Free will? I dont think so

[Lunam_Meam]

Lunam_Meam:

aitapyh:

Consider this, God is complete in himself. He LACKS for nothing. This would have to include the desire for creating. Since any motivation for action is not lacking in God, creation would have to be a foreordained conclusion if it were to ever be an existent thing. Unless the desire for creating were included in what God does not lack we could not say God lacks for nothing.

If you extend the idea that God lacks for nothing on its own, to include motivation to create, then He must also not lack disinclination to create, which makes His intentions contradictory.

Very good. You have shown contradiction in God which is not possible.

Correct. So, since you’ve acknowledged the contradiction that belief of yours creates, does this mean you will no longer say God lacks nothing? If not, why? And, if not, my other question is: if God is everything, and His lacking nothing extends to every action of His being unnecessary, then there’s no reason for Him to “glorify” Himself in the way you’ve described below:

God created man in creation for his own Glory and pleasure.

That is, you’ve said God is everything, and doesn’t lack the desire to be glorified, but if He lacks nothing, why doesn’t He also not lack the desire to not be glorified?

Or, will you no longer say God lacks nothing? If so, but you still believe God is complete in Himself, is there any other meaning to that you would apply?

(2 of 5)

 

[Lunam_Meam]

Lunam_Meam:

To say God created to please Himself would mean He is not sufficient in Himself.

It is precisely because God is sufficient unto himself that God can ONLY be pleased by himself.

God is sufficient in Himself, which means He wouldn’t need to please Himself through creating and controlling human beings. All He would have to do is contemplate Himself.

Lunam_Meam:

aitapyh:

…scripture says that God created the evil as well as the light…

I assume you’re referring to Isaiah 45:7: “I form the light, and create darkness, I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord that do all these things.” Notice He contrasts “peace” and “evil”, not “good” and “evil”, so as He is using them here it pertains to “serenity” and “suffering.”

Do you not know that the only peace to be had in this world is in the light? That the light that is being spoken of is the only good? That the darkness is evil and what is evil dwells in darkness?

The verse here are is making direct correlations between the terms. “Serenity” comes through the light of God, which God provides and it is good. “Suffering” comes at Gods own hand which God too provides and it is evil. Now sin of course is a different matter. I see sin as giving definition to particular action. Of course sin is inevitably tied up in the concept of free will and thus might ultimately be solely dependent on it but it’s hard to rectify these things for various reasons we are discussing here and elsewhere.

First, I agree a direct correlation is made between the terms in those verses. Now, peace is an example of good, but it is not a word used to describe good generally, even in relation to God. Therefore, its usage is for a specific purpose, as would be the case for the word in contrast: “evil”, otherwise it wouldn’t be a direct correlation between the two.

Before I continue on this point, please explain what you understand to be good and evil, then I’ll address your response, and explain what I understand to be good and evil, in relation to God and Satan. Thank you.

(3 of 5)

 

[Lunam_Meam]

Lunam_Meam:

You said God created everything. So, for example, this includes false gods, and since you also say He controls everything, those who teach about false gods, and obey false gods, is really God teaching and obeying them, even though He also teaches about the One True God, who He declares to be Himself. So, how is God glorifying Himself by being disobedient and contradictory?

How do you create a false God? You mean the conception of other Gods that are not existent? God willed into existence this conception. I do not know why God created these things. Perhaps to somehow fulfill all righteousness. God creating these conceptions and the creatures that fulfill his will is not indicative of God itself being subject to such things.

What do you mean by the One True God created false gods to “fulfill all righteousness”?

If God created heat without cold what is it that would give definition to the heat? So why would you think God would create only one specific perspective of what God or Gods there are? You keep straying from the realization that there is two perspectives here; Gods and Humanities, and those two things are very different.

I haven’t and wouldn’t think God created only one specific perspective of what God or gods there are, because I’ve never argued for the idea He’s controlling everything. And, I have not strayed from the realization there are two perspectives: God and humanity’s. I’ve acknowledged there is, though the perceptions of humans stem
from their God given free will, which is not a false perception given by God.

Interestingly, you make a distinction between the perceptions of God as Spirit, and the perceptions of God as every human, as if they’re separate, yet you assert God controls humans, in every aspect, so technically there’s really only the perspectives of God, not God and humanity.

