Free Will

[Mark1124]

The Church teaches that a baby who is baptized and dies before the age of reason goes to heaven. This seems to imply that it is possible to go to heaven without at any point freely choosing good over evil.
On the other hand, God created us with free will so we could freely choose to love him. This seems to imply that no one can go to heaven without freely choosing to love God.

How do we resolve this paradox? (If you can cite somewhere that Aquinas discusses this issue, that would be even better.)

 

[Pfaffenhoffen]

The Church teaches that a baby who is baptized and dies before the age of reason goes to heaven. This seems to imply that it is possible to go to heaven without at any point freely choosing good over evil.
On the other hand, God created us with free will so we could freely choose to love him. This seems to imply that no one can go to heaven without freely choosing to love God.

How do we resolve this paradox? (If you can cite somewhere that Aquinas discusses this issue, that would be even better.)

No aquinas, no answer, no one knows.
It is well in God’s hands.

 

[tonyrey]

The Church teaches that a baby who is baptized and dies before the age of reason goes to heaven. This seems to imply that it is possible to go to heaven without at any point freely choosing good over evil.
On the other hand, God created us with free will so we could freely choose to love him. This seems to imply that no one can go to heaven without freely choosing to love God.

There is no reason to believe every person in** different** circumstances must satisfy the same rules in order to go to heaven. God created us with free will so we can freely choose to love him but He does not penalise those who have the misfortune not to be baptised because that would be not only unjust but unloving…

 

[Aelred_Minor]

The Church teaches that a baby who is baptized and dies before the age of reason goes to heaven. This seems to imply that it is possible to go to heaven without at any point freely choosing good over evil.
On the other hand, God created us with free will so we could freely choose to love him. This seems to imply that no one can go to heaven without freely choosing to love God.

How do we resolve this paradox? (If you can cite somewhere that Aquinas discusses this issue, that would be even better.)

This is why I personally suspect God miraculously gives babies who die and others in this situation a miraculous opportunity to choose or reject Him before their death. The idea that someone would be either saved or damned simply by default because they never had the opportunity to consciously choose whether to love God does not make sense to me.

 

[Catholic90]

It is well in God’s hands.

 

[Anthony_V]

The Church teaches that a baby who is baptized and dies before the age of reason goes to heaven. This seems to imply that it is possible to go to heaven without at any point freely choosing good over evil.
On the other hand, God created us with free will so we could freely choose to love him. This seems to imply that no one can go to heaven without freely choosing to love God.

How do we resolve this paradox? (If you can cite somewhere that Aquinas discusses this issue, that would be even better.)

Here’s my speculation:

When a child has not reached the age of reason, their salvation is placed on the shoulders of the parents or guardians and godparents. Strictly speaking, the freewill of a child remains intact before the age of reason. This does not make them puppets however, but rather an extension of the mother and father as far as spiritual standing is concerned. Thus, infant baptism is valid although the child is in fact a separate and unique individual from the parents. The fundamental principal is exampled very well in Genesis 2:23 and 24 where Eve is formed from the rib of Adam, but shares the same free will from verses 16 and 17 even though God was very clearly speaking literally to Adam alone. It is safe to say that Eve is very much separate and unique from Adam. Cain and Abel then both inherited the sin of Adam and Eve though they did not partake in its actuality. Thus, the personal (actual) sin of original sin lies on the shoulders of Adam and Eve, though the original sin is still inherited. In effect, the parents of a child retain the responsibility of the original sin before a child’s age of reason even though the parents don’t retain the personal sin of original sin. Thus, Baptism is the free will of the child through the parents just as the original sin is the responsibility of the parents through the child. But again, just my speculation.