Was Judas sent to Hell or was he forgiven?

[Crusader13]

Saying one disagrees with a Bishop, that is one thing. Saying that a Bishop is wrong, well, that is to me a less humble approach.

It’s not a matter of humility or a lack thereof to make the claim that a Bishop is wrong on their theological conclusions or assertions. It’s not an attack or a criticism on him as an individual. I’m sure we can find many Bishops thought the Church’s history who have tried to push or advance ideas that are not properly based upon Scripture or the Traditions of the Church.

 

[Crusader13]

We’ve spoken a lot on this topic and it seems that we’ve taken it in several different directions, but I’m still uncertain what your position is. Do you hold to the belief that Judas is in heaven currently or if not heaven yet, perhaps in purgatory now and will be in heaven one day? Or are you simply claiming that Judas could be in heaven or purgatory or hell, but we don’t know for certain?

 

[Francis]

@ServantofChristJesus

https://www.ecatholic2000.com/agreda/vol3/vol3.shtml

1. Seeing him thus beside himself Lucifer inspired him with the thought of hunting up the priests, returning to them the money and confessing his sin. This Judas hastened to do, and he loudly shouted at them those words: “I have sinned, betraying innocent blood!” (Matth. 27,4). But they, not less hardened, answered that he should have seen to that before. The intention of the demon was to hinder the death of Christ if possible, for reasons already given and yet to be given (No. 419). This repulse of the priests, so full of impious cruelty, took away all hope from Judas and he persuaded himself that it was impossible to hinder the death of his Master. So thought also the demon, although later on he made more efforts to forestall it through Pilate. But as Judas could be of no more use to him for his purpose, he augmented his distress and despair, persuading him that in order to avoid severer punishments he must end his life. Judas yielded to this terrible deceit, and rushing forth from the city, hung himself on a dried out fig tree (Matth. 27, 5). Thus he that was the murderer of his Creator, became also his own murderer. This happened on Friday at twelve o’clock, three hours before our Savior died. It was not becoming that his death and the consummation of our Redemption should coincide too closely with the execrable end of the traitorous disciple, who hated him with fiercest malice.
2. The demons at once took possession of the soul of Judas and brought it down to hell. His entrails burst from the body hanging upon the tree (Acts 1, 18). All that saw this stupendous punishment of the perfidious and malicious disciple for his treason, were filled with astonishment and dread. The body remained hanging by the neck for three days, exposed to the view of the public. During that time the Jews attempted to take it down from the tree and to bury it in secret, for it was a sight apt to cause great confusion to the pharisees and priests, who could not refute such a testimony of his wickedness.

 

[angel12]

This is private revelation, not the official teaching of the Church.

 

[Catholicwife32]

No one is sent to Hell. When we lack faith in God’s goodness and mercy or when we’re too prideful to accept God’s mercy, we refuse to enter Heaven. God is not won over by how upset we are by our sins. THAT emotional upset is our pride. First the devil is the tempter and then he is the accuser. Experiencing the sorrow and distress of the accuser is NOT an act of repentance. Repentance is calmer because it is humbler. It recognizes that God never owes us salvation. We can’t merit our salvation.

The cross is nothing without the ressurection. We must remember that. If we view the crucifixion as humanity finally offering a pleasing sacrifice to the Father, our sense of justice and goodness is truly distorted. No, rather, putting Christ on the cross was the most evil sin humanity ever committed. It would not satisfy the Father’s wrath. It would, logically, anger Him further.

But the good news is that God hasn’t abandoned us. No amount of sin actually results in God rejecting us. His love conquers all and He’s been pursuing us from the beginning. We are the ones who, like Adam and Eve, hear God coming and run in fear from Him. We hide in shame, and we see his “punishments” not as opportunities for us to grow, but as empty punishments because we no longer deserve God’s love.

But the good news is that where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more. Our concern should not be to find hoops to jump through to make God love us again. He already loves us. Our concern should be to heal our hearts so that we develop an authentic faith in God’s goodness and love for us. Because the reality is, we sin because we do not trust God. We sin because we fear God (not the sort of awful awesomeness fear, but more of a trembling of “what will God do to me?” sort of fear).

Judas saw the evil of what he’d done and despaired over it. “I don’t deserve to be saved.” Hence he did not seek forgiveness. He fell into despair and killed himself.

