Is Judas in heaven?

[MarcoPolo]

We don’t know. The Matthew 26 verse, according to Pope John Paul II, is ultimately inconclusive (even if it’s likely he went to hell). Bottom line––we don’t know.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)

.

I want to add to the above quote from Pope John Paul II the following quote I came across from Pope Benedict XVI:*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)*

 

[jcrichton]

Hello my dearest ones!!

I was wondering, is Judas in heaven? It says in the Bible he was sent to betray Jesus. Jesus knew he was gonna get betrayed. Also, its says the Devil entered Judas. It never says that Judas believed that Jesus was the Savior. It says that Jesus chose Judas. Did he choose Judas because he knew he was a instrument in the completion of salvation? Did Judas go to heaven? Please help

…as far as I know, the Church has not taught either Heaven or hell… some Believers have written their personal views on it (claiming Biblical basis for damnation) and others, to present day, claim Judas’ failure to turn to Jesus is definite proof… I believe not that we can know that he is either in Heaven or hell but that God’s Salvific Plan required that one of the Twelve betray Jesus (all prophecies related to this precise event would be void if it had happened otherwise); since Judas was Called by Jesus and Jesus identified him as a devil and the bretrayer, there’s no doubt that of the Twelve it would fall upon Judas alone to Betray Jesus…

Many fault Judas for not seeking/accepting Salvation by turning back to Jesus as Peter did… it seems that they are reading a different narrative than what I have always understood:

Denying Jesus does not equate to betraying Jesus and returning to Jesus requires that a person would actually Belong to (Believe) Jesus in the first place.

We know from Scriptures that even those who Believed in Jesus failed to understand everything He Taught them, how could we expect that Judas, a person who is portrayed as one who did not Believe, would understand that Jesus’ Mercy could override his trespass?

Judas did what his finite mind could understand: once he understood that he had Betrayed an innocent/just man he attempted to rescind the treacherous act by returning the money; once this failed, he tossed the money at the feet of his accomplices… and he ended his life…

Though I do not condone suicide, I can see how Judas’ mind would compel him to heed Jesus’ warning that the Son of Man had to be Betrayed but that the one who would betray Him would have been better for him not to have been born…

Further, Judas’ suicide comes right at his failure to rescue Jesus from the Crucifixion which means that his spirit could well have been one of those spirits to whom Jesus Preached, in the Spirit, right after His Death… in which case God’s Salvific Plan could have altered the state of Judas’ eternity as he could well have been convicted by the Truth during this Spiritual encounter with Christ.

Maran atha!

Angel

 

[jcrichton]

I second what Todd said. Jesus wouldn’t have said it were better for him to never have been born unless he was damned. Im more concerned about Pilate, myself.

…yet, Jesus prays for Peter to return to Him and to gather the others around him… but not special prayer for Judas…

Maran atha!

Angel

 

[jcrichton]

We don’t know if Judas is in heaven or not. I read that Jesus could have said that it would have been better if Judas had not been born because hten he would not have gone to Purgatory as long.

…but would the fact that he was Betraying God translate to rendering Judas beyond God’s Salvific Plan and Divine Mercy? …or did Jesus mean to demonstrate that Judas’ Betrayal was the most horrendous sin that man can commit?

Maran atha!

Angel

 

[jcrichton]

If judas went to hell it wasn’t for the betrayal of Christ, but for the sin of dispair. And, this may have been what Christ was speaking of, because Christ knew exactly who would betray him, and the circumstances, so his comments could have been expressing the woe of Judas for his dispair, and committing suicide because he could not accept that any wrong doing could be forgiven, if he had asked for forgiveness.

…but how can a non-Believer understand God’s Mercy?

Maran atha!

Angel

 

[jcrichton]

People say Protestants love Paul, but that’s because he wrote such good stuff. Paul wrote in Romans that the men who crucified Jesus were hardened by God so that Jesus sacrifice would be completed. After Jesus fulfilled His ministry, Paul wrote that God’s mercy was available to them just like everyone else.

Rom 11:30 For just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, 31 so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now receive mercy. 32 For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.
The problem with Judas is that he killed himself after betraying Jesus. Had he repented and asked forgiveness he would have been welcomed back by the apostles. Peter was no less in danger of hell after denying Jesus, since Jesus said He would deny to the Father those who denied Him to men. But Jesus reinstate Peter later. Paul persecuted, jailed and killed Christian and he was forgiven; we betray Jesus every time we sin and are forgiven. But Judas didn’t choose that path and gave in to despair, not trusting in God’s forgiveness. I would have to say I doubt Judas is in heaven.

