John 6:44 and Eternal Security

[c0achmcguirk]

PhilVaz:

Hey coach, I’ve seen you on other boards (Julie Staples, and the Envoy board). Welcome. It seems there are many disagreements among Protestants on this issue:

Hi Phil, thanks for the welcome. Yes, you’re right there are disagreements among Protestants on Perseverance.

However, as one who has rejected it in the past, I couldn’t answer John 6, Romans 9 and Ephesians 1 (among others). I had to conclude that the Bible teaches Calvinism.

Just a quick search produced these links. Is it right to be so “dogmatic” on eternal security when so many of your fellow Protestants disagree?

Well, I don’t know how dogmatic I am about it. I don’t hold that believing in TULIP is necessary to salvation. I do feel that it is the clear teaching of the Bible, although it is hard for our human egos to accept (“What!? I have no say in whether or not I go to heaven? That’s riduculous therefore I won’t verify whether or not the Bible teaches it.”)

Is it wrong for Neo-Conservative Catholics to speak ill of Traditionalists or the SSPX because there is disagreement there? I don’t see that it follows–if there is disagreement then one must not try to discuss an issue. Maybe you’d like to clarify?

God bless,
c0ach

 

[c0achmcguirk]

DVIN CKS:

Christ dosn’t fail in His mission…we fail in ours. Chirst’s mission isn’t to lose those who are called. Christ doesn’t make us fall away from Him. We fall away from Christ thanks to our own God-given gift of free will.

If we fall away, then hasn’t Christ lost us?

We are the ones who fail Christ by not answering the call.

How can we not answer the call?

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.
–John 6:44

Notice how all that the Father draws are raised up at the last day?

And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
–Romans 8:30

This passage is sometimes called the “Golden Chain of Redemption.” Notice how it is a continuous process:

God calls people, and all of them are predestined.
All of these were justified (declared righteous before God)
And all of them were glorified (saved)

You can’t ignore God’s call. If God calls you, you then are predestined, justified, and glorified.

God bless,
c0ach

 

[cmom]

Interesting that no one ever heard of this before Calvin came along and invented it.

 

[DVIN_CKS]

Free will is evident in the fall of Adam and Eve. They were given paradise…but chose to disobey God and exercised their free will in doing so. God allowed them to use their free will - even though it meant they would be separated from Him. Just as he allows us to use our free will which can have the same results.

 

[cmom]

At the General Judgement all will be raised up from their graves, and all their good deeds and bad will be known by all, and sent to the left or the right.

 

[c0achmcguirk]

cmom:

Interesting that no one ever heard of this before Calvin came along and invented it.

It is the will of God that all whom He loves should partake of repentance, and so not perish with the unbelieving and impenitent. He has established it by His almighty will. But if any of those whom God wills should partake of the grace of repentance, should afterwards perish, where is His almighty will? And how is this matter settled and established by such a will of His?
–Clement of Rome, First Epistle to the Corinthians

Such a soul [of a Christian] shall never at any time be separated from God
–Clement of Alexandria, Stromata Book 6

Faith, I say, is something divine, which cannot be pulled asunder by any other worldly friendship, nor be dissolved by present fear.
–Clement of Alexandria, Stromata Book 2

God forbid that we should believe that the soul of any saint should be drawn out by the devil
–Tertullian, de Anima, c. 57

For what is of God is never extinguished
–Tertullian, de Anima, c. 4,1

Of these believers no one perishes, because they all were elected. And they are elected because they were called according to the purpose–the purpose, however, not their own, but God’s . . . Obedience then is God’s gift. . . To this, indeed, we are not able to deny, that perseverance in good, progressing even to the end, is also a great gift of God.
–Augustine, Retractions, Book II. Chap. 67

Also feel free to read Augustine’s work on the gift of Perseverence:

truecovenanter.com/gospel/augustin_perseverance.html

The idea didn’t originate with Calvin, but with Jesus and Paul. Some of the early fathers picked up on it, too.

Now all that said, even if I couldn’t provide one early church father who taught it, what would that matter? Can you name the earliest church father who taught indulgences? How about the rather late developement of the Assumption of Mary?