(4 of 5)

 

[Lunam_Meam]

Lunam_Meam:

aitapyh:

Why? That is the question. Why if Jesus IS God does Jesus talk to God? Why if God is lacking in nothing, that is, complete in himself, did he feel the need to create? Why does God perform a miraculous cure for one person while another suffers horribly? Why did God give us the shape we have? Why 5 senses instead of 10? Why, why, why? Why create a Satan knowing what he was creating? Why allow us to suffer if he could place us eternally in heaven to begin with, continuously worshiping him in all his glory? Why create someone knowing that they will fail? Who knows the why’s of God? God does according to his own purposes.

If you’re God then you have the answers, unless you made yourself as Aitapyh not know the answers, and if that’s the case, why? Or, did you make yourself not know the answer to that either? I don’t have the answer to these two questions, but I do have answers to those questions you (God) asked me (God).

Um…okay, so God has all the answers. And? I did not make myself God did. God is not his creation so God is not Aitapyh in ignorance. God is God and Aitapyh is his created creature. Why didn’t God create Aitapyh with all the answers because he has them to give? I do not know. Perhaps that would create some contradiction in God? I feel you’ve misunderstood my previous posts. I did not make me. God did. Therefore any answers I have or don’t have, any capabilities I have or don’t have, any potentials I have or don’t have, God has given me.

Technically, if you’re being controlled by God, that makes you (God), God, so you did create yourself ultimately, though in a different form. Anyway, what I meant is you asked me those series of questions above, which you don’t know the answers to, but it you’re God, which according to your beliefs you are, then you should know the answers, unless you (God) did not give yourself as Aitapyh the answers on purpose, for whatever reason. However, I (God) did give myself as Lunam_Mean the answers, for whatever reason.

(5 of 5)

 

[Lunam_Meam]

Here’s a list of some of the torture allowed in an inquisition

Various heated metal pokers, prods, and pincers

thumbscrews, boots, hand coverings all designed to mutilate the hands

and or feet and other bodily orifices

And let’s not forget the psychological damage done not by actually using these methods but by simply threatening their use.

The inquisition of Galileo - Presided over by the Pope himself - and the lack of torture used on him has always been presented to show the mercy and restraint the Church had in its dealings with such things. However if you read the minutes of the inquisition you will note that torture was a real threat unless Galileo acquiesced to the Churches requests. That torture list included the burning of the feet for instance. The Church feared however that Galileo would not have survived torture due to his age so none was used among other reasons. So we see that death was a real possibility in the Churches use of torture. The Church knew this and the Church was complicit in this.

Because of these things I cannot believe, given what Jesus has taught us about how we should treat each other, that any Church he established as his own would ever instigate the use of torture on anyone, at any time, for any reason. How can you possibly believe this? It’s a total insult to Gods love for humanity, his purposes for his grace of free will, and the reason Jesus died on the cross.

God did not institute the use of torture. And, it’s interesting you cannot believe He would when you’ve said God is controlling humans, which means He’s technically the one who instituted, threatened with, and committed them. So, the torture you’ve described was His will, according to your beliefs.

Additionally, why do you say it’s an insult to God’s love for humanity, His purposes for His grace of free will (considering you currently don’t believe we have free will, only a false perception of it give by God), and the reason Jesus died on the cross?

In reality, humans do have a free will, not a false perception of it given by God, and this all happened centuries ago by different people. NO Church is going to always be perfect if there’s imperfect humans within. Puritans burned many innocents and tortured anyone they didn’t like as “witches”. Orthodox murdered Jews in massive Pogroms. Protestants of all forms committed major atrocities in the religious wars across Europe.

 

[Latin]

I agree with you Luman_Meam, we all have free will.

There are two types of free wills libertarian free will and aided free will and there is BIG DIFFERENCES between the two.

When you say Luman_Meam humans do have a free will, do you mean Libertarian free will or Aided free will?

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LIBERTARIAN FREE WILL as follows:
Libertarian free will is basically the concept that, metaphysically and morally, man is an autonomous being, one who operates independently, not controlled by others or by outside forces.
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The Catholic Church vehemently rejects LIBERTARIAN FREE WILL as follows:

The Council of Sens (1140) condemned the idea that free will is sufficient in itself for any good. Donez., 373.

Council of Orange (529)
In canon 20, entitled that Without God Man Can Do No Good. . . Denz., 193; quoting St. Prosper.

