Are my thoughts on God's will correct or in error?

[TempleofTheSoul]

According to what I have read and understand in Catholic teaching all is God’s will except when sin is involved. From my understanding if an act is committed that is sinful then it is not God’s will.

In my mind the way I see things is that when one commits sin one goes against God’s will even though God gives us the free will to choose whether or not to accept or do His will. Is my thinking about this correct or am I way off?

Thank and God bless

 

[Neildown]

According to what I have read and understand in Catholic teaching all is God’s will except when sin is involved. From my understanding if an act is committed that is sinful then it is not God’s will.

In my mind the way I see things is that when one commits sin one goes against God’s will even though God gives us the free will to choose whether or not to accept or do His will. Is my thinking about this correct or am I way off?

Thank and God bless

I’ve been of the same mind and have actually been wondering the same thing. We were given the freedom to accept God or reject Him, so wouldn’t that include His will?

 

[steve9191]

According to what I have read and understand in Catholic teaching all is God’s will except when sin is involved. From my understanding if an act is committed that is sinful then it is not God’s will.

In my mind the way I see things is that when one commits sin one goes against God’s will even though God gives us the free will to choose whether or not to accept or do His will. Is my thinking about this correct or am I way off?

According to Aquinas (or is it Augustine), the Holy Spirit is God’s will. The Holy Spirit penetrates the thoughts of God and says, WOW! We can’t keep this to ourselves. It’s way too good. We would be selfish if we did. The Holy Spirit is the fire of God’s heart to eternally and unceasingly express fruitfully His Goodness. The Holy Spirit is also the fire in the heart of God to be united with the fruit of His expression. According to theologian and biblical scholar, Francois Durrwell, the Holy Spirit IS the unity of God (i.e. the Father is in the Son and the Son is in the Father). This is why sin is non-being–why it is darkness–why it is death. God CANNOT eternally express that which is not good. Being in God’s image and likeness, we do the will of God when we follow our heart on fire with the Holy Spirit–when we express Truth and Light fruitfully (creatively) we are doing His will, and when we are on fire to be in union with the source of that Truth we are following God’s will.

 

[InternetWoman]

According to what I have read and understand in Catholic teaching all is God’s will except when sin is involved. From my understanding if an act is committed that is sinful then it is not God’s will.

In my mind the way I see things is that when one commits sin one goes against God’s will even though God gives us the free will to choose whether or not to accept or do His will. Is my thinking about this correct or am I way off?

That is quite true. God gave us free will, which includes the (amazing) ability to say “No” to God. And he still loves us!

You might find the book “Abandonment to Divine Providence” interesting. It is by Jean-Pierre De Caussade and is all about doing God’s will from moment to moment. Challenging to say the least. If you have an e-reader it’s only .99 on Amazon.

 

[Richca]

According to what I have read and understand in Catholic teaching all is God’s will except when sin is involved. From my understanding if an act is committed that is sinful then it is not God’s will.

In my mind the way I see things is that when one commits sin one goes against God’s will even though God gives us the free will to choose whether or not to accept or do His will. Is my thinking about this correct or am I way off?

Thank and God bless

I would agree with your thinking. It is God’s will that we keep his commandments but because he has given us free will we can choose not to keep them. This is what is written in Sirach 15:
11 Do not say: “It was God’s doing that I fell away,”

for what he hates he does not do.

12 Do not say: “He himself has led me astray,”

for he has no need of the wicked.
13 Abominable wickedness the LORD hates

and he does not let it happen to those who fear him.

14 God in the beginning created human beings

and made them subject to their own free choice.
15 If you choose, you can keep the commandments;

loyalty is doing the will of God.

16 Set before you are fire and water;

to whatever you choose, stretch out your hand.

17 Before everyone are life and death,

whichever they choose will be given them.
18 Immense is the wisdom of the LORD;

mighty in power, he sees all things.

19 The eyes of God behold his works,

and he understands every human deed.
20 He never commands anyone to sin,

nor shows leniency toward deceivers.

 

[Richca]

According to what I have read and understand in Catholic teaching all is God’s will except when sin is involved. From my understanding if an act is committed that is sinful then it is not God’s will.

In my mind the way I see things is that when one commits sin one goes against God’s will even though God gives us the free will to choose whether or not to accept or do His will. Is my thinking about this correct or am I way off?