God bless,
c0ach

 

[quasimodo]

Judas was a disciple, an Apostle even.
Judas was called by Christ.
Judas sat and learned at the feet of Christ.
Judas belonged to Christ.
Judas fell away of his own free will.
Christ let him go because free will is a gift given by God.

If you want to say that Christ failed, fine. Those are your words not ours.

Salvation is not one-sided. While salvation is pure gift from God, He chooses that it is not entirely a function of His divine will. If He forced us to love Him, it would not be real Love. Yet heaven is us in God’s presence with him loving us and us freely loving Him, else it would not be heaven, would it?

We have our part in salvation. Paul even rejoiced that he filled up what was lacking in Christ’s suffering for the sake of the church.

 

[c0achmcguirk]

DVIN CKS:

Free will is evident in the fall of Adam and Eve. They were given paradise…but chose to disobey God and exercised their free will in doing so. God allowed them to use their free will - even though it meant they would be separated from Him. Just as he allows us to use our free will which can have the same results.

Again, what verse or verses teach that we have free will?

In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,
–Eph 1:11

Did Pharaoh have a choice, or did God force his hand?

The LORD said to Moses, "When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go.–Exodus 4:21

Did Pontius Pilate and Herod have a choice in killing Jesus? How does one in your position answer Acts 4:27-28?

For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur.
–Acts 4:27-28

Could Joseph’s brothers have thwarted God’s plan and not commit the evil of selling Joseph into slavery?

You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.
–Genesis 50:20

Do the Assyrians in Isaiah 10 have a choice? God tells us that he is behind their efforts to “seize loot and snatch plunder, and to trample them down like mud in the streets.”

God bless,
c0ach

 

[c0achmcguirk]

quasimodo:

Judas was a disciple, an Apostle even.
Judas was called by Christ.
Judas sat and learned at the feet of Christ.
Judas belonged to Christ.
Judas fell away of his own free will.
Christ let him go because free will is a gift given by God.

If you want to say that Christ failed, fine. Those are your words not ours.

Hi Quasimodo,

If you are trying to equate Jesus choosing Judas as a disciple with choosing him for election unto salvation you’ve made a gross error.

There’s no question he was chosen to be one of the 12 (John 6:71), but he was not chosen for salvation. He was called the Son of Perdition and was marked out for this role by God’s decree (See MT 26:24, MK 14:21 and JN 17:12).

While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.
–John 17:12

Once again Christ did not fail with Judas’s actions nor does he fail with respect to saving the elect.

God bless,
c0ach

 

[DVIN_CKS]

If you really want to get down to the nitty gritty of predestination and how the Catholics understand it…you must first understand that the Bible speaks of two different types of predestination. A soul is either predestined to grace or predestined to glory. So, when you read certain passages from the Bible you have to make sure you’re understanding the right context that predestination is being referenced.

**Predestination to grace ** means one can be predestined to come to God and become a true Christian (i.e. enter the graces of the Christian life). Predestination to glory, on the other hand, means a true Christian can be predestined to stay with God and persevere to the end of life (i.e. enter the glory of heaven).

For example…Eph 1:3-12 there is an unmistakable reference to predestination of grace. Paul says in verse 5 that God “predestined us in love to be his sons.” Ask yourself the question…when did we become his sons? It was when we became Christians and entered the graces of the Christian life. Thus one concludes that this passage is in reference to predestination of grace.

Romans 8:28-30 the reference is to predestination to glory. Paul states here that we were “predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.” Ask yourself the question…when will we be conformed to the image of the Son? At the time of our resurrection and the time when Jesus appears is the time when we will enter the glories of heaven.

The Bible clearly and unambiguously teaches that there are some who are chosen to come to God and become true Christians who are not chosen to stay with God and persevere to the end. Some true Christians fall away and will be lost.

Rom 8:29-30 shows that it is absolutely true that all those who are predestined to glory end up being called, justified, and glorified. But it doesn’t mean ALL who are called and justified are chosen for glory. “Many are called, but few are chosen.”

Judas was an example of one who was predestined to grace, but not predestined to glory.

Lastly…re: free will: If our free will isn’t the cause of our fall from grace, then what is? Are you trying to suggest that God makes us sin or that we have no control of our sinfulness because it’s God’s will and not our own?