In canon 22, says, No one has anything of his own except lying and sin. Denz., 194; quoting St. Prosper.
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CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA Divine Providence explains;
Life everlasting promised to us, (Romans 5:21); but unaided we can do nothing to gain it (Rom.7:18-24).

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The Catholic Church dogmatically teaches AIDED FREE WILL 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 dogma).

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. 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.
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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.

John 15:5; “… for without Me you can do nothing.”
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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.
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THIS IS ABOVE THE WAY, 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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If God himself would not operate in our wills, we could not do even one single good act in all our life.
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CCC 301 God does not abandon HIS CREATURES to themselves.
He not only gives them being and existence, but also, and at every moment, upholds and sustains them in being, utter dependence enables them to act and brings them to their final end .
Recognizing this with respect to the Creator is a source of wisdom and freedom, of joy and confidence.
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God bless

 

[Latin]

So, the torture you’ve described was His will, according to your beliefs.

GOD DESIGNED, DECREED, PREORDAINED FROM ALL ETERNITY AND CAUSES EVERY OUR ACTIONS AND CHOICES WITHOUT FORCING IT. – God is tailor-made every our actions for all of us from all eternity.

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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Catholic Encyclopedia : Evil
“But we cannot say without denying the Divine omnipotence, that another equally perfect universe could not be created in which evil would have no place.”
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CCC 310 But why did God not create a world so perfect that no evil could exist in it?
With infinite wisdom and goodness God freely willed to create a world in a state of journeying towards its ultimate perfection, 314 through the dramas of evil and sin. – God created the dramas of evil and sin for our benefit.

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THE REASON GOD CREATED THE DRAMAS OF EVIL AND SIN.

Life without suffering would produce spoiled brats, not joyful saints.

Our struggle and tribulation while journeying towards our ultimate perfection through the dramas of evil and sin is the cost which in-prints the virtue/ nobility into our souls – the cost of our road to nobility and perfection.

In this world man has to learn by experience and contrast, and to develop by the overcoming of obstacles (Lactantius, “De ira Dei”, xiii, St. Augustine “De ordine”, I, vii, 986).

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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.”

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CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA Divine Providence explains;

“His wisdom He so orders all events within the universe that the end for which it was created may be realized.

He directs all, even evil and sin itself, to the final end for which the universe was created.

All events preordained by God in accordance with His all-embracing purpose.

Evil, therefore, ministers to God’s design” (St. Gregory the Great, op. cit.,

God is the sole ruler of the world. His will governs all things. He loves all men, desires the salvation of all, and His providence extends to all nation.

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12510a.htm
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AS WE SEE ABOVE

In His training program God designed every obstacles down to its minutest details, and He also designed His aids for us down to its minutest details, the way He aides us that we all will able to overcome every our obstacles.
At the end of our training program on this earth, we all will be joyful saints in heaven.
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CCC 324 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.
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God bless

 

[Lunam_Meam]

I agree with you Luman_Meam, we all have free will.

There are two types of free wills libertarian free will and aided free will and there is BIG DIFFERENCES between the two.

When you say Luman_Meam humans do have a free will, do you mean Libertarian free will or Aided free will?

Humans possess a free will, which can be influenced by good and evil, and God commands us to obey His commandments, thus submitting to His will out of our own. His Grace helps one to achieve this, but He won’t do violence to our free will. Maybe “Aided free will” may have its uses as a theological term, but in the end, the free will we have is the only form that exists, so calling it “aided” seems superfluous.

 

[Latin]

CATHOLIC TEACHINGS ON AIDED FREE WILL

The Father William Most Collection
St. Augustine on Grace and Predestination

I.(1) On human interaction with grace: Every good work, even good will, is the work of God.
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De gratia Christi 25, 26: “For not only has God given us our ability and helps it, but He even works [brings about] willing and acting in us; not that we do not will or that we do not act, but that without His help we neither will anything good nor do it”
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De gratia et libero arbitrio 16, 32: “It is certain that we will when we will; but He brings it about that we will good … . It is certain that we act when we act, but He brings it about that we act , providing most effective powers to the will.”
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Ibid. 6. 15: “If then your merits are God’s gifts, God does not crown your merits as your merits, but as His gifts.”
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Ep. 154, 5. 16: “What then is the merit of man before grace by which merit he should receive grace? Since only grace makes every good merit of ours, and when God crowns our merits, He crowns nothing else but His own gifts.”
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St. Augustine is called, rightly, the Doctor of Grace, for his great work. Augustine showed very well our total dependence on God.