…except… Peter did not Betray Jesus… his heart and mind would not be as strangled as Judas’; Paul had a very distict and forceful encounter with Christ, in the Spirit, so it was understandable that Paul’s errors, doubts, and ignorance would have been melted away… we have the benefit of nearly 2000 years of hindsight understanding of Christ’s Salvific Plan and Mercy… Judas had his ignorance, thievery, greed, and power mongering (among other issues) as advocates… he was right in the middle of the event, alone, with the knowledge that his Betrayal of Christ had put Jesus on the path to Crucifixion… his awakening to how dreadful an act he had committed came too little too late… if 2 1/2 to 3 years of Christ’s Ministry did not convict the other Eleven, who did Believe, how do you expect the one pseudo disciple to, in his horrendous moments of turmoil, be open to God’s Holy Spirit and become more devout and enlightened than John and Peter who, at the findings of the Tomb, still doubted?

Maran atha!

Angel

 

[jcrichton]

This. I forget who said this, but a priest (or bishop?) once said that Judas may have been a saint had he truly repented and not killed himself.

…again, when did this understanding of Christ take shape… at the Cross, at the Tomb, during one of Christ’s aparitions?

Judas never believed that Christ was more than a meal ticket, at least not till after the Betrayal!

Maran atha!

Angel

 

[jcrichton]

But were it not for Judas, we would not have had the crucifixion which lead to Christ’s resurrection and therefore, our salvation. If it weren’t Judas, it would have had to be someone. If we read what Christ said about it being better to never have been born as being an indication of Judas being damned with certainty, then where does free will lie? Was he simply destined (or dare I say, predestined) to do this and therefore never even had a chance at heaven? Further, if he is only evil, why did he feel such bitter remorse for his actions?

…exactly! We are forming an opinion based on what is known after the fact while ignoring very key issues… though I do not believe that “it would have had to be someone” since prophecy stipulates that:

12 Were it an enemy who insulted me, that I could bear; if an opponent pitted himself against me, I could turn away from him. 13 But you, a person of my own rank, a comrade and dear friend, 14 to whom I was bound by intimate friendship in the house of God! (Psalm 55:12-14)

…the prophecy demands that the betrayer be of Jesus’ intimacy… and Jesus reveals that He Chose the Twelve and that one of them (Judas) was a devil…

…it seems quite interesting to me that we may fault Judas inspite of Scriptures:

12 While I was with them, I kept those you had given me true to your name. I have watched over them and not one is lost except one who was destined to be lost, and this was to fulfil the scriptures. (St. John 17:12)

…so either Jesus purposefully did not pray for Judas’ conversion (so that Scriptures would be fulfilled) or His prayer had very little effect–either way, Judas had as slim chance of understanding God’s Mercy as a snowcone surviving Hell’s lakes of fire!

So would God’s Mercy ignore the bind with which Judas had been allowed to hang?

Maran atha!

Angel

 

[jcrichton]

I once heard that only one difference seperated Peter from Judas. Peter repented. Both of their sins was heinous, but Peter repented. For he went out and wept bitterrly! Judas on the other hand, just couldnt think that an offense against the LORD of this magnitude was forgivable, I am more than certain that had Judas went back, and asked the LORD for his forgiveness, Mercy would have been Judas’s. I am also sure that Judas would have become a Huge saint!! as if Judas would have repented, he would have been forgiven much, and so would have loved much. In my opinion, i think that if he had repented, he would be up there with Peter, Paul and John. However, hes not…

…so you think that the run of the mill atheist would at a time of crisis understand that God’s Mercy extends to all, equally?

…and you actually believe that betrayal is the same denial? …really… how many blamed Peter for Jesus’ imprisonment and Crucifixion?

Maran atha!

Angel

 

[jcrichton]

Oh happy fault, o necessary sin of Adam, right? But that doesn’t mean that God was somehow compelled to have salvation history unfold in the way that it did. God lives outside of time. He saw what Judas did, perhaps from the moment Judas was created. That doesn’t mean Judas had no free will. It means that God sees our lives in their entirety, whereas we only see things in the context of the time and space that constrains us.

Judas had every chance to choose God, to choose to ask for His mercy. He did not. He is damned.

…so God knows Judas will betray Jesus and Jesus prays for Peter’s Faith but ignores the more needy of His Disciples… do you recall Jesus’ claim to have come for the sick, sinner, lost sheep…?

Maran atha!

Angel

 

[jcrichton]

I hope he’s not condemned to hell since I’ve always felt bad for the guy. But God can do anything so the least one can do is pray. A plenary indulgence perhaps? I can’t imagine that a lot of people pray for his soul in the first place.

…no, most of us are too busy betraying Jesus in our daily lives! :banghead::banghead::banghead:

Maran atha!