For a much better and in-depth explanation of Predestination, I’d suggest reading the article by James Akin where in it he is debating James White: cin.org/users/james/files/loss.htm

 

[Pax]

c0achmcguirk:

So why does Christ fail in HIs mission? Is it because He *won’t * follow God’s will, or because He can’t obey the Father’s will?

For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day.
–John 6:38-39

There is an absurdity in designing a question to force an answer that is untrue. Obviously, none of us believes that Jesus failed in his mission. Let’s quote a closely related scripture and ask the same question…I think you will see my point as it has similarly been pointed out by Quasimodo in an earlier post.

John 17:12 says “While I was with them, I protected them in your name that you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost, so that scripture might be fulfilled.” In losing Judas did Christ fail in his mission? The question is absurd! Moreover, look what this verse says about the other apostles. Jesus says that he protected them while he was with them. That implies the possibility that, once he is no longer with them, he may not be providing them the very same protection and that they could be lost.

Taking a few verses of scripture and interpreting them to mean something that contradicts the rest of scripture is not exegesis. The teaching of “eternal security” is a tradition of men that is contrary to scripture.

Consider John 1:7 where we are told “He came to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him.” Obviously, all do not believe through him. Does that mean that Jesus failed in his mission? Or how about 1Timothy 2:3 where we are told that “This is right and is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” Obviously, not “everyone” is saved. Does that mean that Jesus failed in his mission?

Or how should we look at 1Timothy 4:10 which says “…because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.” Does this mean everybody is saved and Jesus was telling a fib when he said Judas was lost? Or consider 1 John 2:2 where we a told that “he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.” Should we, therefore, believe that everybody is saved?

My point should be clear. If you rip verses out of there immediate context that’s bad enough, but ripping them out of the entire context of scripture to teach a man made tradition like “eternal security”(which is not found anywhere in the bible) is ludicrous.

I made reference in an earlier post to 65 verses that I personally researched and compiled that totally refute the teaching of “eternal security.” I have highlighted and put in bold print the key words in each of the verses so that even the most stubborn believer in this errant teaching can see why it is patently false. I will gladly email the file to anyone that makes a request.

If I sound a bit fired up, it’s because I am. This is one of the most dangerous and scripturally unsupportedly teachings circulating through some christian circles. I apologize if my confidence and enthusiasm has offended anyone. I mean all of these things with the best of intentions and good will.

PAX

 

[PhilVaz]

Pax << I made reference in an earlier post to 65 verses that I personally researched and compiled that totally refute the teaching of “eternal security.” >>

Send it to me PhilVaz@aol.com

Plain text, html, or Word doc is fine. I’ll create an article on my site from it. Plus when you type in “eternal security refuted” which I’ll title it, should shoot to #1 in Google for those search terms, like all my articles do.

Yeah, Robert Shank the Baptist in his book Life in the Son has around that many (maybe 50) he looks at in depth and concludes eternal security (or once saved, always saved) is not biblical.

The best texts for “eternal security” are those that coachmcg used, namely the ones that talk about “the elect” persevering to the end. But Catholics already believe that. The elect will indeed be saved.

Phil P

 

[Pax]

Free will? Jesus Christ failing in his mission? The elect and everybody else have free will and can turn away from the Lord. The “chosen people” themselves did it repeatedly. Take note of what Stephen says to the elders in ACTS 7:51 " You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you are forever opposing the Holy Spirit, just as your ancestors used to do." And keep in mind that scripture tells us that Stephen was filled with the Holy Spirit when he said these things.

Obviously, we can resist the Holy Spirit. Does that mean the Holy Spirit fails in His mission?

Read James Akin’s book “The Salvation Controversy.” You will get the straight story on justification, salvation, sanctification, TULIP, and everything else from A to Z in this area of belief. His scriptural references and explanations are outstanding. Anyone that believes in the teaching of eternal security desperately needs to read Akin’s book.

Peace and Good Will

 

[Rae]

c0achmcguirk:

Again, what verse or verses teach that we have free will?

In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,
–Eph 1:11

Did Pharaoh have a choice, or did God force his hand?

