The Church teaches therefore that man’s choices are used by God in his own perfecting.
I don’t believe anyone can deny the above statement.
The question is not, that man’s choices are used by God in his own perfecting,
God uses man’s choices by his own perfecting.
1 Cor.4:7; … What do you have that you
did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?
John 15:5; … for without me , you
can do nothing .
The question is:
Can we choose and do something without God, without He wills it (
without God infused into us the desire and the will to choose something and to do something) and His cooperation in our choice and act by providing the power of operation for our choices and acts?
.
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH ANSWER THE ABOVE QUESTION AS FOLLOWS
Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma by Ludwig Ott;
For every salutary act
internal supernatural grace of God (gratia elevans) is
absolutely necessary, (
De fide).
There is a
supernatural intervention of God in the faculties of the soul, which
precedes the free act of the will, (
De fide).
.
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."171
Far from diminishing the creature’s dignity, this truth
enhances it.
2022; “The divine
initiative in the work of grace
precedes, prepares, and elicits the free response of man. Grace responds to the deepest yearnings of human freedom, calls freedom to cooperate with it, and
perfects freedom.”
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, … “God’s fellow workers” and co-workers for his kingdom.
.
As we see above, God
CAUSES our willing and choosing and we don’t have to make a conscious decision to cooperate or not with His graces, we do it even unconsciously, we can do it also consciously.
.
CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Free Will
explains;
“God is the author of
all causes and effects, but is not the author of sin, because an action ceases to be sin if God wills it to happen. Still God is the
cause of sin.
God’s omnipotent providence exercises
a complete and perfect control over all events that happen, or will happen, in the universe.”
.
“The Divine will is
cause of all things that happens, as Augustine says (De Trin. iii, 1 seqq.). Therefore all things are
subject to fate.
The same is true for events in our lives. Relative to us they often appear to be by chance.
But relative to God, who directs
everything according to his
divine plan, nothing occurs by chance.
Hence if this divine influence
stopped, every operation would stop.
Every operation, therefore, of anything is traced back to Him as
its cause.” (Summa Contra Gentiles, Book III.)
.
In my opinion:
The Core of Catholic Theology is summed up in the above statements.
.
God bless
