Free Will

  • Thread starter Thread starter Fulcrum
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
As Christians and Catholics we stand on the serpent as Our Holy Mother does.
 
Fulcrum said:
As Christians and Catholics we stand on the serpent as Our Holy Mother does.
Click to expand...
Shockingly, I felt and saw the demons recede in terror when I said this. In particular, I saw a figure speedily walk backward into the darkness revealing only its eyes. I did not say this to be showy. It appears that you have demons among you.
 
Why was the display of power so dramatic? The answer I got back was, “These are my children.” In other words, your Mother is looking after you.

I realize that by posting this, the censors might not like it. It comes with the territory. I am at peace and so should you.
 
Fulcrum said:
Sorry if I seem conceited, but this is how a Catholic would respond, shrewd like Christ. You do not want to deny what may be a fact. If you do this, in time you will be relegated to a ghetto and shunned as if you were born retarded.
Click to expand...
Indeed we carelessly consign ourselves to the children’s table in many discussions.

You are also correct that we ought to train our speech to reflect the whole truth, in as much as it were possible, and not a shadow of a part. It is easy to dismiss a part, but not so easy to dismiss the whole.
 
Pug said:
Indeed we carelessly consign ourselves to the children’s table in many discussions.

You are also correct that we ought to train our speech to reflect the whole truth, in as much as it were possible, and not a shadow of a part. It is easy to dismiss a part, but not so easy to dismiss the whole.
Click to expand...
Tell me more.
 
There is much that I could say, but what do I feel like saying? Rather than talk about whole truth verses partial truth and metaphysical objects and the like, what Our Holy Mother said I confess is a lot more interesting to me. To understand what she said requires some context. She said that she plays favorites. Those who have a relationship with her and her son she will favor over those who do not. This is not politically correct speech, however. She said, not everyone is equal in the eyes of God.
 
If I were to cow to political correctness, I would be defying the Will of God. I recall a story from the life of Christ. I learned about it in mass a couple or so years back. I confess I do not know the Bible as well as many Protestants, but I know it well enough. It concerned a man that Jesus addressed as a friend for he had obeyed all the laws. He declined the offer made by Jesus to follow Him, however. I came here at the behest of the Holy Spirit. I do not know why I should bother, however. Perhaps it is because as Our Holy Mother put it, “These are my children.”
 
Fulcrum said:
There is much that I could say, but what do I feel like saying? Rather than talk about whole truth verses partial truth and metaphysical objects and the like, what Our Holy Mother said I confess is a lot more interesting to me. To understand what she said requires some context. She said that she plays favorites. Those who have a relationship with her and her son she will favor over those who do not. This is not politically correct speech, however. She said, not everyone is equal in the eyes of God.
Click to expand...
At times I might be more inclined to say that one has more (an example of more is that of having a relationship with Jesus and the Blessed Mother) because first God loved that person and thus gave that person more.

It does seem to me that God gives differently to each person.
 
Fulcrum said:
If I were to cow to political correctness, I would be defying the Will of God. I recall a story from the life of Christ. I learned about it in mass a couple or so years back. I confess I do not know the Bible as well as many Protestants, but I know it well enough. It concerned a man that Jesus addressed as a friend for he had obeyed all the laws. He declined the offer made by Jesus to follow Him, however. I came here at the behest of the Holy Spirit. I do not know why I should bother, however. Perhaps it is because as Our Holy Mother put it, “These are my children.”
Click to expand...
If you came to a place at the behest of the Spirit, that in itself is why you ought to bother. But maybe you mean why were you sent to that place? I think the fullness of that will often remain mysterious until all things are revealed at the end.

The parable of the rich young man, yes, I know that one. It appears in more than one gospel account. Jesus looked at him and loved him, yet the man went away, for he had many possessions. It is in Mark 10:17 and a few verses beyond that.
 
Fulcrum said:
Tell me more.
Click to expand...
I meant, for a random example, if we tell someone of free will only, so that they wrongly perceive it is all their choice alone, and don’t tell them of the aid of God, of grace, then they may reject the words we say out of despair or perhaps they may say they don’t wish to hear more of this God of ours, because it is the idea of grace that allows us not to despair in the face of how we have experienced our foolish natures in the past. I feel that without grace, I might never escape repeating what the young man in the parable did. But I tell myself that with God all things are possible, so I need not despair.
 
Earlier I wrote, but did not post, in a reply to you, “Feel free to pontificate.” I some how knew we had something in common.
 
Fulcrum said:
Earlier I wrote, but did not post, in a reply to you, “Feel free to pontificate.” I some how knew we had something in common.
Click to expand...
😃 'Tis true. I do pontificate.

Though perhaps you mean in common about free will and grace.
 
Do you mean the grace that allows us to know that free love is not free? To be free one must be bound in chains.

Audience: Surely, we must reject these masochists as false. They sell this masochism to others. Surely, they are a moral hazard.
 
The three theological virtues Faith, Hope, and Charity are expressed in what I have written.
 
WoundedIcon said:
Tell them that if they’re right about us living in a purely materialistic universe then they’re right about us having no free will. That everything in their mind is determined by the laws of nature chugging along. Then ask them whether that’s truly rational given their own human experience of being able to contradict their own instincts by sheer willpower. (And you could ask them why they trust human reason so much if what they’re saying is true.) If they concede that experience contradicts the “logic” of materialism, then introduce them to Mr. Not-Bound-By -Laws-of-Nature Soul. Tell them that said contradiction is only resolvable in the realm of philosophy and metaphysics. If they’re merely a science-worshiper, as opposed to someone willing to embrace wherever logic takes them, they’ll balk.
Click to expand...
Interesting.
 
Seems to me to understand Free-Will one must believe in a Truth that is invisible. We can all agree there are invisible Truths or as Einstein confirmed…“mystery”. Grace becomes the issue of the point of contention with sin.
 
Fulcrum said:
Do you mean the grace that allows us to know that free love is not free? To be free one must be bound in chains.

Audience: Surely, we must reject these masochists as false. They sell this masochism to others. Surely, they are a moral hazard.
Click to expand...
Grace does allow us to realize that we are slaves to sin, yes, and we must be slaves to righteousness instead. The idea of “free love” is an idea that does not belong to the realm of true freedom and joy, and I think many do not realize this.

Also when I think of free will and grace I mean the inability of my free will to move myself towards Justice, without grace helping/moving me. If I were to think that I had to use my free will all alone to choose heaven, with no help from God, I would despair, since only with God’s grace have I ever experienced making decent choices. Fortunately, there is grace from God, though!

If it helps, here is the shortest Catechism quote I could find that relates to this:

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.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top