Angel

 

[jcrichton]

Yeah, I was going to say the same thing…makes no sense.

It doesn’t look very good for Judas…

…actually… I think you’ve missed the point… it seemed to me that the post was not lamenting Judas’ predicament but the explanation about it.

Maran atha!

Angel

 

[jcrichton]

Thanks to most of you!! I was reading John. I was wondering about him. Thanks for not thinking my question was dumb. It is really hard to understand the interpretation of things SOMETIMES because I was a “Cradle” Cheaster Catholic when I was young then I went to the Calvinisit Church and College for sometime before I came back. Interpertation could be different. I have already noticed that in a lot of interperatations of scripture.

Jillian, welcomed back!

…you are correct, as long as we adhere to guidelines no question is superfluous!

…it is also good to check with the CCC to get the Church’s official Teaching–I find that if an interpretation strays markedly from Church’s Teaching it is most likely not a sound one.

God Bless!

Maran atha!

Angel

 

[jcrichton]

Whenever we commit a sin we betray Jesus. Every sin is a betrayal of Jesus putting each of us in the place of Judas the betrayer. We sit at the table with Jesus and receive Him as did Judas. Then we go out and betray Him.

Exactly! …but we have nearly 2000 years of Doctrinal and Historical factors to rely on… and we still get it wrong!

Thanks God for Christ’s Mercy!

Maran atha!

Angel

 

[jcrichton]

Catholic Church Teaching No. 1: those proclaimed in the Bible to be in Heaven, and those canonized as Saints, are the ONLY people we know for certain where they went after death.

Catholic Church Teaching No. 2: “Objectively”, it is proper to state that those who die NOT in a state of grace are consigned to Hell. To die in a state of grace is to die without sin on one’s soul, whether (1) through living a life without ever having committed a sin (the only two people Catholics have been taught did this were Jesus and Mary) or (2) by expressing sincere sorrow for one’s sins before death at confession or who was prevented from confessing due to circumstances, such as trapped in in rubble by an earthquake, yet still sincerely confessed one’s sins before dying.

Catholic Church Teaching No. 3: “Subjectively”, we must NEVER pronounce judgment of damnation on anyone in particular, as none of us but God has a window into another man’s soul at the time of his death, and it is a sin to do so.

In sum, it is safe to “conclude for argument’s sake” that Judas went to Hell for the sin of killing himself. One cannot be truly sorry before one commits a sin. It is impossible to be sorry for having killed yourself because you have a chance to repent until the moment of death, but it is the death itself for which you must be sorry and, unfortunately, YOU are the one who is dying . . .

The sin of betraying Jesus is a bit more “cloudy” as far as whether he was truly sorry. One need only look at the following passage:

Matthew 27:3 “Then Judas, who betrayed him, seeing that he was condemned, repenting himself, brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and ancients . . .”

It is not very clear if the word “repenting himself” means “repent” in the modern-day sense of “having asked God for forgiveness for sinning” vs. “having merely acknowledged to the Chief Priest, Sanhedrin, and Pharisees that he made a mistake”.

…so when did Judas have an opportunity to read up on the CCC?

…we are going on interpretation of interpretations and ignoring the basic facts: Judas had not truly believed; Judas was Chosen by Christ; nowhere in Scriptures does it show Christ making any effort to compel Judas to convert; Judas’ spirituality is less than that spoken by St. Paul (did not give you solid food but milk) and yet we want to hold him up to accoutability for not understanding God’s Salvific Plan and Mercy; we ignore that Judas did not take the money and wasted himself with drugs/alcohol/prostitutes and then pretended to get Jesus off the hook; we deny that in his limited scope Jesus’ warning about the betrayer could have been seen as his only way to repay for the life he took (Christ’s); we ignore that Christ died and Preached to the spirits that were trapped in disbelief one of whom could well have been Judas; we ignore the Magnitude of God’s Mercy!

Maran atha!

Angel

 

[jcrichton]

I could be in agreement with Neofight. Possible Judas was doing his part which God had assigned him. He even was sad that he had done such a thing. Matthew 27
3 When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. 4 “I have sinned,” he said, “for I have betrayed innocent blood.”

Until the above stage I feel that he had all access to heaven as he was already sorry for what he did, but instead of asking for forgiveness what does he do?

5 So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.

So chances are, he is not in Heaven.

God Bless

…so you would have done differently if it were you? …with the limited amount of understanding? …without true Faith? …in full ignorance of God’s Mercy?

Maran atha!

Angel

 

[jcrichton]

P.S. - Many commentaries interpret Judas’s “repenting” as NOT seeking forgiveness for what he did, but merely expressing remorse to the Jewish leaders for having turned Jesus over to them because they allegedly told him one thing (he would get a fair trial) but they did something entirely different (arrested him with the ultimate intention of killing him).

