Mati Saidzai                 10th June 2011

Should Judas be forgiven?

Judas doesn’t need our forgiveness. The only forgiveness that really counts is God’s. And all of us need that. 

The Gospel of John says that Judas was a thief and that it was this that caused him to betray Jesus for money. The Scripture also says that Satan entered into him. Jesus knew that he would be betrayed, but being the man he was, he was prepared to give Judas a second chance as he does with all of us. 

The concept of a "makeover" for Judas has got to be the modern day equivalent of the discussion of how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. The responsibility and authority for forgiveness those who have been trespassed against, God.

A number of serious Christian and Jewish scholars in Israel believe that Judas was trying to kick-start Jesus's role as Messiah by organising a confrontation between the religious authorities and his lord. When he saw that it had not succeeded, but in fact had led to Jesus's arrest, he threw away the money, and went and hanged himself as an act of his past sin.

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Catholics are obliged to believe in the guilt of Judas, as he betrayed the King of Kings. Jesus says "woe to that man by whom the Son of Man shall be betrayed: it was better for him, if that man had not been born." Although the Gospel records Judas as repentant, he is often seen as the "son of perdition" whom Jesus says he lost.

This, to me, gives the impression that everything we do is already planned and that free will does not exist. That lets Saddam Hussein, Hitler, every other despot and murderer and all others who commit ...

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