From:    Don Martin                               Kill 
To:      Steve Bedard                             Msg #347, 12-Sep-93 03:58pm
Subject: Jesus Crust!

A pregnant pause ensued as Steve Bedard shared a conception -- Jesus -- with
Marilyn Burge on 08 Sep 93 12:35:

 SB> contradictions fall into this category.  For
 SB> example, the death of Judas.  Matthew
 SB> says that Judas hung himself and in
 SB> Acts he fell off a cliff (not by the sword as you said).  This is easily
 SB> explained by saying that Judas' body fell down the cliff after he hung
 SB> himself.  

     Do you ever READ the goddamned book before offering such twaddle as your
above "easily explained"?  

From The Oxford Annotated Bible, RSV, Matthew 27:3-8:
     3 When Judas, his betrayer, saw that he had been condemned, he repented
and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the
elders, 4 saying, "I have sinned in betraying innocent blood."  They said,
"what is that to us?  See to it yourself." 5 And throwing down the pieces of
silver in the temple, he departed; and he went and hanged himself.  6 But the
chief priests, taking the pieces of silver, said, "It is not lawful to put
them into the treasury, since they are blood money."  7 So they took counsel,
and bought with them the potter's field, to bury strangers in.  8 Therefore
that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day.

From Acts 1:18-19, "this man" = Judas:
     18 (Now this man bought a field with the reward of his wickedness; and
falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out. 
19 And it became known to all the inhaitants of Jerusalem, so that the field
was called, in their language, Akeldama, that is Field of Blood.)

     With the whole passages laid out, it is obvious that there is more here
than a contradiction as to the cause of death.  Where did you find the
"cliff" the hanged body of Judas hurled itself from?  According to the above,
he dies in a field.  One he has purchased with "the reward of his wickedness"
which is probably the thirty pieces of silver--unless the guy committed some
other piece of unrecorded wickedness that brought in enough ready cash to buy
land with.  Yet in Matthew, he throws down that money in the temple, leaving
the priests the responsibility of disposing of it.  In Matthew, the priests
buy the Field of Blood.  In Acts, Judas does.  In both, the name of the place
is given (presumably to fullfill a prophecy) and in both some reason for the
field being so named is presented--blood money in Matthew, blood and guts of
Judas in Acts.
     Now, about your "easily explained" bullshit . . . .