Other commentaries have characterized Judas’s statement “seeing that he was condemned” as having lapsed into despair, which is yet another sin, because, by definition, it means that one has foreclosed the possibility of God helping one or forgiving one because he or she does not believe that even God could forgive them for that they have done.

…except that the narrator is not one of the Jewish Temple’s officials… so if Jesus were to have told you that it would have been better that you were not born you would simply think… hey, not such a big issue, let met party on with the money I got and repent in the morning?

…ever have had someone wake you up in the middle of the night, is it the same as when you normally wake up in the morning?

…Judas was in the greates shell-shock ever: he went from unBelief and Betrayal to what have I done in a period of less than one 24 hours day… and you want the 2 to 3 years of lapsed Catholicism… I mean Ministry to take in just 24 hours?

Maran atha!

Angel

 

[jcrichton]

I think it makes sense, Christ did not say it would have been better if Judas had not been created, He said it would have been better if Judas had not been born. If Judas had died before he was born he would have gone to heaven. But now he may have gone to hell but he also may have gone to purgatory for a long time which would not be as good as going straight to heaven. Again this is just speculation. Of course being created and going to hell is possibly better than not existing at all.

…so if Judas had died before he had been born… it would have fallen upon who to betray Jesus?

Maran atha!

Angel

 

[jcrichton]

These seem like odd words for Jesus to have uttered:
To proclaim it’s better that someone had never been born?

But Jesus also says everyone can be forgiven, doesn’t he? And that it’s God’s will when a baby is born?
If so, the words quoted above don’t match with any of that or make sense…

Are they supposed to be a direct quote from him?

I think it address the seriousness of the Betrayal; I don’t think that Jesus is demeaning Life or that He is condoning suicide… but I do think that a feable mind/spirit under the pressure of such huge realization (Betrayal of Innocent Man) could very well jump to such a conclusion.

Maran atha!

Angel

 

[jcrichton]

I think alot of people can’t deal with the fact that some people DO go to Hell.

Jesus said “narrow is the road to eternal life and FEW there are that find it.”

And just because the Church does not for certain say that Judas is in Hell–it can’t for only Jesus can judge–

An individual does not suspend his brains when he knows that Jesus said “it would have been better for that man if he had never been born”.

That makes no sense if Judas makes it to heaven and Jesus cannot lie!

Be AFRAID of Hell! That isn’t a bad thing–that is a good thing!

I don’t know about anyone else here but I’ve known many people who have died–I can’t bear to think that any of them are suffering in Hell–the image is so Horrific!

But the fact is unless EVERYONE that I’ve known is the FEW that Jesus refers to then Yes! Some are in Hell right now! Can you imagine that?!

Lord have mercy!

The one good thing is that Jesus IS MERCIFUL and there’s no reason why I or anyone reading this has to wind up in Hell–God’s will is that everyone would be saved–if ANYONE goes to Hell it is because of their own choice and God loves their freedom so much that He LETS them go to Hell if that’s what they wish!

Now most people would say–no one would want to do that but the REAL fact is that some DO CHOOSE Hell!

Lucifer did! That didn’t make any sense–anyone going to hell doesn’t make sense–but before you despair and think that God isn’t fair–God gives EVERYONE sufficient enough grace not to go to Hell!

Catholics receive the help of the sacraments and the saints and the prayer of the Blessed Virgin Mary!

Now some might ask–why would God create the universe and people in it knowing that some of them who He gives freedom to and sufficient enough grace not to go to Hell–that some of them would still choose hell? Why would God create a universe like that?

Evidently God who is smarter than all the rest of us calculated that the joys of heaven for the FEW more than make up for the fact that MANY go to Hell by their own choice!

Do you understand that? I don’t because my mind is too small to understand what God knows!

All I can say is Father have mercy on me a sinner!

The fact that God can save a sinner–that is the greatest thing–it blows one’s mind!

…my concern is not with Hell or people going there (St. John 3:16-20)… my concern is actually with how people tend to view God, God’s Mercy and how we tend to judge in the place of Jesus… if we accept that Scriptures tell us that Jesus is God, and we accept that Scriptures tell us that God is Merciful, why can’t we accept Scriptures when we are told that Judas was selected by Christ and that he among the Twelve was destined to perdition/damnation in order for Scriptures to be fulfilled… and if we accept that, why can’t we accept that a Loving Merciful God could have place a special stipultion/clause for Judas’ Salvation (as Christ’s forboding warning–better not to have been born–or His Preaching, in the Spirit, to those who had died before His Death and Resurrection); isn’t selective reading a form of excluding the things we do not want to accept?

Maran atha!

Angel