He Died For Your Sins, Asshole
What the hell was Judas even doing behind that rock? Was he waiting three days just in case? I guess you have to play it safe when you’re dealing with divinity.
Jesus is a tough figure to talk about nowadays, especially in America. There’s still a lot of devotion to him across the globe and sometimes that devotion seems to trump even the love expressed for his Father (with a capital F). Consider that for a minute.
Like the Buddha, Jesus (as a man) has always held my interest. Unlike other major religious figures, it’s hard to find a lot to dislike about what he preached. Some of what we read has almost certainly been doctored by writers with an agenda but the good bits are still terribly fascinating. As with myth, it can be difficult to separate fact from fiction when it comes to religion and that can breed confusion. Jesus, to me at least, seems like the sort of person that could have lived and his sermons seem reasonable for their time. Whatever the truth may be, there is power in stories and not many stories have had quite the same power that the life of Jesus has had. The proof is in the numbers. Roughly 33% of people in the world adhere to Christianity.
From a writer’s perspective, the story of Judas and Jesus is one of the most interesting bits about the last days of Jesus. In the tale Jesus asks God directly why it is he that must die for the sins of humanity, implying that he knows exactly what is going to occur. There has been some controversy about Judas’ role in all this. If Jesus knew, did he ask Judas to turn him over or did Judas stab him in the back? Did Judas really hate the savior of all mankind or was he commanded to do what he did? If he was commanded, why didn’t Jesus just turn himself in? There are so many questions! It’s like a half written detective novel. We’re left just at the cusp before the villain reveals himself and his master plan. That’s just sloppy workmanship.
Maybe there will be a sequel.
Regardless of your personal beliefs (I don’t adhere to the Bible’s assertions, FYI) the Bible is an interesting read. Wordy, difficult to process, and loaded with ideas that may seem foreign, but still an interesting read. It may be tough to find a copy, but you should try to find one somewhere.
Check a hotel or something.
I can just imagine the look on a clerk’s face were I to approach the counter with a cheap copy of a bible. Do they even sell those in a Barnes & Noble? Maybe they’ve got cheap “classic” Bibles, like they do for, say, Dickens’ novels.
Huh.
Anyway, great comic. Love your art, your wit, and the little diatribes accompaning each one. Just thought I’d let ya’ know.
Heh, I never was able to read it all the way through. But through many internet parodies I have a somewhat idea of what’s going on.
By the way, I love your comics. It’s strange that you don’t have much exposure considering how quality your art and storytelling is.
Interesting tid-bit: there was a “Book of Judas” in which it says Jesus asked him to tell the Romans where he was. His book along many other pieces of evidence seem to have been mostly taken/altered/destroyed by the Catholic Church during roughly the 3rd century (about the time the crucifix became a religious icon rather than one of shame). I personally think it is one of those things a budding religion needs, being able to have a scapegoat (besides the Devil, hey-ho!).
— Anyhow —
Awesome comic as always though Scot~
I’ve always found the gnostic gospels to be fascinating, especially because some people can get incredibly worked up and angry over what was essentially Bible fanfiction.
That’s implying the gnostic texts are newer than what’s in the bible itself. The whole new testament more or less is Jesus fan fiction, written years or decades after his death.
Mostly the gospels were written right along when Jesus lived, they just weren’t collected as books and stuck into the big book until later. Combine that with the fact that heaven only knows how much of whose writings got clumped together under the four authors we recognize, and the study gets a bit interesting.
Well Mark’s generally considered the first gospel written. Matthew and Luke both contain segments of Mark as well as other bits that they neither share with each other or with Mark, which suggest it’s first. The author of Mark was aware of the fall of the second temple (13: 1-4) so that makes it post 70 A.D. with the other gospels coming along sometime after that. Interesting note… the last few verses of Mark that talk about Jesus’ activity after resurrection are not in the same style as the rest of the work, and was probably added by a later author. This means that the first gospel probably really ended with a vague notion that Jesus is dead… but his spirit lives on.
@Kingcyrus Considering that Paul discusses the appearance of Jesus to not only himself, but to 500 others it’s likely that the resurrection was more spiritual than the literal and physical interpretation many people take today. This seems more true when you examine the fact that Paul never actually knew Jesus personally (unless it was and unmentioned occasion during his time as a Pharisee persecuting Christians).
well if that book of Judas said Jesus asked Judas to turn him over to the Romans than the book is factually off and can’t be credible. Judas did not turn Jesus over to the Romans, he turned Jesus over to the Jewish religious authority.
Let’s make a Detective Bryan out of it. Book on the case!!!
I think I’m going to start putting together a site design for that and the 10km site next week!
Ok! Send me your ideas. I’ll try to brainstorm too so I don’t feel useless. Ha ha.
