Let us begin by comparing two passages in the Bible (KJV) which contradict each other.

Matthew 18:21-22

Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, "I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven."

Hebrews 6:4-6

For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to shame.

Note that as quoted in Matthew 18:21-22 Jesus is uncompromisingly adamant. When it comes to forgiveness he makes no exception. But Hebrews tells a different story. Here we are told that forgiveness is not universal after all. It seems that there is one sin, apostasy, for which there can be no forgiveness. So, did Jesus just forget about it or did he deliberately lie to Peter in the Matthew quote? It should be noted also that in Matthew 12:32 Jesus again contradicts himself by the following statement,  "Who so ever speaketh a word against the Son of Man it shall be forgiven him. But who so ever speaketh against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven neither in this world nor in the world to come." So, we learn here that, in addition to apostasy, there is a second unforgivable sin, blasphemy, speaking against the Holy Ghost. Not only does this contradict Matthew 18:21-22 and Hebrews 6:4-6, it also contradicts the doctrine of the Holy Trinity in which God, Jesus and the Holy Ghost are said to be one and the same. So, how could someone speak against one without at the same time be speaking against all three?

Now let us compare the stories of Judas Iscariot and Simon Peter, two of the New Testament's best known characters outside of Jesus himself, and see if they were treated fairly by Jesus. Judas first.

Judas Iscariot, the betrayer of Jesus, ranks as the most hated, the most despised character in the entire Bible with the possible exception of Satan himself. Is such intense loathing justified, or is Judas the victim of biased and inaccurate reporting? Interestingly enough the sole source of information on Judas is the New Testament gospels and the Book of Acts all of which were written long after the events alleged took place. He receives not a single mention from such prominent first century Jewish historians as Philo Judaeus and Flavius Josephus. But what is even more revealing is the absence of any mention of Judas and his dastardly deed in the authentic writings of the Apostle Paul, the Gospel of Thomas, the reconstructed document, "Q" (Quelle) or the Didache.

Judas first appears in the nineteenth verse of the third chapter of the Gospel of Mark, the oldest of the canonical gospels, where he is appointed by Jesus as one of the original twelve apostles. In this passage we are tipped off in advance of Judas’ treachery. Matthew and Luke repeat Mark almost verbatim, however, the author of John adds something. In John 6:70-71 Jesus announces that one of the twelve, Judas, is a devil. In John 12:4-6 we learn of another of Judas’s character flaws which the synoptic gospel writers neglected to mention. He was a thief, regularly skimming from the common purse. At John 13:18 Jesus says, obviously in reference to Judas, that he made his choices “so that scripture might be fulfilled.” He then quotes Psalm 41:9 “He that eateth my bread lifted up his heel against me.” This, in all probability, provided the inspiration for the betrayal story.

As was predicted, Judas went to the chief priests and offered to identify Jesus (Mark 14:10 and parallels). They accepted his offer and agreed to pay him thirty pieces of silver (Matthew 26:15) which brings up another perplexing question. Why would the authorities pay to have someone pointed out to them whom they already knew? According to the gospels Jesus was well known throughout the land, especially in Jerusalem. In Matthew 26:55 Jesus says to those who came to arrest him, "I sat daily with you teaching in the temple, yet ye laid no hold on me."

Judas identifies Jesus to the authorities by way of that infamous kiss, and that’s the last we hear of him in the gospels of Mark, Luke and John. However, the author of Matthew doesn’t let it drop there. Apparently Judas’ conscience got the better of him because according to Matthew 27:3-5 he made a sincere attempt to repent but was denied forgiveness. In a gesture of frustration he flung the money onto the temple floor and went and hanged himself. Matthew goes on to say in 27:7-8 that the chief priests and the elders used the money to buy a piece of land. Because it was bought with blood money, the land became known as "The Field of Blood."

Had the Judas story ended with the betrayal followed by the suicide everything might have been hunky-dory, but the writer of Acts couldn't leave well enough alone. In 1:15-20 he tells us that Judas didn't give the money back; he invested it in real estate. We also learn that Judas didn’t commit suicide; his death was accidental. Because of the messiness of this accident, the property became known as (you guessed it) "The Field of Blood." So, did Judas commit suicide as the writer of Matthew claims or was his death an accident as we are told in Acts? Also, was this the same land that the priests bought, or were there two fields of blood? But, it gets even more confusing.