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Aquinas: The chain of causality:

“It is to be observed that where there are several agents in order, the second always acts in virtue of the first: for the agent moves the second to act.

And thus all agents act in virtue of God Himself: and therefore He is the cause of action in every agent. ST, Pt I, Q 105, Art 5.

Because God is the cause of action in every agent, even man’s free will determination to do good comes from God.”

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For Augustine says (De Civ. Dei v, 1) that the "Divine will or power is called fate.
But the Divine will or power is not in creatures, but in God. Therefore fate is not in creatures but in God.

The Divine will is cause of all things that happen, 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.)
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Even our cooperation with the graces of God is caused by God’s graces. – CCC 307, CCC 308, etc.
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The three Divine or Theological Virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity are infused with Sanctifying grace, (De fide dogma).
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John 15:5; “… for without Me you can do nothing.”
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We are always all freely cooperating because:
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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God bless

 

[Lunam_Meam]

CATHOLIC TEACHINGS ON AIDED FREE WILL

The Father William Most Collection
St. Augustine on Grace and Predestination

All men without exception are predestined to grace, since Jesus died for all.

Those who remain faithful— at least to the natural law of the Good—are predestined to glory. Thus at the end of the ages, each one who has lived as a just man, will have his reward.

God knows from eternity those who are destined for glory before they are born into life—that is, “predestined”. Pay attention, then, for here is the point for understanding with justice the justice of God.

There are those who are predestined, certainly. And God knows them before time [even] exists for them. But they are not predestined because God, with evident injustice, gives them every means to become glorious, and by every means prevents any traps for them of the demon, of the world, and of the flesh. No. God gives them what He gives to all. But they use the gifts of God with justice, and hence they win the future and eternal glory by their [own] free will.

God knows that they will reach this eternal glory. But they do not know it, nor does God tell them in any way. Extraordinary gifts are not —of themselves—a sure sign of glory: they are a more severe means than others to test the spirit of a man in his will, virtue, and fidelity to God and to His Law. God knows. He rejoices in anticipation to know that this creature will reach glory; just as He suffers in anticipation to know that this other creature will, voluntarily, reach damnation.

But in no way does He intervene to force the free choice of any creature so that it may arrive where God wants all to arrive: in Heaven.

Certainly the creature’s correspondence with Divine help increases its capacity to will. Because God all the more pours Himself out, as a man loves Him in truth: that is, with a charity of actions, and not [just] of words.

And again: certainly, the more a man lives as a just man, the more God also communicates with and manifests Himself to him: an anticipation of that knowledge of God which is the bliss of the saints in Heaven; and from this knowledge comes an increase of the capacity to want [will] to be perfect. But again and always, man is free with his will, and, if after having already reached perfection, one disavows the good he has practiced up till then, and sells himself to the Evil One: God would leave him free to do it. There would be no merit if there were coercion.

To conclude: God knows—from eternity—those who are the future eternal inhabitants of Heaven. But man, with his free will, must want [will] to reach Heaven by using well the supernatural helps which the Eternal Father gives to each of His creatures. And this [must he do] even to his last breath—whatever the extraordinary gifts he has received, and [whatever] the degrees of perfection he has reached.

Remember: no one has ever truly arrived, until his “walk” is finished. That is, no one is sure of having merited glory, until his time has ended, and immortality has begun.

 

[Lunam_Meam]

Latin:

…we all have free will.

GOD DESIGNED, DECREED, PREORDAINED FROM ALL ETERNITY AND CAUSES EVERY OUR ACTIONS AND CHOICES WITHOUT FORCING IT. – God is tailor-made every our actions for all of us from all eternity.

These two statements of yours contradict, and thus you’re portraying God as contradictory.

 

[Latin]

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.

As we see above Luman_Meam, God decides by virtue of His gift of Final Perseverance that who will spend eternity in heaven and who will spend eternity in hell, this is an INFALLIBLE TEACHINGS OF THE TRENT.

This is above among the highest level teachings of the Church and one of the clearest teaching among many other teachings that God is responsible for the salvation of the entire human race.

THIS IS THE WAY AS FOLLOWS; GOD RECONCILE TO HIMSELF EVERY FALLEN MAN

CCC 298 Since God could create everything out of nothing, he can also, through the Holy Spirit, give spiritual life to sinners by creating a pure heart in them. 148

Ez. 36:26-27 I will give you a new heart and put a now spirit within you; I will take a heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
I will put My spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall keep my judgments, and do them.

