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Vico
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However the different schools of thought are not unified among the members.
Catholic Encylopedia, Predestination (excerpt):
Pohle, J. (1911). Predestination. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12378a.htm
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Latin
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Catholic Encyclopedia, Predestination (excerpt):
“(1) Consequently, the whole future membership of heaven, down to its minutest details, with all the different measures of grace and the various degrees of happiness, has been irrevocably fixed from all eternity. Nor could it be otherwise. For if it were possible that a predestined individual should after all be cast into hell or that one not predestined should in the end reach heaven, then God would have been mistaken in his foreknowledge of future events; He would no longer be omniscient.
(2) The second quality of predestination, the definiteness of the number of the elect, follows naturally from the first. For if the eternal counsel of God regarding the predestined is unchangeable, then the number of the predestined must likewise be unchangeable and definite, subject neither to additions nor to cancellations. Anything indefinite in the number would eo ipso imply a lack of certitude in God’s knowledge and would destroy His omniscience. Furthermore, the very nature of omniscience demands that not only the abstract number of the elect, but also the individuals with their names.
Ante prævisa merita
This theory, championed by all Thomists and a few Molinists (as Bellarmine, Francisco Suárez, Francis de Lugo).
Asserts that God, by an absolute decree and without regard to any future supernatural merits, predestined from all eternity certain men to the glory of heaven, and then, in consequence of this decree, decided to give them all the graces necessary for its accomplishment.
The Book of Life
God’s unerring foreknowledge and foreordaining is designated in the Bible by the beautiful figure of the “Book of Life” ( liber vitæ , to biblion tes zoes ). This book of life is a list which contains the names of all the elect and admits neither additions nor erasures.”
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12378a.htm
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GOD IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE SALVATION OF THE ENTIRE HUMAN RACE
Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma by Ludwig Ott;
For every salutary act internal supernatural grace of God (gratia elevans) is absolutely necessary, (De fide dogma).
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Fallen man cannot redeem himself, (De fide dogma). – It is God’s responsibility to save ALL OF US.
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Without the special help of God the justified cannot persevere to the end in justification, (De fide dogma ).
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It is God’s responsibility TO KEEP US SAVED by His gift of Final Perseverance, which is an INFALLIBLE PROTECTION of the salvation of every receiver, there is no salvation without it. – Infallible teachings of the Trent.
“Trent’s Decree of Justification, canon 16, speaks of “that great and special gift of final perseverance,” and chapter 13 of the decree speaks of “the gift of perseverance of which it is written: ‘He who perseveres to the end shall be saved Matt.10:22, 24:13, which cannot be obtained from anyone except from him who is able to make him who stands to stand Rom.14:4.”
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CCC 2016 The children of our holy mother the Church rightly hope for the grace of final perseverance.
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God bless
“(1) Consequently, the whole future membership of heaven, down to its minutest details, with all the different measures of grace and the various degrees of happiness, has been irrevocably fixed from all eternity. Nor could it be otherwise. For if it were possible that a predestined individual should after all be cast into hell or that one not predestined should in the end reach heaven, then God would have been mistaken in his foreknowledge of future events; He would no longer be omniscient.
(2) The second quality of predestination, the definiteness of the number of the elect, follows naturally from the first. For if the eternal counsel of God regarding the predestined is unchangeable, then the number of the predestined must likewise be unchangeable and definite, subject neither to additions nor to cancellations. Anything indefinite in the number would eo ipso imply a lack of certitude in God’s knowledge and would destroy His omniscience. Furthermore, the very nature of omniscience demands that not only the abstract number of the elect, but also the individuals with their names.
Ante prævisa merita
This theory, championed by all Thomists and a few Molinists (as Bellarmine, Francisco Suárez, Francis de Lugo).
Asserts that God, by an absolute decree and without regard to any future supernatural merits, predestined from all eternity certain men to the glory of heaven, and then, in consequence of this decree, decided to give them all the graces necessary for its accomplishment.
