Does God control all events; good and bad?

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Nothing happens in the universe without God willing and allowing it. This statement must be taken absolutely of everything with the exception of sin. ‘Nothing occurs by chance in the whole course of our lives’ is the unanimous teaching of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, ‘and God intervenes everywhere.’

Perhaps you will say that while this is true of certain necessary effects, like sickness, death, cold and heat, and other accidents due to natural causes which have no liberty of action, the same cannot be said in the case of things that result from the free will of man. For if, you will object, someone slanders, robs, strikes, or persecutes me, how can I attribute his conduct to the will of God who, far from wishing me to be treated in such a manner, expressly forbids it? So the blame , you will conclude, can only be laid on the will of man, on his ignorance or malice. This is the defense behind which we try to shelter from God and excuse our lack of courage and submission.

It is quite useless for us to try and take advantage of this way of reasoning as an excuse for not surrendering to Providence. God Himself refuted it and we must believe on His word that in events of this kind as in all others, nothing occurs except by His order and permission.

Fr. Jean Baptiste Saint-Jure, S.J.
 
Love for God

You can not be kind without the option not to be kind. You cannot obey without the capacity to disobey. You cannot love without the ability not to love.

God gave man freedom from the control of His will with great hope that man would choose to love Him. Obedience to God is love for God. Many people choose not the will of God and thus sin, hatred and damnation exist. Through the blood of Jesus, a joyous reunion with God awaits those who use freedom from the control of God’s will to freely choose to obey God’s will which is love for God.

INT 1JO 5:3

This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome.

NAB JOH 14:21 (Jesus is speaking)

**“He who obeys the commandments he has from me is the man who loves me; and he who loves me will be loved by my Father. I too will love him and reveal myself to him.” **

NAB SIR 15:11 Man’s Free Will.

Say not: “It was God’s doing that I fell away”; for what he hates he does not do. Say not: “It was he who set me astray”; for he has no need of wicked man. Abominable wickedness the LORD hates, he does not let it befall those who fear him. When God, in the beginning, created man, he made him subject to his own free choice. If you choose you can keep the commandments; it is loyalty to do his will. There are set before you fire and water; to whichever you choose, stretch forth your hand. Before man are life and death, whichever he chooses shall be given him.

NAB 1CO 2:9 Of this wisdom it is written:

“Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor has it so much as dawned on man what God has prepared for those who love him.”

**The way people go to heaven is through Jesus Christ, the reason people go to heaven is because they love God and love for God is accomplished through free willed obedience to the will of God. **

NAB REV 22:12 (Jesus is speaking)
“Remember, I am coming soon! I bring with me the reward that will be given to each man as his conduct deserves. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End! Happy are they who wash their robes so as to have free access to the tree of life and enter the city through its gates Outside are the dogs and sorcerers, the fornicators and murderers, the idol-worshipers and all who love falsehood.”

Peace in Christ,
Steven Merten
 
Isn’t it true that since you have been trying to lead a good Christian life there has been something you have been unwilling to surrender to God? Some worldly ambition, some pride in your attainments, some indulgence of the body, some blameworthy habit, some company that is the occasion of sin for you? It was only this final step that prevented you from attaining the perfect freedom of the love of God. It wasn’t really very much, but you could not bring yourself to make this last sacrifice. It wasn’t very much, but there is nothing harder for a Christian than to break the last tie that binds him to the world or to his own self. He knows he ought to do it, and until he does it there is something wrong with his life. But the very thought of the remedy terrifies him, for the malady has taken such a hold on him that it cannot be cured without the help of a serious and painful operation. So it was necessary to take you unawares, to cut deep into the flesh with skillful hand when you were least expecting it and remove the ulcer concealed within, or otherwise you would never be well. The misfortune which has befallen you will soon do what all your exercises of piety would never have been able to do.
 
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martino:
Nothing happens in the universe without God willing and allowing it. This statement must be taken absolutely of everything with the exception of sin.
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Uh-uh! God allows sin. He may not will it but he certainly allows it!
 
He permits sin, and what is most awesome to me, is that, just as Satan is surely celebrating about the great evil he has led man to commit, God brings a greater good out of it.

Does that mean we always see, recognize, or even understand the greater good? Not me, at any rate, but I will some day!
 
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