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whatistrue
Guest
The reasons exist because God allows them to exist. And as long as rejecting God is a possible response, some people will choose that option, and for any reason or even none at all.
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Pattylt
Guest
I had a similar experience when I lost my faith. There was no reason for it that I could determine. I wasn’t mad at God, I loved God! It felt as though He left me! I spent several years praying and crying for Him to return…to feel Him again, to believe in Him again, anything at all!
Spent years investigating other faiths thinking it was just the wrong one. Finally, I decided my brain just wasn’t wired to believe.
If God knew I was struggling so hard, why couldn’t he give me a nudge? Did I just not recognize it? Why if I was looking so hard for some small sign and all I got was silence, emptiness.
I still search and try but mostly, I have accepted it and moved on. I was never mentally ill (where I seeked out mental health services). I’m a very stable rational person that is just unable to believe in the supernatural. I am what I am.
Spent years investigating other faiths thinking it was just the wrong one. Finally, I decided my brain just wasn’t wired to believe.
If God knew I was struggling so hard, why couldn’t he give me a nudge? Did I just not recognize it? Why if I was looking so hard for some small sign and all I got was silence, emptiness.
I still search and try but mostly, I have accepted it and moved on. I was never mentally ill (where I seeked out mental health services). I’m a very stable rational person that is just unable to believe in the supernatural. I am what I am.
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Nita
Guest
You want to know why people choose to reject God. The answer is sin. Adam & Eve’s original sin and our own sins.
Adam & Eve’s original sin caused negative effects in our human nature. Spiritually, our intellects were darkened and our will was weakened. Passions became disordered. …
We make choices with our soul (intellect & will), the immaterial, spirit part of our human nature.
Doubt if there has ever been a human person (since Adam & Eve) whose first sin was to reject God. Usually starts with some little sin. Some will choose to confess it in Confession, some will choose not to since it’s not required for forgiveness. Two different ways of responding. Neither response is sinful, but one is better than the other. The one who goes to Confession will receive the sacramental graces; the one who doesn’t will not receive those graces. The choice was theirs. I mentioned in my earlier post that our choices are formative. Repetition causes a pattern to develop. Good choices strengthen virtues. Sin weakens them and allows the power of sinful tendencies to increase. Read Romans 1:18-28 here.
It is not because God is choosing or causing some to be saved and rejecting others. If God was going to intervene in human lives to that extent He would be causing all to be saved since that is what He desires! It is precisely because there are probably people in hell that we know God is not causing, controlling, or determining our actions but is allowing us to freely choose.
Adam & Eve’s original sin caused negative effects in our human nature. Spiritually, our intellects were darkened and our will was weakened. Passions became disordered. …
We make choices with our soul (intellect & will), the immaterial, spirit part of our human nature.
Doubt if there has ever been a human person (since Adam & Eve) whose first sin was to reject God. Usually starts with some little sin. Some will choose to confess it in Confession, some will choose not to since it’s not required for forgiveness. Two different ways of responding. Neither response is sinful, but one is better than the other. The one who goes to Confession will receive the sacramental graces; the one who doesn’t will not receive those graces. The choice was theirs. I mentioned in my earlier post that our choices are formative. Repetition causes a pattern to develop. Good choices strengthen virtues. Sin weakens them and allows the power of sinful tendencies to increase. Read Romans 1:18-28 here.
It is not because God is choosing or causing some to be saved and rejecting others. If God was going to intervene in human lives to that extent He would be causing all to be saved since that is what He desires! It is precisely because there are probably people in hell that we know God is not causing, controlling, or determining our actions but is allowing us to freely choose.
J
jinc1019
Guest
Thanks for sharing! I know you feel as though your “brain just wasn’t wired to believe,” but I don’t think that’s true. I believe everyone who has faith has faith because God has given it to them. None of us are more or less able to receive it. Maybe God hasn’t given it to you yet, but I don’t think you should give up. With God, all things are possible. I’ll be praying for God to grant you the gift of faith!
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jinc1019
Guest
I agree with a lot you have written here, Nita, but all of us are affected by original sin, right? And yet, some of us have chosen to have faith and others haven’t. There must be a reason why we make the choice. You’re suggesting, I think, that people who reject God do so because they develop bad habits or stop receiving the sacraments or something, but I know lots of people who lost faith despite doing these things regularly. Some people have already posted to this thread indicating that they sincerely wanted faith and yet never developed it or lost it.
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Nita
Guest
Hi jinc,
Yes, we all suffer the consequences of original sin, but original sin is not the only sin that’s involved. We also suffer consequences from the personal sins we choose to commit. Those sins are different in each person. How they choose to respond after sinning also varies.
Some people choose to reject God because they are very attached to a serious sin (lust/hatred/…). They know God forbids it and would require them to repent and strive to stop sinning to remain in grace. They prefer to continue in the sin rather than accept God into their life. As St. Paul says, “their god is the belly” (Philippians 3:19)
The sin of pride is a real stinker. Once a prideful person has reasoned erroneously, especially if he’s a known personality and/or has made his opinions public, it can be very difficult for them to ever admit they were wrong. They’ll fight tooth and nail to defend their conclusions. I think of some of the atheist scientists whose minds are absolutely closed to recognizing or pursuing any evidence that would point to the existence of God. They reject it on the sole basis that to credit it would require the existence of God.
