Better to not have been born

Matthew 26:24 says:

"The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born."

This is also repeated in Mark 14:21.

These were the words of Jesus about Judas. I can understand this considering Judas' betrayal and the consquences of this betrayal. But, is this to say that there are some who are better off to not be born? Is this to say that it would have been better for Judas if he had been aborted? or never conceived at all?

Christ was pretty clear when He spoke these words.

Yes, it would have been better for Judas to have not ever been conceived than to have been condemned to eternal punishment.

Better for his mother to have aborted him than for him to have been born? No, not in my opinion. Adding one more murder to the world, offending God with one more murder, does not set the universe right, nor does God desire the murder of a baby not yet born, not even one whose ultimate fate is eternal damnation.

The Catholic Church does not make pronouncements on who is in hell and who isn't. Christ, however, seemed to know where Judas was headed.

After all, Judas was called "the son of Perdition."

I have always thought this one of the most frightening verses in all of Scripture.

Agreed. When I read this verse, I thought it made quite a statement about Christ's feelings toward Judas. How horrible it must have felt for Jesus to love someone so much who betrayed him so greatly and for such a small price.

To me, these are one of the verses which I think don't translate well. If Fr. Mitch were to explain it, he would probably go back to the Greek and tell us what Christ meant.

Mary,

Funny you should say that.


When Amber asked the question, I actually went to the Greek Bible and looked, because I was thinking exactly the same thing.

This is actually the correct translation. It's exactly what our Lord said.

The literal Greek translation would be something like, "Woe to the man who betrays the Son of Man. It would have been better had he never been procreated."

The Vulgate translates:

The Son of Man goes as is written in the Scriptures. But woe to him who betrays the Son of Man. It would be better had he not been born a man.

bonum erat ei si natus non fuisset homo ille
good was it if born not been man him