 

[Francis]

well your your right,i didn’t say its the official teaching of the Church thought,but its approved by 5 Popes and worth a read,for pious edification,

 

[OneSheep]

I’m not arguing that God can’t save those who believe they are beyond saving. That whole section is about Jesus referring to those who believe the accumulation of wealth will save them.

It is true that the word “this” in Matt19:26 refers to the case of wealth, but when He expands and says “With God, all things are possible” the Church does not limit the statement to wealth alone. So, with God, even Judas being saved is possible. Do you see why the Church does not say that any particular person is in hell? The Gospel image of God has to be taken as a whole. Is there any person for which God has not counted the hairs on his or her head? Who He does not hold in the palm of His hand? For whom He is not “Abba”, or “Daddy”, the understanding, loving Father?

And yes I can probably say that I have resented people in my life. For a myriad of actions and reasons.

Me too! For me, probably every day there is triggered some resentment towards someone! The gut-level resentment happens faster than I can think to stop it. I used to fight it, to drive it down, to say “don’t think that way”, but it did no good for me. Instead, I take the time to pray, to understand the motives, emotions, thoughts etc. of the person I have reacted to. In time, I always am able to understand and forgive.

Same for Judas, I resented him when I read the story. I really can’t imagine a person of good conscience not resenting Judas! Have we not all been turned against at some point in our lives, had someone violate our trust? Being a traitor is wrong, and Judas is a prime example. Do you agree that a person of normal conscience would in high likelihood have a gut-level reaction to Judas?

Indeed, are we ruling out the possibility that someone (even a saint) who says Judas is in hell actually wants him to be there? This is an important question in terms of evangelization.

Yet, no matter what my feelings are towards that individual, I can’t justly proclaim that they are in hell, assuming they are dead, or that they will go to hell at the end of their life, simply for what they did.

Well, that is certainly to be commended, and also shows a good conscience. You are disciplined to refrain from judging. However, if I hold onto those “feelings” of resentment, I am still essentially holding something against the person, right? While it is praiseworthy to discipline oneself not to think of a person going to hell, if I am holding a grudge inside, even if it is something I do not think of, there is a holiness lacking. For those of us who have more troubled lives, though, the lack of holiness in holding these “minor” grudges is sort of “below the radar”. Anyone who watches the nightly news is going to have his resentment triggers pulled many times, usually without even realizing it has happened. Do you agree?

 

[OneSheep]

We’ve spoken a lot on this topic and it seems that we’ve taken it in several different directions, but I’m still uncertain what your position is. Do you hold to the belief that Judas is in heaven currently or if not heaven yet, perhaps in purgatory now and will be in heaven one day? Or are you simply claiming that Judas could be in heaven or purgatory or hell, but we don’t know for certain?

I don’t know for certain. The Father I know in my own prayer life forgives unconditionally, and the humanity I know through my prayer life always chooses life, chooses God, when they are aware, but since I am not omniscient, I cannot say where Judas is.

I know through my prayer life where the Father wants him to be.

 

[OneSheep]

No one is sent to Hell.

Thank you for bringing this forth.
While I agree with you, the Gospel can be read to say that God does send people there. In my own observation, a person is going to agree or disagree with your statement depending on their own image of God, which is a reflection of their relationship with God through prayer.

Judas saw the evil of what he’d done and despaired over it. “I don’t deserve to be saved.” Hence he did not seek forgiveness. He fell into despair and killed himself.

Have you ever felt such despair, “I don’t deserve to be saved”? I have. When one thinks this way, does one know what one is doing?

 

[Catholicwife32]

Have you ever felt such despair, “I don’t deserve to be saved”? I have. When one thinks this way, does one know what one is doing?

Perhaps not. I think far too often, people think that knowing something is sinful is the same thing as knowing that the Church teaches something is sinful. Then they ask themselves a yes or no question they think is the same as asking if they have full consent of the will. “Did I choose to do this or did someone else force or coerce me into it?” This question can involve both feeling too much at fault, and thus constantly judging themselves to be in a state of mortal sin. BUT it can also involve a lot of victim blaming. “I wouldn’t have lost my cool had you not X.” “You were asking for it.” “You enjoyed it. Don’t tell me you didn’t. I was there.”

In actuality, this sort of reasoning is rooted in pride and lacks a sincere love for God or neighbor. It becomes about winning God’s favor, like it’s a game, and blaming others when you’re weak because, in some sense, you feel sinning is beneath you. Sins are either completely your fault or not at all in this mindset because you refuse to acknowledge you need grace. The powers of grace become not about healing and growing in actual virtue. The idea that grace would involve a gradual process of actually seeing visible changes in yourself is unheard of. Rather, grace is reduced to having a purely supernatural effect, and merely having ordinary actions become meritorious through jumping through some religious hoops. Thus, you don’t actually have to change. You get to think yourself superior to others because you go to confession and receive the sacraments. In fact, all your constant acts of false humility reveals what a better person you are to others . . . in your mind.

