Has history done Judas Iscariot a grave injustice?

[mark_a]

OK, I can go with the idea that she had no more free will than the rest of them.

My point is that the rest of them had no less free will than Mary.

 

[mark_a]

Based on the teaching that God is both omnipotent and omniscient, it is apparent that God desired Judas to be damned for some reason.

God predestins no one to hell. That’s the Catholic belief anyway.

There are many who believe that God predestines people to hell (however cruel it may be) or heaven.

 

[KarenNC]

My point is that the rest of them had no less free will than Mary.

Did the very fact that she was (as taught by Catholicism) the only human immaculately conceived and therefore the only one possible to be the mother of Christ mean that she was created from the beginning in such a manner that she could not refuse? If she had the actual freedom to refuse, did God have other immaculately conceived girls waiting in the wings or would He have then abandoned His plan? Do humans actually have the real ability to thwart a plan of God’s by refusing to participate?

 

[mark_a]

These are all good questions. I know the “correct” Catholic answers and accept them based on trust I have in the truth of all the other teachings I’ve checked into.

But that really doesn’t help you, does it?

We need some of the big guns here to answer with explanations.

Did the very fact that she was (as taught by Catholicism) the only human immaculately conceived and therefore the only one possible to be the mother of Christ mean that she was created from the beginning in such a manner that she could not refuse?

No. She could have refused.

If she had the actual freedom to refuse, did God have other immaculately conceived girls waiting in the wings or would He have then abandoned His plan?

This gets into the whole mystery of God and eternity. I am very willing to accept mystery.

Do humans actually have the real ability to thwart a plan of God’s by refusing to participate?

I feel like I have thwarted God’s plan for my own life. I hear the expression “God’s plan for your life” and don’t have a clue.

Despite all this, I believe.

 

[Sixtus]

KarenNC posted:

God predestins no one to hell. That’s the Catholic belief anyway.

There are many who believe that God predestines people to hell (however cruel it may be) or heaven.

That is indeed a view held my many.