God's Will

[Anglewannabe]

I am reading a book called ‘Trusting God’ by Jerry Bridges. I suspect it was written by a protestant. I find the book very comforting, however, since it does not have ‘Imprimatur’ on it, I don’t want to start believing things that go against the teaching of the Catholic church.

The book explains the difference between God’s revealed will and His sovereign will.

From what I understand, and this is an example, since a person has free will, they can choose to steal money from someone. Stealing is a sin and against God’s free will. However, due to God’s sovereign will, God permits it because it will give the victim a greater purpose. The book seems to imply that by being a victim of someone else’s sin, they will have a greater opportunity to do God’s will.

I am not sure if I am explaining this correctly. So my question is ‘What is the Catholic churches teaching about this’

Angie

 

[EasterJoy]

I would say God permits sin because free will implies the possibility of inappropriate license. To have the capacity to choose one’s freedom (that is, the freedom to do God’s will and in so doing to become the fullest and truest version of one’s self, an image of God) also implies the capacity to choose one’s imprisonment (that is, the capacity for sin and self-deception, a life as something false and ultimately incapable of giving life).

God offers the victims of sin the freedom of entering into his own life, which is to say the capacity to transform an offense into a reconciliation by the power of love, forbearance and mercy. That invitation does not depend upon an offense, however. It is an invitation that remains in spite of offenses. Sometimes, we are awakened to the reality of the invitation by the outcome of accepting the invitation. The invitation to live in God’s love, however, does not depend upon violations against that love, any more than God’s love would be lessened if none of us ever sinned against God. To live and love as God does is our meaning and our purpose; we don’t have to wait for someone to sin against us in order to be alive.

The most important features of Catholic teaching are the God tempts no one to sin. Sin is our departure from the will of God, not our fulfillment of it. God knows we will sin, but as C.S. Lewis pointed out, one can see something happening without being a direct cause of it. God can see all time and space more clearly than we see anything immediately present to us.

 

[Anglewannabe]

we don’t have to wait for someone to sin against us in order to be alive.

I totally agree it would be foolish to sit around and wait for someone to sin against me to be alive. However, (and I understand it is not God’s will for people to sin), I do find that accepting it is God’s will helps me to forgive those who have wronged me.

It is also a lot easier to let go of the resentment if I know something better will come from it

Does that make sense?

 

[EasterJoy]

I totally agree it would be foolish to sit around and wait for someone to sin against me to be alive. However, (and I understand it is not God’s will for people to sin), I do find that accepting it is God’s will helps me to forgive those who have wronged me.

It is also a lot easier to let go of the resentment if I know something better will come from it

Does that make sense?

It is a great habit to know when we have to forgive someone that we are in the situation of the servant who was forgiven a great debt. It is a chance to exhibit gratitude for the debt that has been forgiven on our own ledger. We owe it to God to forgive others, because God is willing to forgive us.

It is wrong, however, to think God is in any way responsible when other people commit evil against us. The offender is responsible, not God. What God is able to do, however, is to creatively remake an offense against us into an opportunity to improve us, if we are willing to allow that to happen. I suppose you could say that God is the original “repurposing expert.” We have to cooperate, though. The offender has no room to say, “See? You are a better person because of what I did. It was God’s will.” No, not so much!