nancy@resonex.UUCP (Nancy Blachman) (06/17/84)
Salvation was made available to us through Jesus's crucifixion in which He suffered terribly for our sins. Forty days later, however, He ascended to Heaven and presumably ceased His suffering. We are inclined to forget the man to whom we are indebted for making this sacrifice possible--the man who is still being tortured in Hell for his part in bringing us salvation. If Judas had not betrayed Jesus to the Roman soldiers, the prophesy could not have been fulfilled, and we would be doomed to suffer ourselves for our own sins. It is he who suffers for them even now. In recognition of our indebtedness to Judas it seems appropriate to rename Chistianity (Christ is a Greek word, anyhow, which Jesus's disciples would not have used). Although the Greek form of his name ends in s, in Hebrew it was Yehuda, which is commonly rendered into English as Judah. Thus, it seems proper to rechristen Christianity as Judasim in recognition of what Judas did and is still doing for us.