The Book of Life
God’s unerring foreknowledge and foreordaining is designated in the Bible by the beautiful figure of the “Book of Life” ( liber vitæ , to biblion tes zoes ). This book of life is a list which contains the names of all the elect and admits neither additions nor erasures.”
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12378a.htm
.
GOD IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE SALVATION OF THE ENTIRE HUMAN RACE
Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma by Ludwig Ott;
For every salutary act internal supernatural grace of God (gratia elevans) is absolutely necessary, (De fide dogma).
.
Fallen man cannot redeem himself, (De fide dogma). – It is God’s responsibility to save ALL OF US.
.
Without the special help of God the justified cannot persevere to the end in justification, (De fide dogma ).
.
It is God’s responsibility TO KEEP US SAVED by His gift of Final Perseverance, which is an INFALLIBLE PROTECTION of the salvation of every receiver, there is no salvation without it. – Infallible teachings of the Trent.
“Trent’s Decree of Justification, canon 16, speaks of “that great and special gift of final perseverance,” and chapter 13 of the decree speaks of “the gift of perseverance of which it is written: ‘He who perseveres to the end shall be saved Matt.10:22, 24:13, which cannot be obtained from anyone except from him who is able to make him who stands to stand Rom.14:4.”
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CCC 2016 The children of our holy mother the Church rightly hope for the grace of final perseverance.
.
God bless
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Vico
Guest
And Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, Ludwig Ott, page 246 has:
Catechism of the Catholic Church
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Mythicalbio
Guest
Is that efficacious grace if it isn’t irresistible? That is a weird part of Ott I don’t get, but I need to research Augustinianism more, to see what the Catholic doctrines of grace are. I wonder if he is mistaken in saying this is de fide.
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Vico
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As Ludwig Ott states in Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, Ludwig Ott, p. 246
The dogma is from the Council of Trent (Denzinger):
http://www.patristica.net/denzinger/#n800
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Latin
Guest
Yes it is resistible but NO ONE RESIST IT because:
There is a supernatural intervention of God in the faculties of the soul, which precedes the free act of the will, (De fide dogma).
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Aquinas said, “ God changes the will without forcing it. But he can change the will from the fact that he himself operates in the will as he does in nature,” De Veritatis 22:9. 31. ST I-II:112:3. 32. Gaudium et Spes 22; "being …
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CCC 308 The truth that God is at work in all the actions of his creatures is inseparable from faith in God the Creator.
God is the first cause who operates in and through secondary causes:
"For God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
Far from diminishing the creature’s dignity, this truth enhances it.
CCC 307 God thus enables men to be intelligent and free, causes in order to complete the work of creation, … Though often unconscious collaborators with God’s will.
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CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Free Will explains;
“God is the author of all causes and effects. God’s omnipotent providence exercises a complete and perfect control over all events that happen, or will happen, in the universe.”
Of course the condition is: NO ONE RESISTS HIS GRACES!!!
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Without even knowing, we are all God’s builders, every choice we make, every act we perform, tailor made to each of us, and Designed, Decreed, Foreordained by God from all eternity and He causes us to perform in order to complete the work of His creation.
Ez. 36:27 I will put My spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall keep my judgments, and do them.
St. Thomas teaches that all movements of will and choice must be traced to the divine will: and not to any other cause, because Gad alone is the cause of our willing and choosing. CG, 3.91.
CCC 2022; The divine initiative (supernatural intervention of God in the faculties of the soul) in the work of grace precedes, prepares, and elicits the free response of man.
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As we are all God’s builders.
THIS IS THE WAY ABOVE, God aides us that we ALWAYS FREELY WILL what God wills us to will, and we ALWAYS FREELY do what God wills and causes us to do.
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God bless
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Mythicalbio
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A beautiful teaching. There is immense rest and hope knowing the true stories sovereignty of God over all things. Resting salvation on ourselves in anyway to me is worth despairing over, just seeing how humans can barely keep an organized life in trivial matters.
