Better to Never be Born?

[Azygos]

Okay, thanks very much everyone.

Your welcome!

 

[migueltojose]

Just give pause, that even if it is very likely Judas went to hell, neither of our last 2 Popes were willing to dogmatize the idea:Even when Jesus says of Judas, the traitor, “It would be better for that man if he had never been born” (Mt 26:24), His words do not allude for certain to eternal damnation. (Bl. John Paul II, Crossing the Threshold of Hope, 186)

The mystery of the choice remains, all the more since Jesus pronounces a very severe judgement on [Judas]: “Woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed!” (Mt 26: 24). What is more, it darkens the mystery around his eternal fate, knowing that Judas "repented and brought back the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, saying, “I have sinned in betraying innocent blood’” (Mt 27: 3-4). Even though he went to hang himself (cf. Mt 27: 5), it is not up to us to judge his gesture, substituting ourselves for the infinitely merciful and just God. (Pope Benedict XVI, General Audience, Oct. 18, 2006)That being said, if Judas did indeed go to hell, and we ask why did God create him? The same could be asked of anyone who goes to hell, for God would have foreknown their fate. This is a mystery, especially when we get into the “why” of God’s actions. But ultimately God gave man true free will, which is a necessary component of being able to love, for love without freedom is not love. And in freedom of will, one is able to choose against God.

I have this idea that Jesus and Judas are good friends in heaven. Judas loved Jesus, a lot, and Jesus loved Judas, but was frustrated by him too. Maybe Judas wanted Jesus to do more. He thought if he turned him in, he would have to reveal His true nature, publically, to everyone including the Romans and it would be a glorious victory. It was a tragic and fatal miscalculation of the situation, based on a misunderstanding of what Jesus was trying to teach him (them)… for which he was ultimately immensely sorry.

Similar to Icarus in Greek mythology. He tried to fly to close to the sun (Son) and got burned. But understandable at some level. And, I’d hope and pray, forgiveable.

Just my imagination, running away with me…

 

[zekidan]

**Matt 24:26 says it would have been better for Judas to never have been born? does this mean it would have been better for Judas to have been aborted? **

I don’t believe abortion is right but how would you argue against the point above?

 

[migueltojose]

**Matt 24:26 says it would have been better for Judas to never have been born? does this mean it would have been better for Judas to have been aborted? **

I don’t believe abortion is right but how would you argue against the point above?

i would think not - “two wrongs don’t make a right”

a pre-emptive abortion… don’t say that too loud, they’ll start prescribing them…

what about free will… what if judas changed his mind earlier and didn’t go through with it…

 

[zekidan]

to what you say, free will in place, Jesus knowing what Judas would choose, he still says it is better that he never been born because he already knows he will freely choose evil!

so free will does not contradict!

My question is regarded to the mother of Judas directly would it be wrong for her to have an abortion since Jesus says it would be better for him not to be born, well what are the other options other than birth.

 

[Glacies]

to what you say, free will in place, Jesus knowing what Judas would choose, he still says it is better that he never been born because he already knows he will freely choose evil!

so free will does not contradict!

My question is regarded to the mother of Judas directly would it be wrong for her to have an abortion since Jesus says it would be better for him not to be born, well what are the other options other than birth.

Christ does not say that it would have been better for him to be aborted, while there are a number of ways for a person not to be born like not being conceived in the first place. There are some mystical interpretations for the verse referred by St. Aurelius Augustine like being “born to sin” or being “born to Christ”:

Aug., Quaest. Ev., i, 40: And if it be contended that there is a life before this life, that will prove that not only not for Judas, but for none other is it good to [p. 890] have been born. Can it mean, that it were better for him not to have been born to the Devil, namely, for sin? Or does it mean that it had been good for him not to have been born to Christ at his calling, that he should now become apostate?

One should also note the parallel with the Second Epistle of St. Peter the Apostle: “Better for them, never to have found their way to justification, than to have found it, and then turned their backs on the holy law once handed down to them.” (2. Pet. 2:21)