Gospel of Judas Mistranslated by National Geographic Society to make Judas more sympathetic.

According to Coptic scholar April Deconnick, the National Geographic Society's translation contained key mistranslations that would have depicted Judas as a demon, not as Jesus' most trusted lieutenant:

Likewise, Judas is not set apart “for” the holy generation, as the National Geographic translation says, he is separated “from” it. He does not receive the mysteries of the kingdom because “it is possible for him to go there.” He receives them because Jesus tells him that he can’t go there, and Jesus doesn’t want Judas to betray him out of ignorance. Jesus wants him informed, so that the demonic Judas can suffer all that he deserves.

Perhaps the most egregious mistake I found was a single alteration made to the original Coptic. According to the National Geographic translation, Judas’s ascent to the holy generation would be cursed. But it’s clear from the transcription that the scholars altered the Coptic original, which eliminated a negative from the original sentence. In fact, the original states that Judas will “not ascend to the holy generation.” To its credit, National Geographic has acknowledged this mistake, albeit far too late to change the public misconception.

So - gosh! - even in the Gnostic version, Judas is condemned for his betrayal.

Deconnick maintains that the Gospel of Judas was most definitely an attack on orthodox Christianity:

Whoever wrote the Gospel of Judas was a harsh critic of mainstream Christianity and its rituals. Because Judas is a demon working for Ialdabaoth, the author believed, when Judas sacrifices Jesus he does so to the demons, not to the supreme God. This mocks mainstream Christians’ belief in the atoning value of Jesus’ death and in the effectiveness of the Eucharist.

Then there is the million dollar question: why the mistranslation?

Deconnick speculates that the reason lies in the National Geographic Society's failure to follow academic guidelines requiring the distribution of text for independent verification and the desire of scholars to redeem Judas because of the anti-semitic legacy that the story of Judas' betrayal has been used to support.

There is some truth to this theory. If the text had been disseminated, scholars with an agenda couldn't have been as sure of smuggling their agenda into the initial release of information. They might have felt compelled by a fear of public embarrassment to second-guess the "too good to be true" elements of their position.

But I don't think Deconnick quite allows for the degree of attraction created by the sense of "this is too good to be true."

We've seen an amazing thing in recent presidential primary debates - there have been planted questions by people with political agendas. The idea of plants is not amazing, but the fact that the plants are all from one side of the political spectrum - the side that is most favorable to the ideology of those people in the media - is amazing. Simply put, it can't be a matter of random accident; there has to be a common element in the fact that Democrat activists penetrate both sets of debate.

Obviously, the answer is that CNN fell into the "too good to be true" trap. They wanted people to ask certain question and - voila! - they found what they wanted.

Likewise, with the Gospel of Judas, there is an element of academia that is hostile to orthodox Christianity. So, when an early document comes along that seems to upset the settled traditions of Christianity, it must be true despite the fact that it is - literally - "too good to be true."

Next up...the science of Global Warming.