Judas

[sullimonkey]

did judas (in the bible) kill himself??
Ang is there any evidence to support he actually lived as there is to support a man called jesus of that time??

[Gok Wan]

Different books of the bible give different accounts of how Judas died. I'm interested in what evidence you know of that supports that a man called Jesus lived at that time?

[sullimonkey]

different accounts say there are records that a man named
jesus lived and was crucifed at the same time as the bible
alledges, as for the rest there is no proof and i have no idea,
thanks for the info though!

[Ice.Maiden]

Not only does the Bible mention Jesus, but the Koran acknowlesges that he was a prophet of the time as well.

[jno]

the Bible is evidence, though whether you accept it or not is up to you. What other evidence would you expect of anyone who lived 2000 years ago?

What Matthew 27 says is:

So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.

[sullimonkey]

Thank you jno and Ice.Maiden you rule!

[cat's whiske]

Many historians agree that there is more evidence to the existence of Jesus than to that of Julius Ceasar.

You pays your money, you make your choice :>)

[Whickerman]

I still find it interesting that Jesus Barabbas (literally Joshua, son of god), a 'political agitator' was released according to the stories, and Jesus the Christ crucified.

[chakka35]

cat's whisk, anyone who says that is no historian.

Julius Caesar's existence is verified by the fact that he wrote a lot about himself, that eyewitnesses wrote about him while he was alive (contemperaneous evidence is the backbone of history) and after he was dead, and that there is plenty of physical evidence on the ground of the places he went to and conquered and the edifices he destroyed and built.
None of this applies to the Jesus story.

We don't know when Jesus was supposed to have lived; whenever that was, no-one wrote a word about him at that time; there is no mention of him in Jewish or Roman records or by any historian writing at that supposed time. There are no eyewitnesses to anything he said and did. There is no evidence on the ground that he ever existed.

He is first introduced to the world by Paul in AD55; Paul never knew him, nor does he supply any eyewitness evidence about him. The subsequent gospels were written by unknown people who never knew Jesus. They do not quote eyewitnesses either. And so on...

'Nuff said.

[jno]

Jesus lived and worked among the poor, and such people seldom have their actions covered as well as emperors. It doesn't mean they didn't exist, though it places them outside history - in the sense of 'written history'. But anyone who wants to suggest that he never existed, and was just invented by Paul, needs to explain why If Paul, for some reason, wanted to instigate a new religion, why not just name himself as the prophet rather than invent one who'd supposedly died years before?

For me, that just doesn't make any sense. The likeliest explanation is that Jesus lived and preached and was remembered after his death, and that his teachings were handed down orally until people came to write them down. (Whether he was the son of God is another matter.)

[123everton]

I'm with JNO on this one Christianity was brutally suppressed in the Roman empire to begin with this would make getting a few bibles written and distributed rather difficult and risky I'd imagine.
Chaka In the name of history (and I mean that quite literally) perhaps you'd like to question the "truth" of Herodotus' works, his tomes form the basis of what we know and understand of the ancient world, most of it many many years before he was even born never mind writing. Candaules and Gyges for one, and don't get me started on Arion and the dolphin for whimsy.
The "truth" is always were you find it, based on how you interpret it.

[chadad]

One school of thought maintains that far from being a traitor Judas acted with what he thought was a good idea.
In the Jewish history it has long been maintained that, as the chosen race, the Almighty would appear and lead them to victory, but only when things were at their direst.
Judas believing that God could not possibly allow his own son to perish, " Fingered " Jesus, hoping that this action would trigger a Miracle or two and thus promote a mass rising against the Roman occupiers.
When it all went " Pear shaped " he realised his mistake
and topped himself.
As to whether Judas ever really existed, Who can say?
But his name has suvived for Centuries, as the Mark
(No Pun), of the traitor.

[Cassiopier]

If you read your bible you will see that Judas hanged himself, as for the question of whether he or Jesus existed it depends on what you believe.

Cassie