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CCCS 1990-1991; “In this gift, faith, hope, charity, and OBEDIENCE TO GOD’S WILL are given to us.”
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CCCS 1996-1998; Justification comes from grace (God’s free and undeserved help) and is given to us to respond to his call.

This call to eternal life is supernatural, coming TOTALLY from God’s decision and surpassing ALL power of human intellect and will.”
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John 15:16; You did not chose Me, but I chose you.

Acts 13:48; … as many as had been appointed for eternal life believed. – Not even one former unjust, idolaters, drunkards, etc. said no to God’s salvation.

God bless

 

[Latin]

But in no way does He intervene to force the free choice of any creature …

THE TEACHINGS OF THE CATHOLIC CHURC ON THE SUBJECT

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 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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PLEASE Luman_Meam CONSIDER:

When an architect designed a building, he designed every event down to its minutest details which need to take place to complete his building.

He gives the builders the building design, which contains every event down to its minutest details.

He causes every event/ act, which events/ acts tailor made to each of his builders to complete the building.

His building design creates/causes the builders their *DETERMINED WILL and their DETERMINED CHOICES which determined choices need to perform to complete his building.

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GOD DESIGNED THE UNIVERSE AND WE ARE HIS BUILDERS

God designed the universe includes this world, He Designed, Decreed, Foreordained and He causes every event/ act according to His design down to its minutest details which need to take place to complete His creation.

Without even knowing, we are 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 creation.

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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.” – This can be happen only if God Designed, Decreed, Foreordained and He causes every our actions.
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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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We need Divine aide from God, God provides His aides, which aides causes us to freely complete His Creation.
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As we see above Luman_Meam, every our act down to its minutest details, Designed, Decreed, Preordained by God from all eternity and He causes us to perform every our preordained acts. – CCC 307, CCC 308, CCC 310, CCC 314, etc.
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God bless

 

[Lunam_Meam]

Latin:

…we all have free will.

GOD DESIGNED, DECREED, PREORDAINED FROM ALL ETERNITY AND CAUSES EVERY OUR ACTIONS AND CHOICES…

These two statements of yours contradict. Either you believe we have a free will or we do not. Which is it?

 

[Latin]

Either you believe we have a free will or we do not. Which is it?

WE DON’T HAVE LIBERTARIAN FREE WILL, WE HAVE AIDED FREE WILL AS FOLLOWS:

CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA Divine Providence explains;
Life everlasting promised to us, (Romans 5:21); but unaided we can do nothing to gain it (Rom.7:18-24).

.
Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma by Ludwig Ott;

For every salutary act internal supernatural grace of God (gratia elevans) is absolutely necessary, (De fide dogma).

There is a supernatural intervention of God in the faculties of the soul, which precedes the free act of the will, (De fide dogma).
.
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 …
.
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.
.
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.
.
THIS IS ABOVE THE WAY, 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.
.
God bless

 

[Odilon]

Yep, God knows where you are going to end up and as regards myself I have mostly taken the most difficult route to get there.

 

[Lunam_Meam]

All men without exception are predestined to grace, since Jesus died for all.

Those who remain faithful— at least to the natural law of the Good—are predestined to glory. Thus at the end of the ages, each one who has lived as a just man, will have his reward.

God knows from eternity those who are destined for glory before they are born into life—that is, “predestined”. Pay attention, then, for here is the point for understanding with justice the justice of God.

There are those who are predestined, certainly. And God knows them before time [even] exists for them. But they are not predestined because God, with evident injustice, gives them every means to become glorious, and by every means prevents any traps for them of the demon, of the world, and of the flesh. No. God gives them what He gives to all. But they use the gifts of God with justice, and hence they win the future and eternal glory by their [own] free will.

God knows that they will reach this eternal glory. But they do not know it, nor does God tell them in any way. Extraordinary gifts are not —of themselves—a sure sign of glory: they are a more severe means than others to test the spirit of a man in his will, virtue, and fidelity to God and to His Law. God knows. He rejoices in anticipation to know that this creature will reach glory; just as He suffers in anticipation to know that this other creature will, voluntarily, reach damnation.

But in no way does He intervene to force the free choice of any creature so that it may arrive where God wants all to arrive: in Heaven.

