Judah betrayed Jesus and hang himself as a result of it. And God knew Judah would do it but still proceeded with going on Earth and making him sin.
Also why did God create Lucifer if he knew that he would cause so many people to sin and become what he is. Didn’t God create evil when he knowingly created the future devil, that is Lucifer?
I have posted three simmiliar questions now, so one would think im doubting. Im not doubting, im searching the truth with logic.
Ok, let’s get some facts straight.
- God did not create evil. God created free, good beings as opposed to a mindless slave. Some purely spiritual - the “angels” or messengers - some body and soul (men). The free, good beings were subject to moral testing - aware of right and wrong, he had to choose. The angel Lucifer and many others, out of pride, chose poorly and unwisely and became adversaries of God and of man. Man, too, chose poorly and unwisely, but because they were tempted by Satan, they could be brought to repentance and saved. In a sense, the existence of the devil avoided man’s immediate and perpetual condemnation, because his sin was not entirely his fault.
- The Evil One does tempt people to sin, but ultimately it is people who sin - they chose, just like the devil chose. What this means is clear: either God “created evil when he knowingly created men”, or there’s a flaw in this reasoning. The flaw being that you cannot impose love and righteousness - it needs to be chosen and embraced. In this optic you can better understand the life and message of the God-Man Jesus Christ.
- God causes no one to sin. When Christ healed a sick man, someone sinned by saying this was the work of Satan. When Christ resuscitated Lazarus, someone sinned by proposing to kill him as well as Lazarus. Was God supposed to not do good in order that some blind hard-hearted people may not do what they do best, that is, mess up and sin? The fact is that we are all sinners, and Christ’s life and message invites all sinners to repentance.
About Judas:
Judas did
not hang himself because he betrayed Jesus - because of this, Scripture says, he had remorse, saying: “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood”.
Judas hung himself because
he did not believe in Christ’s forgiveness, and
he did not trust in Christ - he did not have faith.
Was it not foolish to take his life when he had seen with his own eyes the Lord resuscitate the dead?
Was it not foolish to distrust his forgiveness, he who had seen the Lord forgive the worst sinners, and who, after betraying Christ, saw His loving gaze, full of sorrow, calling him
friend?
Why not run at the foot of the Cross and beg forgiveness, as the thief crucified next to him? Why run to the pharisees who had deceived him and plotted against Christ? Why seek their help? And why, when their help was denied, did he not seek the other apostles, or Christ?
In this is the root of his self-inflicted death.
It is good to seek the truth, but logic does not suffice. “Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth—in a word, to know himself—so that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves.” (Fides et Ratio).
Faith is like falling in love. Can you fall in love throuhg logic? Can you ascertain through reason alone that your companion loves you? Is it not plausible that in the deep recess of her heart, she is deceiving you for a purpose known only to her?
It is written: “these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” In order to get closer to God you must be willing to love. You must take a risk, you must trust, and you must be open, open to falling in love. Because we are not hard-coded machines, but a perfect union of a body and a soul, endowed with the intellect as well as with the emotions. They each play a role - you cannot exclude either entirely.
Look at Peter. Upon denying Christ three times, he met the Lord’s eyes, and what did he do? He cried bitterly. Emotions clicked right there and then, namely the love for the Lord, triumphing over the disordered
passion of his
fear before the angry mob. In this circumstance, the
emotion and
reason worked together for Peter’s salvation.
A good book to answer many of these questions is the “Handbook of Catholic Apologetics” by Peter Kreeft.