Mark 16:14 and Luke 24:33 state that following his resurrection Jesus appeared to "the eleven." Who was missing? After all that had transpired you would just naturally think it was Judas. Wasn't he dead already? Apparently not because in John 20:24, we discover that the missing apostle was Thomas. Therefore the eleven had to include Judas. To further confound the reader, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:5 that following his resurrection Jesus was seen by "the twelve." If he is referring to the apostles, it had to have included Judas because it wasn't until after the ascension, some forty plus days after the resurrection, that another person, Matthias, was voted in to replace Judas (Acts 1:26). So, according to this, Judas neither committed suicide nor died by accident. In Acts 1:25 we are told that Judas "turned aside to go to his own place," whatever that means.

Another clue confirming the absence of the Judas story in the earliest Christian documents occurs in Matthew 19:28 and Luke 22:30. Here Jesus tells his apostles that they will “sit on the twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” No exception is made for Judas even though Jesus was aware of his impending betrayal. The answer may lie in the fact that the source of these verses is Q (QS 62). Q predates the gospels and is considered to be one of the earliest Christian documents. It was obviously written before the betrayal story was invented by the writer of Mark and embellished by later gospel writers.

For centuries Judas Iscariot has been held up as the archetypical traitor, the exemplar of treachery, the quintessential turncoat. This is strange indeed when one considers Acts 1:16. Here the apostle Peter tells us, "This scripture (Psalm 69:25) must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas, which was guide to them that took Jesus." So according to Peter, Judas' betrayal was a part of God's grand plan all along. Not only did Judas serve as a vehicle through which key Old Testament prophecy might be fulfilled, it was by way of his betrayal that Jesus was able to complete his earthly mission. One might say that it was a dirty job, but somebody had to do it. Judas was in reality an enabler. Instead of hating and reviling him, Christians should appreciate Judas’ contribution as an indispensable component of the passion.

Now consider the story of Peter, the greatest of the apostles and the one for whom Jesus openly showed favoritism. The Roman Catholics go so far as to elevate him to sainthood and designate him the first Pope. Jesus selected him to be his immediate successor and put him in charge of the movement (Matthew 16:18-19, John 21:15-17). But is Peter really worthy of such adulation?  First, he publicly denied Jesus three times (Mark 14:66-71, Matthew 26:69-74, Luke 22:54-60, and John 18-25-27). In Mark's and Matthew's version not only did he deny Jesus, he swore an oath against him. Second, Peter ignored Jesus' most important directive. According to Matthew 28:16-20, AKA The Great Commission, the apostles were to immediately go forth into the land and start spreading the word in advance of the imminent second coming. But, upon Jesus' death they abandoned the movement entirely and returned to their original profession, fishing (John 21). As their designated leader, Peter must be held accountable for what has to be the most astonishing show of no confidence in history.

Shouldn't these blatant acts of apostasy and denial have given ample grounds for Peter's summery dismissal from the movement as well as disqualifying him from ever being forgiven in accordance with scripture In fact, Peter's public denial of  Jesus might even qualify him as the Antichrist  according to 2 John 2:22-23. In spite of these damning facts Hebrews 6:4-6 was ignored thus absolving Peter of all blame. His position of prominence in the church goes unchallenged to this very day.

Judas, I remind you, never denied Jesus. He never committed apostasy as did Peter. He just saw an opportunity to make a little money on the side and took it. While this action may not have been ethical, if Jesus was sincere in Matthew 18:21-22 wasn't he obligated to honor Judas' request for forgiveness?

The stories of Judas' betrayal and Peter's denial are obvious fiction with no basis in history. Their primary purpose is to beguile the credulous and impress the naive. However, the story of Judas betrayal has a more sinister purpose. It is deliberately designed to fan the flames of anti-Semitism. According to part 3 of Bishop John S. Spong's 3-part essay, Unmasking the Sources of Christian Anti-Semitism, Judas is the Greek word for Judah, the Jewish nation while Iscariot means political traitor or assassin. Judas is portrayed as a caricature intended to confirm the very worst misconceptions about the Jewish people. As a result, for almost two thousand years the Jews have been unjustly persecuted because their forefathers were accused of slaying Jesus, a mythical god-man whose very existence remains highly questionable.