i read mr pang sai's blog and he asked something like this, "But I guess if Peter and Judas changed their mind, then Jesus' prophecy wouldn't come true and then everything we believe in would be false. So then Judas, right from the beginning, had no chance to not be the person to betray Jesus?"

incidentally, i thought about this whole issue since i was primary 6 in spk. i still remember very vividly asking pastor richard about this whole issue about God knowing what we're gonna do then isn't it like we have no choice but to do what God knows what we'll do. which if i go a step further, means we have no choice to do what God intends for us to do?

so anyway, through the years i've thought about this issue, asked people, and here's my understanding of it, and i hope mr pang sai this will be something that can help you in your understanding of this issue. Coincidentally, i wrote a short essay on this topic as part of my application to Columbia and Duke university. hahhah.

Paul talks about this in Romans 9. i type out some key verses.
verse 17 onwards :

For the Scripture says to Pharaoh : "I raised you up for this very purpose, that i might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth." Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. One of you will say to me : " Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?" But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? " Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, ' Why did you make me like this?' " Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?

there are so many ways to misinterpret this verse, but i won't go into a word for word analysis of this passage. The important points to take note is:

1) God's sovereignty
God is sovereign and however He chooses to shape the way we act, the decisions we make, into part of His big plan, it's not for us to question or debate about.

Having said that,
2) We still have free choice, every decision we make, we have the free will to make it. God knowing what decisions we will make doesn't change the fact that we have free will. Judas chose on his own accord to betray Jesus. Even though Jesus told him that he was going to betray him, ultimately, Judas himself made the decision to betray Jesus. Whatever decisions we make, we bear full responsibility for it because it was our decision to do it. We can't say, since God made use of my sin to fulfill his greater plan, this sin that i committed is not my fault.

God in His sovereignty, makes use of the mistakes that we make, and turn them around to fulfill His sovereign plan. This is seen in like how Solomon came through David and Bethsheba, Joseph became Prime Minister of Egypt through his brothers' evil act, etc etc.

Oh i can go on forever but i shall stop as it is for now. I also want to add that the verse Romans9:18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. doesn't mean that Pharaoh actually wanted to let the Israelites go, but because God harden his heart, therefore he didn't let them go, and as a result, sin against God. Similarly for Judas, and Peter. You can't interpret this verse literally like this, because i know that God has given all of us the free will to choose. It is against His nature to make us do something that He detests right. the phrase He hardens whom he wants to harden needs to be interpret in the right way. But i shall think about that another time, cos it's 2:18am now and i need to sleep, and actually i need to meditate more about it too.

Whatever it is, it is not right to say that when we sin, we had no choice but to sin because it was part of God's sovereign plan. If you put yourself in real time, whatever decisions you make like now, or later, whether you choose to sin or not. You jolly well made the choice yourself, to sin against God.

think of ourselves as 2-dimensional, and God as 3-dimensional, we cannot understand His ways. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts and His ways are higher than our ways. It seems hard for us to understand how God can know the decision we're going to make, before we make it. This might cause us to think we are merely following a script that God wrote. But that is not the case. The proof of it is in the very fact i have free will. But God, in His awesome power and being in a different 'dimension' or 'level' from us, knows what we are going to do and sometimes in His grace and mercy, or in His power, He uses the sins we commit, or the mistakes we make to achieve His sovereign plan.

In retrospect, i am probably very incoherent. but i cannot go back to edit what i type and make it succinct and concise, because it's now 2.25am and i need to wake up at 7.30am. okk but the book of Romans will shed a lot of light on this issue.

Romans 3:5 onwards --- But if our unrighteousness brings out God's righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? That God is unjust in bringing his wrath on us? ( I am using a human argument.) Certainly not! If that were so, how could God judge the world?

so on and so on. it arrives aptly at All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. Apostle Paul, Pharoah, one used specially by God, the other who disobeyed God, ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We all need Jesus Christ so that we are justified before God. Same for Judas (i think) and Peter and everybody.

haha okk. sorry if i've made you even more confused. but i really need to go and sleep already.

Ohh, and i know i don't really pray a lot for other people's needs, but i would greatly appreciate prayers for me now, in this 1 week where i study for my final year 2 exam. Pray that i would have a clear and sound mind, to remember the things i need to, and pray that i will recognise that its God that blesses me with the talent to study, the gift of knowledge, and that whatever good i achieve is a blessing from Him, and pray that i don't lean on my own strength, but that i do everything through Christ who strengthens me. thank you thank you....