The Catholic dogma
CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA The predestination of the elect.
(1) Consequently, the whole future membership of
heaven, down to its minutest details, with all the different measures of grace and the various degrees of happiness, has been irrevocably fixed from all
eternity. Nor could it be otherwise. For if it were possible that a predestined individual should after all be cast into hell or that one not predestined should in the end reach
heaven, then
God would have been mistaken in his foreknowledge of future events;
He would no longer be omniscient.
(2) The second quality of predestination, the definiteness of the number of the
elect, follows naturally from the first. For if the eternal counsel of
God regarding the predestined is unchangeable, then the number of the predestined must likewise be unchangeable and definite, subject neither to additions nor to cancellations. Anything indefinite in the number would
eo ipso imply a lack of certitude in
God’s knowledge and
would destroy His omniscience. Furthermore, the very nature of omniscience demands that not only the abstract number of the
elect, but also the
individuals with their names.
.
ante prævisa merita
Asserts that God, by an
absolute decree and
without regard to any future supernatural merits, predestined from all eternity certain men to the glory of heaven, and then, in
consequence of this decree, decided to
give them all the graces necessary for its accomplishment.
.
God’s unerring foreknowledge and foreordaining is designated in the
Bible by the beautiful figure of the “Book of Life” (
liber vitæ ,
to biblion tes zoes ). This book of life is a list which contains the names of all the
elect and
admits neither additions nor erasures.
.
Without the special help of God the justified
cannot persevere to the end in justification. (
De fide.) – It is God’s responsibility
TO KEEP US SAVED by his Gift of
Perseverance.
.
Without God’s gift of
Perseverance everyone would die in mortal sin,
THERE IS NO SALVATION WITHOUT THIS GIFT OF GRACE, while the receivers of His gift of Perseverance
NO ONE can die in mortal sin because this is an
INFALLIBLE PROTECTION of every receiver.
.
At their baptism EVERY ELECT receives God’s special grace His Gift of
Perseverance which is an
INFALLIBLE PROTECTION of the salvation of every elect.
.
The Catholic Church teaches and it is an
INFALLIBLE TEACHINGS of the Trent and a formal teachings of the Catholic Church, those who are predestined to Heaven/ God’s elect
CAN NOT LOSE THEIR SALVATION.
.
God bless