The LORD said to Moses, "When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go.–Exodus 4:21

Did Pontius Pilate and Herod have a choice in killing Jesus? How does one in your position answer Acts 4:27-28?

For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur.
–Acts 4:27-28

Could Joseph’s brothers have thwarted God’s plan and not commit the evil of selling Joseph into slavery?

You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.
–Genesis 50:20

Do the Assyrians in Isaiah 10 have a choice? God tells us that he is behind their efforts to “seize loot and snatch plunder, and to trample them down like mud in the streets.”

God bless,
c0ach

“God created man…a person who can initiate and control his own actions…'He is created with free will and is mater over his acts (CCC 1730). ‘Freedom is the power, rooted in reason and will, to act or not to act, to do this or that, and so to perform deliberate actions on one’s own responsiblity. By free will one shapes one’s own life’ (CCC 1731). Free will is necessary for morality. Free will is the basis of praise or blame” (CCC 1732). If out will are not really free, morality is really meaningless. All moral language–language about good and evil, right and wrong, ought and ought not, sin and virtue, praise and blame, all counseling and commanding–makes sense only when addressed to free persons, not necessitated and "determined animals or machines. We do not praise or blame, reward or punish a machine. When the Coke machine fails to deliver a Coke, we do not reason with it or call it a sinner; we kick it.
Freedom can be increased or decreased. "The more one does what is good, the freer one becomes…(CCC 1733). “Progress in virtue…enhances the mastery of the will over its acts” (CCC 1734). And the more one does evil, the less free he becomes.
He who sins is a slave to sin (see Rom 6:16). Sin is using our freedom to sell ourselves into slavery and addiction to sin. We forge the chains of our bondage with the power of our freedom. Freedom is not a comstant: we are free to increase our freedom or decrease it. There is total freedom in heaven, no freedom in hell. …
"Submission to God, his will, and his law cannot lessen freedom, for God is the author of man and his freedom–both his free will to choose and his freedom from evil and sin. The author of freedom cannot be the enemy of freedom!

–Peter J. Kreeft

 

[Rae]

Matthew 7:21
Matthew 24:13
Romans 11:22
Phil 2:12
1 Cor 9:27
1 Cor 10:11-12
Gal 5:4
2 Timothy 2:11-13
Hebrews 6:4-6
Hebrews 10:26-27

"Consider the case of a fundamentalist minister convicted of a heinous crime. What must the man in the pew conclude from his sin? That the pastor was just as saved as his congregants, who would have been embarrassed to attend a movie rated less than PG? Logically they would have to say precisely that, if the man had been saved according to the fundamentalist scheme of things, even if his experience of salvation had come years before, even if his last years had been ones of perversity. From the fundamentalists’ perspective, one can do nothing to lose salvation.

Putting aside the question whether this is a positive invitation to antinomianism—after all, if one is guaranteed heaven, why not have fun here below while the having’s good?—the congregants naturally wonder whether their pastor was ever saved at all. No matter what the theory might be, it rankles to think a saved person would do such a thing or that a saved person would sin at all. One might call it the fundamentalist equivalent of Catholics wondering whether the man in the chasuble was ever validly ordained. A man never validly ordained as a priest cannot confect the sacraments, even if he goes through the motions perfectly. A fundamentalist pastor who himself was never saved—well, that is a disturbing thought.

It is a thought that leads to one of two conclusions:
Either this pastor was never saved in the first place, although everyone thought he was—this implies one can never tell from outward actions who is saved and who is not—or he was indeed saved but can now sin with impunity. But that is repugnant to common moral convictions. A pastor known for years by his congregants would be presumed saved; if they could be fooled, couldn’t the man have fooled himself? If he, with some formal religious training, thought he was born again when he was not, how is the average fundamentalist to know whether his conversion “took”?

How can any fundamentalist know his salvation experience was real, that it “worked”? He cannot. Leading a good life immediately after being born again proves nothing, since one might sin grievously at a later time. Leading a bad life right after apparently being saved does not disprove it, since one’s sins are immaterial.

Either way, the doctrine seems nearly useless because, when reflected on seriously, it seems to make impossible the very assurance it is supposed to give.

