Judas was probably included in this number.

It is my hope that more people, especially ministers, will give Judas a little more credit. He has for too long been ravaged as one who betrayed Jesus Christ. I think he more likely worked with Jesus Christ to bring about the events that were necessary for Christianity to grow and spread all over the world.

I have taught for 30 years that Judas got a bad rap -- and that he probably did what Jesus Christ instructed him to do "and to do it quickly," as Scripture tells us in the book of John.

For those who insist that the Bible is God's literal Truth, and that if it says Judas is a traitor, that settles that, let me refer you to Matthew, who says Judas hanged himself, and to Acts, where Luke says a fall caused his death. Which is literally true?

One must read the Bible very carefully and with an open mind. It is the work of men, not of God, and so it is not infallible.

THE REV. THOMAS E.

WITHERSPOON

Unity Church of the Valley

La Crescenta

Let's imagine I wrote a story about the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, which took place about 150 years ago. And let's say, in order to give credence to a particular viewpoint regarding the Confederacy and my personal agenda, I embellished the story with transcripts of a conversation between Lincoln and the murderer, John Wilkes Booth. Most historians and Civil War scholars would be quick to reject my thesis and dismiss my writing as fiction.

Now fast-forward 2,000 years and imagine someone finding a hard drive and after painstakingly cleaning the disk surfaces, they assemble portions of my story. Now, I ask, how accurate would it be to base the history of the United States of America on that story?

It's extremely important to put this find in perspective. You can't give the Gospel of Judas the same weight as the traditional four Gospels when defining Christianity. However, the Gospel of Judas gives us a chance to look back in time at the concerns of the early Christian communities. The character of Judas has always provoked speculation and wonder because of fundamental issues between free will and determinism.

From the Christian perspective, we are free to choose between good and evil, as did Judas. It is for this reason that we reject fatalism -- that evil is inescapable -- and we work and struggle for the good and peace. It is for this reason we believe in a resurrection beyond all the crucifixions in life. Happy Easter!

FR. VAZKEN MOVSESIAN

Armenian Church

Youth Ministries

Gnostic writers at the time of the early Church asserted an incompatibility between spirit and flesh believing that human flesh was evil. For this reason they denounced the notion that God could take on two natures and be fully divine and fully human. This certainly was not the Jesus presented to us through the familiar Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Nor did this image reflect the experience of the early community of believers.

The image of Jesus portrayed by the Gnostics was not taken seriously by the nascent Church. As early as the second century, Saint Ireneaus, an early father of the Church, rejected the Gnostic Gospel of Judas as fictional heresy. Many such works were not accepted into the body of scriptures we know as the Bible because they were considered unauthentic 2,000 years ago and are considered so today.

The Gospel of Judas is nothing new but of interest perhaps only as a good read. With books like Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code" topping best-seller lists for the past couple years, there seems to be a fascination by many with "alternative endings" to our Christian belief that has stood the test of time for two millennia. We believe that the Greatest Story has already been told and remains to bring life to us still.

THE REV. PAUL J. HRUBY

Pastor

Incarnation Catholic Church

Glendale

What a great find the Gospel of Judas is for scholars and archeologists. It is a significant find and will add a lot to our knowledge and understanding of the other gospel texts and of the early church. But as something that will impact the faith of the general person, I don't believe the effect will be much. I'm excited about the find. Any time you find something that is that "close" to the origins, it qualifies as an exciting and important find. And approximately 140 years after the gospel texts is very close in scholarly and archeological terms.

The Gospel of Judas is one of a multiplicity of early gospels that had been written. It gives a different perspective upon the early Jesus traditions that were floating around to which scripture makes several references. But the dominant or "orthodox" church determined it wasn't to be a part of their faith tradition. Its major "heresy" or non-traditional belief is a rejection of the physical world as corrupt and irredeemable. This belief was rejected by the church because the physical world is God's creation that was pronounced good in Genesis 1:31. Our bodies and the physical world are important and beautiful gifts to be enjoyed and experienced to the fullest possible extent in gratitude to God. Therefore, to reject them as corrupt and irredeemable is to reject a gift from God. The Church was wise enough not to do that.

PASTOR GALEN GOBEN

Foothill Christian Church

La Crescenta

Not very significant, actually. While I am always fascinated when new discoveries from Biblical lands turn up, this Gospel of Judas is dated at 300 A.D., or almost 300 years after the time of Jesus. In addition, the Gnostic tendencies in the Judas scroll or codex indicate that "heretical" ideas had found their way into this Gospel, and I believe the early church was correct in declaring Gnosticism a heresy. I believe we can learn something from so-called "heretics" -- but to have Jesus somehow indicate to Judas that the body or the flesh is something to be escaped from is ridiculous. Jesus was a Jew, and this spirit-over-the-flesh idea is a Greek concept, and would not be something Jesus would say. The positive thing about the discovery of this Judas Gospel is that it shows there was diversity of opinion in the early church, and I find such a discovery very heartening indeed. Those of us in the Christian faith might do well to ponder that there was more than one perception of the relationship of Jesus and Judas, and what that says to me is that even from the earliest times there were differences of opinion in the "one true faith." Would that we would all recognize that fact in the 21st century and respect each other's differing -- if "strange" -- opinions and perceptions. Amen -- and Happy Easter! The Rev.

THE REV. C.L.

"SKIP" LINDEMAN

Congregational Church

of the Lighted Window

United Church of Christ

La Cañada Flintridge