The Gospel of Judas Iscariot

I'm not trying to get into the debate here ("Then why are you in this thread, amirite?"), but I wanted to point out some very interesting things said when I read through the Gospel of Judas, specifically through the PDF available as the National Geographic's Translation available HERE

First interesting observation: Page 2:

Quote:

"Judas [said] to him, "I know who you are and where you have come from. You are from the immortal realm of Barbelo. And I am not worthy to utter the name of the one who has sent you."

This implies several things:
1. That Judas had knowledge of Gnostic concepts and ideas.

2. Barbelo is a Gnostic term which refers to the first emmnation of god in Sethian Gnostic cosmogonies. As it was said that Jesus is supposed to be from the immortal realm of Barbelos, this can be interpreted that he knows Jesus came from Heaven ("The immortal realm") of God ("Barbelos").

3. Sethians were an ancient group of Gnostics who probably existed before Christianity [1].

4. That he said that Jesus comes from the Immortal realm of Barbelos is significant, because it presents a somewhat conflicting viewpoint. Traditionally Creationists have stated that God created the Universe from nothing, that his will was the force that drove what exists now into becoming and into existing. On the otherhand, since Barbelos refers to the first emanation of God.
Emanation is defined as a concept oncept that explains the creation of the world by a series of radiations, or emanations, originating in the godhead. Godhead being defined as the Christian God, the holy Trinity.

However, from the same article about emanations: "In the history of Western thought it has been to some extent, as in Neoplatonism (Since emanation is a characteristic term also associated with Neoplatonism), opposed to the Judeo-Christian conception of creation, in which the eternal God makes all from nothing."

Oddly enough, this presents a scientific reasoning two thousand years earlier then it would have been understood properly. Emanations are also "Any of several radioactive gases that are isotopes of radon and are products of radioactive decay."

What this all Suggests is that the Chrisitan God created the universe possibly via the Big Bang Theory. Obviously there are some fundamental holes in this, such as to why Judas says he is from the realm of Barbelos, when Barbelos is a term for an emanation of God, the first specifcally. Since it states it is the first, logically it can be assumed that there are more then one emanations. If the theory that God created the universe via emanations (Radioactive Gasses) is plausable, then why is there reference to multiple emanations? One possiability is that the Gnostics simply thought there were more then one emissions from god. Another is that while the creation of the universe was ONE such Emanation, the deliverance of Jesus Christ to Earth via a virgin birth was another such Emanation.

"To explain the relation of a totally transcendent God to a finite and imperfect world, the belief in emanation denies that God directly created the world but maintains rather that the world is the result of a chain of emergence through emanations." This definition taken from Answers.com on Emanation, also would explain why Barbelos is refered to as the "First" emanation, and why multiple emissions are possible."

Continuing:
"[i]From God (the One, or the Absolute), the one prime principle, flows the divine substance; his own substance never lessens. As the flow proceeds farther from God, however, its divinity steadily decreases.[i]" The most important part is that the Divinity decreases. Jesus was human, no doubts there, so he would be less divine then his father, being God. Makes sense.

Continuing again, and with an interesting analogy:
"When a stone is dropped into water, the circles ever widening from the point (God) where the stone fell are emanations, becoming fainter and fainter. Emanation never ceases, the whole process moving continuously outward from God." This would be consitent with the principle that God is somewhat in all of everything, that since he is the source of all creation, all of creation (The universe) has a small bit of divinity of God.

This Gospel is very interesting indeed, and for various reasons not quite seen before.

I KNOW I probably messed up on some things and many of you may be still confused, but It was nonetheless an interesting obseration I found, and one that shows Judas may have known more then history lets on.

Jesus then talks more about some Gnostic concepts, the most obvious being Yaldabaoth, on Page 5. I don't have the energy to diluge into discussions about those
more obvious observations of inter-use of Gnostic concepts.

Anyway, thoughts on my observations? I wholy acknowledge there are some assumptions and errors, the most blantant being the validity of this entire "Gospel".

Jam it back in, in the dark.