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Would Jesus Be Judas’s Facebook Friend? — 23 Comments

  1. Lost my job today,so I felt upset with everyone,thought I would just come here to read.Since, funny enough I just unfriend everyone on Facebook and God lead me to read this post.He truly is an awesome God and I know He will show me the light at the end of this tunnel of uncertainty and darkness.

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    • Truly it was a "God thing" Lillieth, for you to read William's post and for him to have written what he did this week. How devastating to lose your job. As an elementary teacher I used to tell my students that I could not promise that they would never have any problems as long as they followed Jesus, but I could promise them that He would be right there by their side to help them through whatever happened in their life. Courage, my friend, the Lord has a plan for your life. "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jer.29:11.

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    • Lillieth,
      May you feel God closer to you with the comfort and strength to carry on the purpose you set your heart to be led by Him through the tunnel of uncertainty. When you reach there, please share..

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  2. This is quite a though provoking piece Mr. Earnhardt! As a matter of fact, I think it would make a nice Facebook post on my page, if that is permitted. God bless you.

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  3. Peter and Judas sinned equally. Peter came to Jesus for forgiveness but Judas took care of it himself by killing himself. There is no sin too big for Jesus to forgive and He truly loves us more than we love Him. We need to ask and when we are forgiven we can give that forgiveness to the world.
    I think that we can all pray for Lillieth and the Lord will take care of her. Our Church has started an early morning Prayer meeting and things are starting to happen. I know He will hear us as we pray for God's blessing for her as well.

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  4. Dear Lillieth, your situation is so heavenly, these are the similar moments that our Jesus faced, BUT the God in the valley he is the God on the mountains and the God of the night is the God of the day.

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  5. I read this post earlier in the week. Then a day or so ago, felt some real hate for a couple of people in my life. This is not normal for me. I keep reading the post and realize these posts are always a help. We have to get rid of the hate and love everyone and this is not always easy, but possible thru God's grace. Thanks William for another gem.

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  6. So here's a tricky question... why didn't Jesus say the same things to the money changers in the temple "do what you have to do friend" and give the same consideration to their inarticulate motives? Instead he drove them and their goods out with a piece of rope. And they were only violating the temple - an inanimate building, Judas unwittingly was about to orchestrate the death of a human being who was believed to be the Son of God... I think this article makes an interesting hypothesis... but it may not be applicable in light of other reactions of Jesus. One has to wonder why Jesus would not use the same strategy to deal with the Pharisees - by speaking to them kindly rather than calling them hypocrites and even vipers... wasn't the real enemy behind the Pharisee's and the money changers actions Satan too? I feel this article makes a good point, that using good to overcome evil can have some efficacy... however, assertiveness, anger and calling a spade a spade (or a shovel as the case may well be) in some situations is also a rational and reasonable response in establishing appropriate interpersonal boundaries and minmizing exploitative and bullying behaviors - a tool that Jesus himself also used. 😀

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    • Leanne, whenever I look at Bible texts I always try to consider the context. Only then do I have any hope of understanding what the writer is trying to say. If we don't and treat each event in isolation then what Jesus did becomes very inconsistent.

      In the case of the money changers we are dealing here with much more than an inanimate object or those people themselves. In doing what He did He was dealing with several issues. To us the main one was the cheating and dishonesty that was involved for the sake of wealth but that alone wasn't enough for Jesus to do what He did for Judas was stealing money as the group treasurer (Jn 12:6) yet Jesus said nothing concerning it.

      What we need to ask is what effect those two actions had on the salvation of other people. For Judas to steal money from the group was a very minor thing, so what if they couldn't buy an extra loaf of bread the next day. That was not a salvation issue to the group but to impose an extreme hardship on the poor and making it very difficult for them to worship in the temple because of a lack of a required offering was an offense that often drove them away from the temple and away from God.

      We also need to ask why Jesus spent time doing something He knew very well would only last a few hours at best. The result lasted only as long as Jesus was in the temple but as soon as He left the sinful traffic came back in and set up shop as usual. I believe the answer is in thinking of it as an enacted parable, an allegory concerning the temple of our body (1 Cor 3:16-17; 1 Cor 6:19; Jn 2:19-21). That lesson would have lasting effects on the disciples and their teaching for many years after the ascension.

      As for Judas, he was a smoking flax (Mat 12:20) and needed to be treated gently so that no blame could be charged on Jesus in His treatment of the man. The problem with Judas was that he thought that he was smarter than Jesus and decided to manipulate Christ's ministry into what he thought it should be. The act of selling out on Jesus was an effort to force Jesus into proclaiming himself king and ruler when in fact His ministry was to be a sacrifice for the sake of the controversy and our salvation. Judas had a love and concern for Jesus and His ministry but thought it was going in the wrong direction and loved his own opinion above that of his lord.

      Each incident was entirely different and required entirely different approaches but the goal was the same - salvation for as many as possible.

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  7. It is amazing. I've been in deep thoughts of what should I contribute to make my parents marriage work. I've been in prayers but sometime I hated them and their deeds, it is so embarassing to hold in hearts their daily troubles. This post is helpful in this situation. Thanks.

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  8. Jesus was Judas friend though he was misled by devil, Jesus was ready to forgive him, instead of repent he made a bad decision.

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