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ajac
Guest
If God is able to eliminate all evil from heaven and retain our free will, then why doesn’t he do the same for our universe?
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KevinK
Guest
The definition of free will requires the ability to choose otherwise.
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hymin
Guest
Explain the definition of free will.
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KevinK
Guest
Here are some common definitions: The power of acting without the constraint of necessity or fate; the ability to act at one’s own discretion. The doctrine that the conduct of human beings expresses personal choice and is not simply determined by physical or divine forces.
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hymin
Guest
In heaven, we will find pure actually and potential would cease. Could it be possible that freedom can grow in goodness in heaven as it does when we journey here on earth?
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simonjosiah1
Guest
because this life is a test, to see if we choose him and his ways (my opinion anyway)
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hymin
Guest
One way in which a Catholic sees a soul grow in goodness in regard to his or her own freedom is from the building of proficiency. In heaven the intellect will gain more wisdom, knowledge and understanding, based on its desserts from choices with the Christian Cross. The will becomes more and more free, for truth brings freedom. Without it, no freedom can occur. Same with the good.
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KevinK
Guest
Sorry, I don’t understand what you are saying.
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hymin
Guest
What is it that you want clarified?
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hymin
Guest
What principles do you identify?
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KevinK
Guest
What does “we will find pure actually and potential would cease” mean?
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hymin
Guest
St. Thomas Aquinas said that the trinity is pure act. And so, he is not only truthful, but the truth. Not only loving, but love. With the intellectual eye those in heaven will finally see him as he is. In pure act.
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HumbleSeminarian
Guest
To more completely answer your question. We must first define what evil is…
Many people believe “evil” to be a substantial thing, meaning that it is something… But, evil is a privation of good. Rather than it being something, it is more akin to nothing. As darkness is the absence of light, so evil is the absence of goodness…
God is able to eliminate evil from our hearts, but in order to do so he would be infringing on our the free will he gave us. This is a time in which we must choose whether or not we want to accept God into our lives. Those who chose God manifest evil due to a lack of goodness.
So why would God permit evil to exist? This is one of the greatest questions ever pondered by theologians and philosophers alike. In no way can we admit to fully know why evil is permitted, but it is generally agreed upon that God is in full control of the universe. He has an active and permissive will. He permits both physical and moral evils to occur as a means of bringing about a greater good.
Heaven is full communion and participation in the Divine Nature. Evil cannot exist in heaven because it would be a contradiction. How can we lack God (Evil) in the midst of completely having God? In heaven, we will not have free will anymore, because once we experience God to the fullest, it would be impossible to chose otherwise.
Many people believe “evil” to be a substantial thing, meaning that it is something… But, evil is a privation of good. Rather than it being something, it is more akin to nothing. As darkness is the absence of light, so evil is the absence of goodness…
God is able to eliminate evil from our hearts, but in order to do so he would be infringing on our the free will he gave us. This is a time in which we must choose whether or not we want to accept God into our lives. Those who chose God manifest evil due to a lack of goodness.
So why would God permit evil to exist? This is one of the greatest questions ever pondered by theologians and philosophers alike. In no way can we admit to fully know why evil is permitted, but it is generally agreed upon that God is in full control of the universe. He has an active and permissive will. He permits both physical and moral evils to occur as a means of bringing about a greater good.
Heaven is full communion and participation in the Divine Nature. Evil cannot exist in heaven because it would be a contradiction. How can we lack God (Evil) in the midst of completely having God? In heaven, we will not have free will anymore, because once we experience God to the fullest, it would be impossible to chose otherwise.
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fhansen
Guest
I tend to believe that the reason God created His world in statu viae, in a “state of journeying to perfection”, is so that we humans, as a high point of His creation, could participate in obtaining our own justice, in achieving our own perfection, because to the degree that we will it, we are that much more just. And willing it means to engage in a struggle, in a world where good and evil are both experienced- or literally known-before we have the direct experience or immediate vision of the ultimate Good, God Himself.
Adam wanted to experiment with attractions other than God, to see if those things, pursued apart from God and according to Adam’s own will, might fulfill or cause the greatest amount of happiness possible within himself. We’re still here experimenting, carrying on the family tradition, without even the benefit of meeting God in the way Adam knew Him to begin with, grasping and seeking and fighting for the knowledge of God if we’re willing, aided by His revelation and grace. We’re here to find out if we want God to begin with, or if, instead, we prefer ourselves to God, like Adam did according to Church teaching.
