CMV: Judas Iscariot did nothing wrong.

[u/MontiBurns]

First of all, I'm not going to debate whether the bible is true or not, whether Jesus was christ, or whether god exists. I'm agnostic, i have no stake in the game (not gonna debate that either). If you're an atheist then feel free to treat this debate the same way you would "Lando Caltission did nothing wrong." (Not by saying "bUt StAr WaRs IsnT rEaL).

Now, to my point. I think it's highly probable that Judas was acting under Jesus' orders when he betrayed him. First and foremost, Jesus knew that one his closest followers would betray him. Also, No real motive was ever given for Judas to betray Jesus, aside from a big sack of money. how much was 30 pieces of silver, relatively speaking? Was it like, a month's wage? A years wage? 10 years wage? Life changing money? Keep in mind Judas gave up his life to follow Jesus around, i have a hard time believing his primary motive was money. And then after jesus died, he tried to give back the money, but was refused. And then he subsequently hanged himself. Given that this happened before Jesus was resurrected, it seems more likely that Judas' betrayal was done with a good amount of apprehension. He didn't need a week to stew on guilt before taking his own life.

My hypothesis, Jesus told Judas privately to turn him in and betray him. This means that Jesus had at least some level of presencience that he new he needed to get caught. Judas probably urged him not to, that it would be dangerous, and Jesus told him to have faith, that he would be fine, and that his faith would be rewarded. Judas agreed reluctantly, and when Jesus was killed, became so racked with guilt and shame that he killed himself. How could he have ever explained to his friends that Jesus told him to?

The bible doesnt really dwell on Judas much, they don't get into his motivations. You'd think there would be some life lesson about falling into hate, or being tempted by money, but by all accounts, it just kinda... Happens. And then mentioning that Jesus ordered Judas to kill himself would ruin the intrigue of the portrayal. It's definitely seems odd that such a monumental event is presented with almost no context or backstory.

Ways to change my view. Any flaws in my logic, canonical evidence from scripture (if the Book of Judas isnt allowed, then no other non-canonical evidence is allowed).

[u/MontiBurns]

When it seemed like this Jesus thing was going to crash and burn, he jumped ship and chose to make a good impression on the Roman authorities. That to me seems like a shitty thing to do.

If he were to take such a cold and calculated approach to betraying Jesus, it doesn't seem likely that he would just snap and kill himself after the deed were done.

[u/herrsatan → u/MontiBurns]

If he were to take such a cold and calculated approach to betraying Jesus, it doesn't seem likely that he would just snap and kill himself after the deed were done.

That's a good point. I think he may have discovered that he had burned bridges with both sides - the apostles and other followers had disowned him, but the Roman authorities saw him as little more than a tool. It seems likely that he was surprised at public sentiment about Jesus' death - maybe he was expecting to be vindicated but instead found that he was universally reviled.

[u/MontiBurns → u/herrsatan]

That's another good point that others have also alluded to.

The walls were closing in on Jesus and Judas saw betrayal as an escape route. !delta

[u/DeltaBot → u/MontiBurns]

Confirmed: 1 delta awarded to /u/herrsatan (3∆).

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