Do you make that we compilations of teaching or get it from somewhere else? If you make it, you should have a blog, if you don’t already
Do you make that we compilations of teaching or get it from somewhere else? If you make it, you should have a blog, if you don’t already
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Latin
Guest
Thank you Mythicalbio for your question.
I don’t have a blog, my posts comes out from Catholic Theology.
God bless
I don’t have a blog, my posts comes out from Catholic Theology.
God bless
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Vico
Guest
The needed grace is given and is called two different things based upon the free will non-cooperation or free will cooperation of the individual, respectively, (merely) sufficient or efficacious. Notice what is required per the dogmas:Vico:
Yes it is resistible but NO ONE RESIST IT because:
…
Catholic Encylopedia
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Neithan
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What do we make of people who lack faith until their death? Thomism makes a lot more sense when we look at the big picture — humanity in total, but Molinism makes a lot more sense if we look at the individual in relationship to God.
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Vico
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Mythicalbio
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The Lord moved their will and saved them I think. But I am still researching, if what @Latin says about aided free will all over this site is true, and it seems to be, then everyone should celebrate and I am taking a personal feast day to celebrate this doctrine.
While I like Thomism’s take on predestination to glory, I find its take on reprobation lacking, and I see little functional difference between Thomism and Calvinism (yes, the Thomists just take it as non-election, but again, I’m not able to see how it’s not functionally equivalent). For this reason, I lean more towards Molinism.
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Neithan
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There must be room for freedom of the will to reject grace or else it’s universalism. It also seems to contradict Christ’s own words, such as when he said it would have been better for Judas not to have been born.
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Mythicalbio
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There is passive reprobation I believe, where God simply doesn’t give the grace although it is possible for them to get it and be saved. There is a weird paradox and mystery there. It is distinct from predestination to hell, as God doesn’t do that. Augustine said that if someone is saved it is due to kercy, if they are damned it is due to their own sin.
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Mythicalbio
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Why do you find non-election to grace lacking? The effect may be the same but it keeps creatures from blaspheming God by saying he damns souls out of His direct willing.
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Yes, reprobation is a thing. What I’m saying is that I don’t like the Thomist explanation for it. For me, the Molinist explanation makes more sense as I find it balances God’s sovereignty and man’s free response to grace. Thomism, while it affirms reprobation is still post praevisa demerita, I still cannot see how it’s not effectively equivalent to Calvinist double-predestination, since Thomism posits election ante praevisa merita.
To be clear, Thomists hold only to a negative reprobation, not the positive one held by the Calvinists. They affirm the universal desire for salvation and sufficient grace given to all. What is not clear is how they can reconcile all this with the notion of non-election vis-a-vis election ante praevisa merita.
Molinism argues both election and reprobation are post praevisa merita and post praevisa demerita. Of course it has some unanswered difficult questions as well (e.g. “Why didn’t God lay out an economy of grace wherein all would be saved?”) but overall, I still consider it preferable to Thomism. As I said, I like the idea of Thomism’s election ante praevisa merita, but because of that, it’s reasoning on reprobation is lacking.
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Neithan
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A plausible response may be that if free will is real, then there is no feasible world where all are saved. Or, there may be no feasible fallen world where all are saved, but God creates the world and permits the fall anyway to save some, since it is better that one soul is glorified than not exist at all. Of course that means that potentially billions of souls are damned.
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That was only a theoretical question I posted as an example of the difficulties of Molinism, to clarify that while I lean towards Molinism, I’m not oblivious to its own shortcomings, i.e. it’s not a perfect school of thought either. I was not expecting or requiring an answer.porthos11:
A plausible response may be that if free will is real, then there is no feasible world where all are saved. Or, there may be no feasible fallen world where all are saved, but God creates the world and permits the fall anyway to save some, since it is better that one soul is glorified than not exist at all.
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