The thing about spiritual vanity is that it’s a sin we struggle to confess because it involves a process of letting your self perception crumble. When you finally start letting go of it, it feels like you’re falling backward in your spiritual development. Afterall, you thought you were this close to God, and now you feel much further away. It’s only in acknowledging that you were never as close to God as you thought, that indeed, people you looked down upon may have been closer to God than you, that you realize you’re progressing.

I’ve definitely been going through this process for the last several years. It’s hard to be humbled. And it means those who haven’t gone through it will look down on you. They’ll wonder what happened to you if they’ve known you awhile. If they haven’t known you awhile, their own pride and judgmentalism shines through because they will imply things about your past that aren’t true.

Pride is the worst sin because it makes you blind to your sin. It touches every sin and is the worst of the seven deadly sins as it is what prevents a person from repenting.

 

[Carmel]

Here is a story from a Priest who came back from the dead .

Wake-Up Call Changes Priest

Father Steven Scheier almost died in 1985. His second chance led him to become a better priest — and understand God’s mercy, and the love of the Blessed Mother, more fully. He appeared on Mother Angelica's show in EWTN in the 1990s.

www.ncregister.com

www.followthissite.com/neardeathexperiencesndes.php

 

[Socrates92]

On the other hand, it might serve for some sober reflection about the state of our own souls…

 

[LilyM]

I don’t know how Judas being in heaven can be squared with Jesus telling him “better for you had you not been born.”

St. Augustine, if I remember right, said that Judas’ greatest sin wasn’t betraying Jesus. St. Peter betrayed Jesus as well. But Judas didn’t have faith and he dispaired. He lost faith in Christ’s power to save. That’s his most horrible sin. Which is btw the most common interpretation of the “unforgivable sin” section of the Gospel: Rejection of God or his gift of salvation.

Had Judas stayed around a little longer, we would probably have a beautiful story of Jesus administering Confession personally to him. But alas, we do not. Thus I fear for Judas.

I do.

On the one hand it possibly IS better for each one of us if we had not been born rather than sin, such is the horror of even what we consider to be minor sins. This does not mean that there is no forgiveness or redemption available or granted.

On the other hand - the passage could be an example of hyperbole along the lines of Christ’s statement that it is better to cut off our own hands or put out our own eyes rather than sin through them. None of us take that particular statement as a literal piece of truth or act in accordance with it - what reason do we have to think that Christ is speaking any more literally to Judas at this point?

 

[TK421]

In Matthew 26:15 it states: “and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?” So they counted out for him thirty pieces of silver.”_ Here Judas is making a choice to betray The Lord.
But in Luke 22:3 “Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve.” It’s not Judas’ fault as Satan possed him.
And in The John 13:27 "As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him. So Jesus told him, “What you are about to do, do quickly.” Here Jesus knows Satan possed Judas and is speaking to Satan, not Judas.
In Matthew Judas says "I have sinned,” he said, “for I have betrayed innocent blood.” Then “So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.” And in Acts 1:18 “(With the payment he received for his wickedness, Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong, his body burst open and all his intestines spilled out.”
He seems very repentant and overcome with guilt so much he killed himself.
So is Judas in Hell or was he forgiven?

Judas hasn’t committed any sin that I haven’t also committed. If he asked for forgiveness then he was forgiven. If he didn’t then he wasn’t. That’s all there is to it really.

 

[thistle]

The CCC is not an exhaustive source of the Church teaching.

What Church doctrine is not in the CCC??

 

[BartholomewB]

We now have a further thread on the same subject, started just a few hours ago.

Judas Iscariot is most likely in Hell. What do you Think? Sacred Scripture

Unfortunately, Judas Iscariot is most likely in Hell based on what I heard the saints mentioned and exorcism stories. Here is also a reference from sacred scripture as well. And they repaid me evil for good: and hatred for my love. 6 Set thou the sinner over him: and may the devil stand at his right hand. 7 When he is judged, may he go out condemned; and may his prayer be turned to sin. 8 May his days be few: and his bishopric let another take. (Psalm 108:5-8 DRA) Judas Iscariot’s days were fe…