I’m with you there. I’m not a Christian, but I think that Jesus is really interesting. Whenever I tell that to my fellow non-religious friends, they give me this weird look….
You’ve fallen victim to the belief of white Jesus, the man was middle eastern!!!
You can thank the Ninja Turtles (Leonardo, Michaelangelo, and painters of the like O_o) for your current image of Italian Jesus.
haha I actually tried to darken his skin but because of my early colour choices he blended into the background too much, hence the white robe and lighter skin tone ;D
Aah, yeah, that’s obnoxious.
You do realize that there are a lot of light skinned Jewish People? Just because he’s from the middle-east, that doesn’t mean he’s going to be dark skinned.
I’m pretty sure that’s because Judaism gradually spread to Europe. Two thousand years ago, he would have been darker skinned – unless he was albino
I remember my “world religions and philosophy” course I took as a freshman in college, and the professor covered Jesus like he did every other religion – from a more historical perspective. It was interesting to see the very “devout” Christians arguing with this man even AFTER his disclaimer that he is sticking to historical evidence / musings versus just what’s in the religious text.
And he WAS an interesting guy. As Dragonair said, bringing this up to some of my non-religious friends (I myself being agnostic) does cause some awkward conversations.
I suppose I just don’t understand the taboo – I could talk about Hindu beliefs as readily, or Norse (<3).
Yeah, too bad Judas killed himself out of guilt before Jesus was even crucified.
Only in two versions of the tale (which don’t agree with one another). The other three don’t mention what happened to him.
I’m pretty sure ancient Hebrews had a custom of leaving their dead in a cave for three days and checking on them to make sure they were really dead before burial. Too lazy to research it though.
Maybe, but Jesus was crucified just before the Sabbath, so they couldn’t leave him out without disrespecting the day or some such.
@ Frederick:
I work at the front desk at a hotel– hit me up. I have a whole box of those Gideon Bibles and no one will miss just one.
If you want a ridiculous and almost credible story of Jesus, try Lamb by Christopher Moore. Also covers what happens to Judas, and what Jesus did in the years not covered in Bible lore. Superb book.
INTERESTING FACT
in the bible there IS a story where Jesus looses his shit over people messing around in a temple.
haha
Not to be rude but judas went and hung himself in shame immediately after jesus’s death
lol my preferred strips are related to Catholicism.
saved!
I remember hearing the theory that Judas DID believe that Jesus was God’s son, but didn’t think he was going about things the way a true divine savior should. Instead of kicking the romans out of isreal like so many of the jews back then wanted the messiah to do, Jesus went around preaching about peace and love. Thus, supposedly the betrayal was meant as a way to back Jesus into a corner where he would HAVE to flex some of that divine otherworldly muscle and reveal himself to the ignorant masses as the son of God. His plan didn’t work out the way he wanted and he hung himself out of guilt =p
So, yeah, I’m a Christian, and I thought this was hilarious. Nice work.
I just started reading your comic and I love it. Why comment in the middle instead of waiting to post this comment at the latest update? Because I am kinda in love with Judas’ story right know thanks to a recent run-in with Carravagio’s The Taking of Christ. One of my latest self-assigned projects is to paint Judas’ kiss. I’ve been sketching it for months know… I want to get it just right. :3 I, of course, am rather fond of the idea of Judas obeying Jesus’ wishes. It’s just so much more dramatic and wonderfully agnsty, huh? :3 His expression is proving to be the funnest part. :))))
The plot twist continues – supposedly there was a gospel the council of nicea discluded from the bible – the gospel of Judas. In this book, the writer (supposedly Judas) asserts that he was commanded to betray Jesus for the sake of mankind. Which supposedly somehow crushes religion.
Thomas Jefferson believed Jesus was a great moral philosopher. I think he’ll get a kick out of that, you know, as soon as the second coming thing gets rolled out.
I think Judas was kind of a douche. You know people who wipe out ever opportunity they encounter? Like, some part of them has decided they need to be miserable and no matter what happens they fight their way back down to rock bottom?
I think Judas felt like a horrible person and when Jesus walked around treating him like a holy man, he went out of his way to prove the guy.
As for prediction, what you’re probably looking at here is an “vague outline” situation. I think Jesus (or Jeez, as I call him) had a sense of his own life as a myth. And like any story, he could kind of tell where it was heading. Had a few good ideas about the final chapter, so to speak.
I think he really thought dying would help the world. With the last 2000 years in retrospect, I have to wonder if it worked out like he thought it would.
Well, the Bible has indeed foreign ideas and concept, since it’s meant for Jews.
I mean, Jesus didn’t preach for pagans.
Although it turned out that pagans make good Christians 🙂