So God designed the soul without any powers of its own? God directly controls all our actions?
apparantly there is need for clarification in language I used. Rather than use my words, I’ll quote the CCC
(all emphasis mine)
**143 **
By faith, man completely submits his intellect and his will to God. With his whole being man gives his assent to God the revealer. Sacred Scripture calls this human response to God, the author of revelation, “the obedience of faith”.
**155 **In faith, the human intellect and will cooperate with divine grace: “Believing is an act of the intellect assenting to the divine truth by command of the will moved by God through grace.”
**1711 **Endowed with a spiritual soul, with intellect and with free will, the human person is from his very conception ordered to God and destined for eternal beatitude. He pursues his perfection in “seeking and loving what is true and good” (*GS *15 § 2).
Re: these terms from the passages above
- submit
- assent
- response
- obedience
- cooperate
are attributes we voluntarily do as a result of grace and free will. God does NOT directly control our actions as if we have no free will to submit, assent, respond, obey, and cooperate with God and His grace.
Further:
when we die, (all emphasis mine)
1022 Each man receives his eternal retribution in his immortal soul at the very moment of his death, in a** particular judgment** that refers his life to Christ: either entrance into the blessedness of heaven-through a purification594 or immediately,595 – or immediate and everlasting damnation.596
At the evening of life, we shall be judged on our love.597
**II. HEAVEN **
1023 Those who die in God’s grace and friendship and are perfectly purified live for ever with Christ. They are like God for ever, for they “see him as he is,” face to face:598
By virtue of our apostolic authority, we define the following: According to the general disposition of God, the souls of all the saints . . . and other faithful who died after receiving Christ’s holy Baptism (provided they were not in need of purification when they died, . . . or, if they then did need or will need some purification, when they have been purified after death, . . .) already before they take up their bodies again and before the
general judgment - and this since the Ascension of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ into heaven - have been, are and will be in heaven, in the heavenly Kingdom and celestial paradise with Christ, joined to the company of the holy angels. Since the Passion and death of our Lord Jesus Christ, these souls have seen and do see the divine essence with an intuitive vision, and even face to face, without the mediation of any creature.599
1035 The teaching of the Church affirms the existence of hell and its eternity. Immediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into hell, where they suffer the punishments of hell, "eternal fire."617 The chief punishment of hell is eternal separation from God, in whom alone man can possess the life and happiness for which he was created and for which he longs.
points to further highlight again,
- This is all before one takes up their body again**.**
- A soul, without a body,
- has vision,
- has intuitive properties, (memory, intellect, and will)
- experiences immediately after death, depending on their immediate judgement, purgatory first, heaven or hell.
Not my words, it comes from the CCC
