The Jews, Judas, and Prophecy

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FuzzyBunny116

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It doesn’t seem fair to me. If the Jews and Judas were destined to get Christ crucified, is it fair they should suffer the torments of Hell? I think I even remember Jesus saying that it would have been better if Judas was never born, I could be wrong though…
 
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FuzzyBunny116:
It doesn’t seem fair to me. If the Jews and Judas were destined to get Christ crucified, is it fair they should suffer the torments of Hell? I think I even remember Jesus saying that it would have been better if Judas was never born, I could be wrong though…
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Yes, Jesus did say that.

What you’re treading on here is God being all-powerful and all-knowing and yet we all have free will. This is the mystery of the ages that has no perfect answer.

I’ll take a stab at it though. God knows what our choices will be, but we still make those choices. God does not interfere with our free will. That’s what makes us in his image. We do not just follow instinct. We are free to choose evil if we want to. Other animals do not choose evil, they just follow instinct.
 
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FuzzyBunny116:
It doesn’t seem fair to me. If the Jews and Judas were destined to get Christ crucified, is it fair they should suffer the torments of Hell? I think I even remember Jesus saying that it would have been better if Judas was never born, I could be wrong though…
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What do you mean by “destined?” Do you mean they did not have free will? If so, you are incorrect. If you meant that God had foreknowledge of what would happen, then what do you think is unfair?
 
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FuzzyBunny116:
It doesn’t seem fair to me. If the Jews and Judas were destined to get Christ crucified, is it fair they should suffer the torments of Hell? I think I even remember Jesus saying that it would have been better if Judas was never born, I could be wrong though…
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there is no such thing as destiny in the sense you describe it, where persons have no free will but must perform sinful (or good) actions because it is fate, or predestined. All people at all times have free will to choose good or evil, without free will there could be no sin-nor choice for the good. In any case, we have know definite knowledge of who is enduring eternal punishment in hell. All of us die sinners and all are consigned to God’s judgement and mercy.
 
So its sort of they didn’t betray him etc because it was predicted, but was predicted because they would betray him?
 
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FuzzyBunny116:
So its sort of they didn’t betray him etc because it was predicted, but was predicted because they would betray him?
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No. They betrayed Him. Period.

They had free will to choose to cooperate with the grace God gave them. They had what the Church calls “sufficient grace” for eternal life. They rejected the Holy Spirit by their own free will.
 
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FuzzyBunny116:
So its sort of they didn’t betray him etc because it was predicted, but was predicted because they would betray him?
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Yes, exactly. It was predicted because God knew they would betray him.
 
For an analogy that might help us understand how God’s foreknowledge doesn’t hinder free will, let me offer this example. It is admittedly flawed, as all analogies are, but it will hopefully serve the purpose.

My friends know me pretty well, and they know I love chocolate. They know that if they offered me a choice between M&M’s and Skittles, I would choose M&M’s. They could write down ahead of time, “Our friend will choose M&M’s rather than Skittles,” and I would choose the M&M’s. My choice would not be based on their prediction, though; it would still be a free act. Their foreknowledge of what choice I would make in no way compromises my free will.
God knows all of us so perfectly that He knows what choices we will make even more than our best friends do. He also exists outside of time, so to Him, it’s not like He predicts something before it happens, although that is what it might seem like to us.
 
"Should anyone inquire why the Son of God underwent His most bitter Passion, he will find that besides the guilt inherited from our first parents the principal causes were the vice’s and crimes which have been perpetrated from the beginning of the world to the present day and those which will be committed to the end of time… In this guilt are involved all those who fall frequently into sin; for, as our sins consigned Christ the Lord to the death of the cross, most certainly those who wallow in sin and iniquity crucify to themselves again the Son of God, as far as in them lies, and make a mockery of Him. This guilt seems more enormous in us than in the Jews, since according to the testimony of the same Apostle: If they had known it, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory; while we, on the contrary, professing to know Him, yet denying Him by our actions, seem in some sort to lay violent hands on him." (Roman Catechism, Article IV)
 
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