IDer lying about National Geographic and Gospel of Judas

Noted on-the-sly Intelligent Designer Stephen Bainbridge claims National Geographic is “peddling heresy” for for its stories on the Gospel of Judas.

Well, he’s engaging in the same type of tactics and thought that led to people like him getting their legal heads on a plate in the Dover, Pa. ID-in-public-schools suit.

Here’s what I told him both on his blog comment space and via e-mail:

NG is NOT a religious magazine. Of course, since IDers obviously, as Dover demonstrated, don't know the difference between science and religion, or deliberately obscure the difference, or both, you either are too clueless to grasp that NG is not a religious magazine or else you are engaging in more Dover-type tactics.

In short, Professor Bainbridge, in either case you are again engaging in intellectual dishonesty.

Steve Snyder
Master of Divinity, 1992

Now, as the the theological background of the Gospel of Judas.

Dualism of some sort (evil vs. good gods, matter vs. flesh [cf. Judas being thanked by Jesus for “releasing” him from the fleshly prison) is a commonplace of Gnosticism. “Twinning” even becomes part of this dualism.

In fact, some Gnostic writings claim Thomas/Didymas (Aramaic and Greek for "twin") was Jesus' twin.

And many postulate his first name as Judas (Jude), as in the brother of Jesus associated elsewhere with the biblical book (unless you're an orthodox Catholic rejecting Jesus' brothers).

And, this Jude/-as is in some writings considered to be "that" Judas. Remember, Paul's authentic letters were written before any of the "orthodox" gospels.