Once again, the mother of all fiestas in Bohol is here. What's new? A lot, and we mean a lot, whatever that means.

But the outset, allow us to take this opportunity to greet all visitors and guests on the occasion of the annual city fiesta in honor of St. Joseph the Worker. We prepared tarpaulins for display in strategic areas of the city but we did not get the permit from city hall perhaps we be misconstrued of politicking for next year ahead of the others. We cancelled our prepared layout for fiesta greetings in local newspapers as well.

At least, we still maintain that the political exercise next year will go on as scheduled.

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INBOX. Here's one e-mail sent by a reader, Manuel D. Fuderaran who is a native of Mansasa District, Tagbilaran City and now based in Bakersfield, California.

Here's his e-mail belatedly commenting on our piece on the Gospel of Judas and the Da Vinci Code last Lenten season which is still worthwhile reading. We are reprinting if in full and unedited. Thus:
"I encountered some glitches in accessing your column because of the new format - thus this delayed commentary.

Carbon dating proved that the original manuscripts of the Gospel of Judas could be authentic. Its authenticity, however, does not necessarily mean that it contains the "gospel" truth. The Gospel of Judas does not negate nor nullify the narratives in the four gospels. It is now the word of Judas against the narration of the four evangelists.

Granting for the sake of argument that Judas was really "requested" by Jesus to betray him does not contradict the story of salvation. On the contrary, it validates and further reinforces our belief that the passion and death of Jesus Christ was really a historical fact---- not just a myth or religious fiction as implied by the authors of "The Passover Plot" and "The Jesus Papers".

The contention that Jesus had brothers and sisters, married Mary Magdalene and bore children with her does not, in any way, diminish his divinity. Jesus was a God-man. He could have lived his life on earth as a normal human being. The problem is, what we know about Jesus is only about the events surrounding his nativity and the last three years of his earthly life---nothing of the 30 years in between.
It's hard to tell whether the purge of ancient manuscripts had something to do with the Biblical void in the life of Jesus in these 30 silent years. Bishop Irenaeus, the Bishop of Lyons in the second or third century, could have acted in good faith or done a good job of shielding us from the "undivine" or "unsavory" aspects of Jesus' life. The Gospel of Judas was not the only one that was discarded by Bishop Irenaeus as heretical but also other sacred manuscripts like the Gospel of Thomas.

As to the Da Vinci Code, it is nothing but a presentation of adulterated facts intertwined with wild and prolific imaginations. It is good-reading during rainy days.

Happy Fiesta!!!".

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For comments and suggestions, just e-mail to the following e-mail addresses: obiter@boholchronicle.com