Is it in line with the teachings of the church?

[dominique1313]

Hi,
I am trying to write up some paper and I want to make sure that what I wrote is in line with the teachings of the Church.

Statement 1:“God, by his infallible prescience(foreseen knowledge) on this universe, has appointed and ordered all events in time from the very beginning, even those events that are directly proceed from, or at least influenced by, human free will.”

Statement 2:" It is foreseen by God that we will be behaving in certain ways so that God’s promise can be fulfilled in the most absolute terms. "

Statement 3: “The order of divine providence is unchangeable and certain, all things happen as they are foreseen by God, whether from necessity or from contingency”

Are the above three statements correct?

Maybe I am over thinking

Thank you

 

[TimothyH]

Statement 1:“God, by his infallible prescience(foreseen knowledge) on this universe, has appointed and ordered all events in time from the very beginning, even those events that are directly proceed from, or at least influenced by, human free will.”

I don’t know of any Church teaching that says that God has preordained every event in time.

I certainly don’t believe that he controls the path of every leaf falling from a tree or the movement of every molecule of air as a bird flaps it’s wings.

-Tim-

 

[Memaw]

Hi,
I am trying to write up some paper and I want to make sure that what I wrote is in line with the teachings of the Church.

Statement 1:“God, by his infallible prescience(foreseen knowledge) on this universe, has appointed and ordered all events in time from the very beginning, even those events that are directly proceed from, or at least influenced by, human free will.”

Statement 2:" It is foreseen by God that we will be behaving in certain ways so that God’s promise can be fulfilled in the most absolute terms. "

Statement 3: “The order of divine providence is unchangeable and certain, all things happen as they are foreseen by God, whether from necessity or from contingency”

Are the above three statements correct?

Maybe I am over thinking

Thank you

There is a vast difference between God’s direct Will and His permissive Will, ( what He allows to happen) . God Bless, Memaw

 

[ProdglArchitect]

Hi,
I am trying to write up some paper and I want to make sure that what I wrote is in line with the teachings of the Church.

Statement 1:“God, by his infallible prescience(foreseen knowledge) on this universe, has appointed and ordered all events in time from the very beginning, even those events that are directly proceed from, or at least influenced by, human free will.”

This is not supported by Church teaching. God -knows- all events, but knowing is different from actively willing. As Memaw said, this is the important difference between his Passive and Active wills. His Active will is, say, creating the Virgin Mary without original sin, or sending the angel to ask her to bear His son. His passive will is when he allows us to continue to make our own choices, even when we chose against him.

Statement 2:" It is foreseen by God that we will be behaving in certain ways so that God’s promise can be fulfilled in the most absolute terms. "

This is a bit too linear of thinking when considering God’s will. It’s not foreseen, it’s known and accounted for. I like to explain it this way: Christ’s actions don’t reflect the OT scriptures, the OT scriptures reflect Christ’s actions. It’s kind of hard to think about since we live in time and events happen linearly, but the Scriptures are the way they are because that’s what Christ did. The speak of his death because he died, they speak of his betrayal because he was betrayed, and they speak of his resurrection be be was risen by God. If none of those things had happened, the OT scriptures wouldn’t have foretold them… again, I understand that this doesn’t make sense in terms of time as we understand it, but God is not limited by time like we are.

Statement 3: “The order of divine providence is unchangeable and certain, all things happen as they are foreseen by God, whether from necessity or from contingency”

This is partially true. The order of events are set, but only because we’ve already chosen them. As I mentioned above, time is not linear to God, it is concurrent. Everything is an infinite “now.” God knows everything that, from our perspective, has, is and will happen because it IS happening. The only reason he knows I will finish writing this is because I have already finished writing it. The only reason he knows when I will die is because from his perspective I have already died, am in the process of dying, and will die in the future.

It’s really hard to think of things without time, but it’s necessary when considering God’s omniscience and will.

 

[MrSnaith]

Hi,
I am trying to write up some paper and I want to make sure that what I wrote is in line with the teachings of the Church.

Statement 1:“God, by his infallible prescience(foreseen knowledge) on this universe, has appointed and ordered all events in time from the very beginning, even those events that are directly proceed from, or at least influenced by, human free will.”

Statement 2:" It is foreseen by God that we will be behaving in certain ways so that God’s promise can be fulfilled in the most absolute terms. "

Statement 3: “The order of divine providence is unchangeable and certain, all things happen as they are foreseen by God, whether from necessity or from contingency”

Are the above three statements correct?

Maybe I am over thinking

Thank you

No, these are not correct.

God does not have prescience, he does not “foresee.” God’s knowledge of all time is due to His presence at all times, in His eternality. Our choices are still ours.

 

[dominique1313]

Hi,
Thank you very much for all your reply!

I totally forgot about the fact that God is beyond time and space.
Regarding the Statement 2, if I change the statement 2 into the following, would it be correct?

Revised statement 2: “it is in God’s knowledge that we will be behaving in certain ways so that God’s promise to humanity can be fulfilled in the most absolute terms. God is truth itself, all his promises are absolutely true”

Thanks again for all your help and spotting my errors!

PS: I actually found the statement3 from summa theologica by st Thomas Aquinas

 

[ahs]

Maybe it would help to find the pertinent parts of the Catechism that deal with your desired topic, and just quote it?

scborromeo.org/ccc.htm
(Keyword/topic searchable)