Certainly the creature’s correspondence with Divine help increases its capacity to will. Because God all the more pours Himself out, as a man loves Him in truth: that is, with a charity of actions, and not [just] of words.

And again: certainly, the more a man lives as a just man, the more God also communicates with and manifests Himself to him: an anticipation of that knowledge of God which is the bliss of the saints in Heaven; and from this knowledge comes an increase of the capacity to want [will] to be perfect. But again and always, man is free with his will, and, if after having already reached perfection, one disavows the good he has practiced up till then, and sells himself to the Evil One: God would leave him free to do it. There would be no merit if there were coercion.

To conclude: God knows—from eternity—those who are the future eternal inhabitants of Heaven. But man, with his free will, must want [will] to reach Heaven by using well the supernatural helps which the Eternal Father gives to each of His creatures. And this [must he do] even to his last breath—whatever the extraordinary gifts he has received, and [whatever] the degrees of perfection he has reached.

Remember: no one has ever truly arrived, until his “walk” is finished. That is, no one is sure of having merited glory, until his time has ended, and immortality has begun.

 

[BarbTh]

May I put it this way. God does not in any way affect or effect our free will, He simply knows what we will choose at a future date. In other words, if I choose to put chicken out and then change my mind to beef at the last moment, God knows our final choice will be beef. Despite any previous decisions of ours at any point, God knows what our final choice in free will will be at any future point in any situation. It is not God fixing us to a choice at any point, it is our free will choosing a fixed point.

With Our Infinite God, there is no past or future, there is only the eternal NOW where our finite past, each now and future actively reside as it were. That is almost an impossible point to get our heads around, my head anyway for sure, because we must recall only the past as knowledge of (memory), and the future as hoped for/the anticipated - or even the unknown. With our now, this present moment, will pass into our minds as knowledge of (memory) and very often our choices and actions in this now, this present moment, will have an affect and effect on our future as the hoped or anticipated, or even the unknown where there is a cause and effect and the cause rooted somewhere in a past now.

We are complex beings, while Our God is the Essence of Simplicity. And because we are complex, simplicity can be difficult or even impossible to get the head around it/insight it. …for me for sure anyway.

 

[BarbTh]

***phil3 ***
like I wrote. My life is an already written book. The ending is known to the writer just not to me. There is no free will.

With respect, you seem to be stating that because I know, for example, the ending to a story, I must be responsible for the story and have written it myself.
Alternatively, because I know the ending to a story before the story has been written/communicated, I must be responsible for the story and its ending.

I think there just might be/could be something faulty in your reasonings?
God knows our past present and future as an eternal now - but not because He is responsible for any of it. Rather because the whole of time, past present and future is the Now in Him.
We, finite creatures, do have free will, which does not preclude an Infinite All Knowing God, Our Creator, knowing what our finite decisions in free-will will actually be before we make them.
Two video responses from Catholic Answers - and quite concise and short explanations, I thought:

Our Free Will and God’s Knowledge

Difference between Foreknowledge and Predestination

 

[Latin]

Remember: no one has ever truly arrived, until his “walk” is finished.

WE CANNOT CHOOSE GOD, ONLY GOD CAN CHOOSE US.

Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma by Ludwig Ott;

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.”

CCC 2016 The children of our holy mother the Church rightly hope for the grace of final perseverance. – So, whose decision is heaven and hell?!?

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The Catholic dogma
CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA The predestination of the elect.

“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.

Ante prævisa merita
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.”
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CCCS 1996-1998; “Justification comes from grace (God’s free and undeserved help) and is given to us to respond to his call.
This call to eternal life is supernatural, coming TOTALLY from God’s decision and surpassing ALL power of human intellect and will.”

John 15:16; You did not chose Me, but I chose you.
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CCC 298 Since God could create everything out of nothing, he can also, through the Holy Spirit, give spiritual life to sinners by creating a pure heart in them.
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As we see above Luman_Meam, our salvation is NOT OUR CHOICE, it is coming TOTALLY from God’s decision without regard to any future supernatural merits, and surpassing ALL power of human intellect and will.
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Without regard to any future supernatural merits, God has chosen His elect from all eternity, and He has given them His gift the grace the final perseverance, which is an INFALLIBLE PROTECTION of the salvation of every of His elect, their salvation is absolutely sure from all eternity.
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God bless