This is a process, of coming to believe, and then coming to know and trust God increasingly more, and so coming to love Him, eventually with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength. This is what our justice consists of; this is what our perfection consists of. And part of that process is to know, and become jaded by, evil/sin, so that we might develop a hunger and thirst for righteousness, so that we might hope for and pursue and find and run to the Good, Himself, even as we require His help in finding Him, even as, in another sense, we just allow ourselves to be found by Him.
1732 As long as freedom has not bound itself definitively to its ultimate good which is God, there is the possibility of choosing between good and evil, and thus of growing in perfection or of failing and sinning. This freedom characterizes properly human acts. It is the basis of praise or blame, merit or reproach.
409 This dramatic situation of "the whole world [which] is in the power of the evil one"makes man’s life a battle:
The whole of man’s history has been the story of dour combat with the powers of evil, stretching, so our Lord tells us, from the very dawn of history until the last day. Finding himself in the midst of the battlefield man has to struggle to do what is right, and it is at great cost to himself, and aided by God’s grace, that he succeeds in achieving his own inner integrity.
Adam wanted to experiment with attractions other than God, to see if those things, pursued apart from God and according to Adam’s own will, might fulfill or cause the greatest amount of happiness possible within himself. We’re still here experimenting, carrying on the family tradition, without even the benefit of meeting God in the way Adam knew Him to begin with, grasping and seeking and fighting for the knowledge of God if we’re willing, aided by His revelation and grace. We’re here to find out if we want God to begin with, or if, instead, we prefer ourselves to God, like Adam did according to Church teaching.
This is a process, of coming to believe, and then coming to know and trust God increasingly more, and so coming to love Him, eventually with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength. This is what our justice consists of; this is what our perfection consists of. And part of that process is to know, and become jaded by, evil/sin, so that we might develop a hunger and thirst for righteousness, so that we might hope for and pursue and find and run to the Good, Himself, even as we require His help in finding Him, even as, in another sense, we just allow ourselves to be found by Him.
1732 As long as freedom has not bound itself definitively to its ultimate good which is God, there is the possibility of choosing between good and evil, and thus of growing in perfection or of failing and sinning. This freedom characterizes properly human acts. It is the basis of praise or blame, merit or reproach.
409 This dramatic situation of "the whole world [which] is in the power of the evil one"makes man’s life a battle:
The whole of man’s history has been the story of dour combat with the powers of evil, stretching, so our Lord tells us, from the very dawn of history until the last day. Finding himself in the midst of the battlefield man has to struggle to do what is right, and it is at great cost to himself, and aided by God’s grace, that he succeeds in achieving his own inner integrity.
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Kei
Guest
Hmm…no, you don’t retain your free will in Heaven, if by Heaven you mean the Beautific Vision and by free will you mean the ability to choose between good and evil.
Rather. Those in heaven are most free in being able to choose from a variety of Good.
We have what is called free will here, but this is because of being separated from God, if by free will you mean choosing evil. But we are not free here. Sin is like a shackle. It is like slavery! Indeed, in Heaven we would be truly free
Rather. Those in heaven are most free in being able to choose from a variety of Good.
We have what is called free will here, but this is because of being separated from God, if by free will you mean choosing evil. But we are not free here. Sin is like a shackle. It is like slavery! Indeed, in Heaven we would be truly free
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fhansen
Guest
Or, in heaven we’re still free, but have no reason whatsoever to desire anything other than what we behold there.
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Kei
Guest
Oh, in Heaven we are truly free. But we will not choose evil.
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fhansen
Guest
Yes, freedom certainly doesn’t necessitate that we choose evil. It didn’t for Adam, in Eden, either.
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HeDa
Guest
Human beings were given free will so that we can choose to love. If we didn’t have free will we would just be like the puppets is the video, not acting on our own but by someone else causing us to move. Or like a robot programmed to do what it is programmed to do.
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Latin
Guest
God bless you Ajac and God bless every readers of the CAF.If God is able to eliminate all evil from heaven and retain our free will, then why doesn’t he do the same for our universe?
Good question.
The answer is:
Because God converts the evil and sins into a greater good.
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God bless you Ajac and God bless every readers of the CAF.
Latin
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