A BBC documentary suggesting Judas Iscariot wasn’t purely a traitor has drawn criticism from evangelicals as, among other things, “an attempt to undermine the Christian Gospel.”
“This is nothing new,” said Jerry Vines, Jerry Vines, the former pastor of First Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Florida who has written and preached on Judas. He noted attempts since the second century to portray Judas more favorably than he is presented in Scripture — as a traitor who delivered Jesus to the authorities for 30 pieces of silver.
The BBC documentary, Vines said, appears to be “an attempt to undermine the Christian Gospel, actually. This idea that you’re a sinner is not real popular with culture. So if you can turn the so—called notable sinners in the Bible into just misunderstood men and scapegoats, it kind of minimizes the fact that men are sinners and need a Savior.”...