Thank and God bless

Just another thought on your question. Even sins or the evil acts of humans are dependent on God’s will in the sense that he permits them to happen but he does not will that they should happen. Theologians call this God’s permissive will. God’s providence governs the entire universe. Nothing happens by chance or outside of God’s knowledge and will. The good that we do we do by cooperating with God’s grace and power. If we sin, we still need God’s power to act, but he does not will us to sin, he merely permits it respecting our freedom.

 

[fhansen]

According to what I have read and understand in Catholic teaching all is God’s will except when sin is involved. From my understanding if an act is committed that is sinful then it is not God’s will.

In my mind the way I see things is that when one commits sin one goes against God’s will even though God gives us the free will to choose whether or not to accept or do His will. Is my thinking about this correct or am I way off?

Thank and God bless

Right on-sin is opposition to Gods will and is thus ipso facto evil.

 

[Neildown]

YES - thank you (@ everyone)! I’ve been doing some religious discussion/writing, but I’ve been a bit hesitant using the concept, since I wasn’t entirely sure if the Church actually professed it. Now I may continue unhindered in faith-defending.

 

[TempleofTheSoul]

Just another thought on your question. Even sins or the evil acts of humans are dependent on God’s will in the sense that he permits them to happen but he does not will that they should happen. Theologians call this God’s permissive will. God’s providence governs the entire universe. Nothing happens by chance or outside of God’s knowledge and will. The good that we do we do by cooperating with God’s grace and power. If we sin, we still need God’s power to act, but he does not will us to sin, he merely permits it respecting our freedom.

I had never heard of the theological concept of “God’s permissive will” before and thank you for introducing me to it. I will have to look more into it as I found your brief explanation of it to be very enlightening.

I would also like to take the time to thank all of you who have posted you have given me much food for thought that is giving my brain some good exercise. That is why I love posting on these forums, because you have hundreds if not thousands of different brains to pick on for advice or extra insight on just about anything Catholic.

Thanks again to you all and may the Lord bless you all abundantly.

God bless

 

[Nita]

I had never heard of the theological concept of “God’s permissive will” before and thank you for introducing me to it. I will have to look more into it as I found your brief explanation of it to be very enlightening.
…

Re God’s permissive will: It’s very brief, but there is mention of it in the Catechism if you need to reference it. (Bolding mine)
vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_P19.HTM#2NP
311 Angels and men, as intelligent and free creatures, have to journey toward their ultimate destinies by their free choice and preferential love. They can therefore go astray. Indeed, they have sinned. Thus has moral evil, incommensurably more harmful than physical evil, entered the world. God is in no way, directly or indirectly, the cause of moral evil. He permits it, however, because he respects the freedom of his creatures and, mysteriously, knows how to derive good from it:

For almighty God. . ., because he is supremely good, would never allow any evil whatsoever to exist in his works if he were not so all-powerful and good as to cause good to emerge from evil itself.

**324 **The fact that **God permits **physical and even moral evil is a mystery that God illuminates by his Son Jesus Christ who died and rose to vanquish evil. Faith gives us the certainty that God would not permit an evil if he did not cause a good to come from that very evil, by ways that we shall fully know only in eternal life.

​

 

[TempleofTheSoul]

Re God’s permissive will: It’s very brief, but there is mention of it in the Catechism if you need to reference it. (Bolding mine)
vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_P19.HTM#2NP
311 Angels and men, as intelligent and free creatures, have to journey toward their ultimate destinies by their free choice and preferential love. They can therefore go astray. Indeed, they have sinned. Thus has moral evil, incommensurably more harmful than physical evil, entered the world. God is in no way, directly or indirectly, the cause of moral evil. He permits it, however, because he respects the freedom of his creatures and, mysteriously, knows how to derive good from it:

For almighty God. . ., because he is supremely good, would never allow any evil whatsoever to exist in his works if he were not so all-powerful and good as to cause good to emerge from evil itself.

**324 **The fact that **God permits **physical and even moral evil is a mystery that God illuminates by his Son Jesus Christ who died and rose to vanquish evil. Faith gives us the certainty that God would not permit an evil if he did not cause a good to come from that very evil, by ways that we shall fully know only in eternal life.

​

Thank you for posting the Catechism link in reference to “God’s permissive will”. It is indeed a mystery why God allows us such free will but we see the full beauty of it in the life of Christ showing us the way to salvation.

God bless