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I was still in grade school the first time I heard someone say "I believe in determinism, but I do NOT live my life as though I did."
Not being a biblical scholar by any stretch of the imagination, I believe that nevertheless I can offer a plausible reason to condemn Judas: because he betrayed Jesus. Full stop.
It doesn’t matter whether the betrayal was necessary for the crucifixion and resurrection; indeed, it could never have been
necessary, for there are many other plausible ways in which Jesus could have been nailed, so to say, by the authorities.
But even if it had been somehow crucial to the events that unfolded, it remains the fact that it was a betrayal, and we generally condemn those who betray others unless … to a good purpose. Such as his rats ratting out the Don, as in Donald Trump. Some of his people now seem to be turning on him to save their own skin.
But I don’t think that applies to Judas. People ”betraying” Trump to save their own skin are acting in their own self-interest, to be sure, but also by their own lights they are perhaps plausibly bringing about a greater good, i.e., putting Trump in prison.
Judas may not have believed that Christ was divine and he may not have believed that his betrayal was crucial to the crucifixion and resurrection. He just betrayed Jesus in exchange for some money. Betraying anyone in this fashion, and for no prospect of a greater good, is to be condemned.
But, we are told that what Judas did was part of God’s greater plan. So why condemn Judas for doing what God intended in the first place?
I asked about Calvinistic predestination because I really don’t know exactly what the Calvinistic doctrine on this is. Why do they believe in predestination, and what, exactly, do they mean by that?
Then Swammerdami brings up compatibilist free will, and mentions one of the threads here on the subject. I think he’s possibly referring to one or two threads that I was heavily involved in, along with DBT, Jarhyn, and Marvin Edwards, who unfortunately seems to have left the house.
I endorse compatibilist free will. On this account, free will is, well,
compatible with determinism.
However, I would say that free will is NOT compatible with
predeterminism, or predestination, depending on how those things are defined. Determinism, and predeterminism, are not the same things.
Returning to Judas, we can ask: Did God know in advance that Judas would betray Jesus, thus setting into motion God’s plan for the crucifixion and resurrection? Or, did God
predetermine that Judas should betray Jesus? That is, was Judas a puppet of God, carrying out a pre-scripted role, like an actor in a play?
If the latter, it would be absurd to vilify Judas, or to condemn him in any way. If God made him do, what he did, then the responsibility for the betrayal lies with God and not Judas.
If, on the other had, God merely knew in advance that Judas would betray Jesus, then Judas is fully morally responsible for the betrayal, and should be condemned for it, regardless that it had the consequence of effectuating God’s plan. Betrayal is betrayal, and if as a result something good but unforeseen happens down the line, that fact does not mitigate the moral guilt of the betrayer.
The key idea here is that God’s omniscient foreknowledge of our free acts does not impeach our free will. If God knows everything that I will do throughout my entire life even before I was born, my will to do those things remains free, and I must bear the guilt and consequences for my acts if they are bad acts, while earning praise if my acts are good. I have full moral responsibility, as does Judas, if God only knew in advance what he would do, rather than force him to do those things by predetermining that he would.
It was never within Judas’s power to do, other than what God knew in advance he would do. It was always within his power to do, other than what he actually did. If Judas had not betrayed Jesus, then God would have known in advance that fact about Judas, instead.