I’m a cradle Catholic who believed and liked being a Catholic. In my mid 20’s I lost my faith that Jesus was God. Couple things involved. First were some books I was reading (scholarly material) that sowed doubt in my mind. Which of course then led me to doing my own reasoning (faulty due to original sin ). I should include that I considered myself “intellectually” adept. PRIDE. I ended up believing Jesus was not God. Now, I made the choice to continue reading in the books even after I could tell the author (an ex Catholic actually) did not believe in Christianity. Praise God, I was so miserable that I just kept begging God for the TRUTH (about Jesus). “If I’m wrong, let me know; if I was right then please give me peace. Just let me know the truth…”. I didn’t get the answer immediately. God knows when the best time is; He knew when it would pierce so deep that it would be permanent. When that time came He answered my continuous praying. Some of the people you are talking about could be at the stage I was after reasoning myself out of belief. Had I been on CAF at that time, I would have sounded like a couple of the posters on your thread. Their story isn’t over yet!! God sees the heart and He answers sincere, persevering prayer. It might not be till the last second of their life - if that timing is most beneficial for their eternal good.
I hope something here will help. Feel free to email if you have further questions.
In Christ,
Nita
Yes, we all suffer the consequences of original sin, but original sin is not the only sin that’s involved. We also suffer consequences from the personal sins we choose to commit. Those sins are different in each person. How they choose to respond after sinning also varies.
Some people choose to reject God because they are very attached to a serious sin (lust/hatred/…). They know God forbids it and would require them to repent and strive to stop sinning to remain in grace. They prefer to continue in the sin rather than accept God into their life. As St. Paul says, “their god is the belly” (Philippians 3:19)
The sin of pride is a real stinker. Once a prideful person has reasoned erroneously, especially if he’s a known personality and/or has made his opinions public, it can be very difficult for them to ever admit they were wrong. They’ll fight tooth and nail to defend their conclusions. I think of some of the atheist scientists whose minds are absolutely closed to recognizing or pursuing any evidence that would point to the existence of God. They reject it on the sole basis that to credit it would require the existence of God.
I’m a cradle Catholic who believed and liked being a Catholic. In my mid 20’s I lost my faith that Jesus was God. Couple things involved. First were some books I was reading (scholarly material) that sowed doubt in my mind. Which of course then led me to doing my own reasoning (faulty due to original sin ). I should include that I considered myself “intellectually” adept. PRIDE. I ended up believing Jesus was not God. Now, I made the choice to continue reading in the books even after I could tell the author (an ex Catholic actually) did not believe in Christianity. Praise God, I was so miserable that I just kept begging God for the TRUTH (about Jesus). “If I’m wrong, let me know; if I was right then please give me peace. Just let me know the truth…”. I didn’t get the answer immediately. God knows when the best time is; He knew when it would pierce so deep that it would be permanent. When that time came He answered my continuous praying. Some of the people you are talking about could be at the stage I was after reasoning myself out of belief. Had I been on CAF at that time, I would have sounded like a couple of the posters on your thread. Their story isn’t over yet!! God sees the heart and He answers sincere, persevering prayer. It might not be till the last second of their life - if that timing is most beneficial for their eternal good.
I hope something here will help. Feel free to email if you have further questions.
In Christ,
Nita
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Bradskii
Guest
Have you ever sinned? You have? What on earth made you do that?According to Catholicism, God wants to save all people. Everyone who receives the sacraments without resisting receives God’s grace. Grace is made available to everyone through the church.
If all this is true, why do some people who grow up in the church, receive baptism and the other sacraments, and live in a household of faith choose to reject God? If it’s not because of God’s choice, then it must be a choice of the individual, right? But why do some individuals make those choices and others don’t? If it’s something about that person’s DNA that makes him or her more likely to reject God, then doesn’t that simply mean that God designed some people to choose to reject Him, since God is the Creator of all?
Logically, I can’t see any way around it. It seems like God chooses who will be saved and who won’t. What am I missing?
Now you can answer your own question.
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fhansen
Guest
We don’t even know for certain exactly why Adam sinned/disobeyed God to begin with. We only know that he willed to sin and that God allowed that level of freedom. And He allows us the same freedom now, to move towards Him or away. But He calls and draws and informs us, seeking to move the will towards rectitude without forcing or violating it.
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catholicray
Guest
Sin is an interior context it is a matter of the heart. Identical exterior circumstances do not affect the interior circumstance identically.
Is the cup half empty or half full?
Is the cup half empty or half full?
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jinc1019
Guest
Thanks for all the replies!
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PRmerger
Guest
Because Free WillAccording to Catholicism, God wants to save all people. Everyone who receives the sacraments without resisting receives God’s grace. Grace is made available to everyone through the church.
If all this is true, why do some people who grow up in the church, receive baptism and the other sacraments, and live in a household of faith choose to reject God? If it’s not because of God’s choice, then it must be a choice of the individual, right? But why do some individuals make those choices and others don’t? If it’s something about that person’s DNA that makes him or her more likely to reject God, then doesn’t that simply mean that God designed some people to choose to reject Him, since God is the Creator of all?
Logically, I can’t see any way around it. It seems like God chooses who will be saved and who won’t. What am I missing?
I
IWantGod
Guest
Some people ultimately feel it’s better to rule in hell than to serve in heaven. In a sense they want to be their own God.If all this is true, why do some people who grow up in the church, receive baptism and the other sacraments, and live in a household of faith choose to reject God?
In the end, to the extent that we are culpable, we freely choose this.
To delve any deeper than that we come to a point that we can only describe as a mystery. Sin is a mystery. We understand it to some extent, but that’s about it.
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