An equally impressive event in the rise of Christianity is the suicide of Judas, one of the twelve apostles. That Jesus should have selected Judas for an apostle, knowing he was a murderer in embryo, is puzzling enough, but that there should be no unanimity as to the fate of a man who plays one of the principal rôles in the Christian scheme of salvation, lends serious support to the theory that Judas, too, is a myth. Observe the irreconcilable accounts concerning Judas, as given in Matthew and in the Acts of the Apostles: * Read the ninth and the twenty-second chapters of Acts. According to Matthew. According to Acts. Judas . . brought Now this man (Judas) again the thirty pieces of purchased a field with the silver to the chief priests and reward of iniquity. ** elders. * Matthew's account makes Judas return the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders who had bribed him with the amount; the other makes Judas purchase a piece of land with the money. There are also two contradictory accounts of the way in which Judas met his death. According to Matthew. According to Acts. And he (Judas) went and And (Judas) falling head- hanged himself. *** long, he burst asunder in the midst and all his bowels gushed out. **** * Matthew xxvii, 3. *** Matthew xxvii, 5. **** Acts i, 18. **** Acts i, 18. The writer of Acts knows nothing about the hanging story. His Judas has a headlong fall, which causes him to burst open in the midst, tearing out his bowels. A man hanging himself can not have a headlong fall, and if it had been known to the writer of Acts that Judas "went and hanged himself," he would have left out "he burst asunder in the midst and all his bowels gushed out." We leave it to the theologians to explain the manner of Judas' death. One Writer Makes Jesus Affirm What Another Made Him Deny |WHEN we come to study the sayings attributed to Jesus the contradictions become more and more pronounced. The most irreconcilable statements are put in Jesus' mouth, often by the same evangelist, as the following few quotations will show: Jesus Is the Judge of Men. The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son.--John v, 22. Jesus Is Not the Judge of Men. I (Jesus) judge no man.--John viii, 15. If any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not. For I came not to judge the world.--Ibid. xiii, 47. Jesus Witness of Himself Is True. I am one that bear witness of myself... Though I bear record of myself, yet my record is true.--Ibid. viii, 1, 4, 18. Jesus Witness of Himself Is Not True. If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true.--Ibid. v, 31. Temptations Are to Be Avoided. Lead us not into temptation.--The Lord's Prayer, Matthew vi, 13. Temptations Are to Be Courted.