If we, having been born again in fundamentalism’s sense, are now sure for heaven, and if we know nothing can deprive us of it, then we have not reason to hope because we know heaven is ours. But “our salvation is founded upon the hope of something”, says Paul. “Hope would not be hope at all if its object were in view; how could a man still hope for something which he sees? (Rom 8:24). We hope for heaven, however well disposed we might be spiritually, because we know we still have a chance to lose it."

–Karl Keating

 

[Pax]

c0achmcguirk:

Hi Quasimodo,

If you are trying to equate Jesus choosing Judas as a disciple with choosing him for election unto salvation you’ve made a gross error.

There’s no question he was chosen to be one of the 12 (John 6:71), but he was not chosen for salvation. He was called the Son of Perdition and was marked out for this role by God’s decree (See MT 26:24, MK 14:21 and JN 17:12).

While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.
–John 17:12

Once again Christ did not fail with Judas’s actions nor does he fail with respect to saving the elect.

God bless,
c0ach

Your interpretation and application of these scriptures is in direct contradiction to the myriad examples in scripture where someone has failed to do God’s will. Judas and every other sinner has used their free will to disobey God. This does not mean that they thwart God’s will. Instead, God makes our crooked lines straight, and He sometimes uses evil people to accomplish this. He used Judas as the instrument of betrayal, but God didn’t “make” Judas a betrayer. Your understanding would mean that God committed an evil act, and that is not possible given God’s divine nature.

Predestination of the elect still doesn’t take away their free will either. Your posts would indicate that you believe in “double predestination.” God doesn’t predestine anyone to hell even if He knows that hell is their ultimate destination. God provides all men with sufficient grace to be saved and that is why we are told in 1Timothy 2:4 that God desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

The elect and those that are called to extraordinary service of the Lord such as Moses, Elijah, the Blessed Virgin Mary, Peter and Paul and others are given grace in a greater abundance so that they can accomplish God’s special purposes. This grace does not force them to accomplish God’s will but, instead, “enables” them to choose and do that which God desires them to do.

Grace gives us power that we would not otherwise have. God did not create us as robots nor does he turn us into robots through the gift of grace. Instead He gives us the power to make the right and holy choices that we would otherwise make if we did not have a fallen nature. And, yes, sometimes He even gives us power through grace that exceeds all human abilities, such as the miracles performed by the apostles.

There is so much that can be said here that whole books have been written on these subjects. I again recommend James Akin’s book The Salvation Controversy.

 

[petra]

I would like to chime in with kudos for The Salvation Controversy. It is very interesting reading. Akin says that Catholic theology can accommodate 4 out of the 5 points of Calvinism. Some Catholics may believe in hyper-predestination (the predestination of the damned) and other Catholics may believe in completely free will. The crucial issue, and the subject of this thread, is eternal security. Catholic theology remains open to the possibility of Christians losing their salvation.

I’m a new Catholic (after being a staunch Calvinist for 22 years) and I still have some theological issues to work out. This is actually a topic I’ll be studying in depth this summer. PAX, I would love to receive your list of scripture references: petra@petra-rocks.net.

I do have a question for you all that is related to the issue of eternal security. 2 Cor. 5:17 says that, “Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come.” According to Catholic theology, what exactly does this mean? It’s been my understanding for years that when we are saved, we experience a death of our old self and a resurrection of a new self. It’s not a rehabilitation of the old. It’s a death of the old and a resurrection or rebirth of something new. I think it is possible by a deliberate choice to kill this new spiritual life, but I am presently not convinced that it can occur as easily as many Catholics believe. This new creation is so miraculous and so profound it seems to mock the preciousness of it to suggest that people may toggle in and out of salvation on a week by week basis. This also is related to the issue of what constitutes mortal and venial sins. Hebrews 6:4-6 seems to imply that if salvation is lost, it is impossible to be saved again. God’s gift of salvation is a very big deal. It’s HUGE.

Another analogy that comes to my mind is that of marriage. The Catholic Church rightly emphasizes the enduring nature of marriage. It the first institution ordained by God (for Adam and Eve). The family is a micro-church and the raising of children the most profound form of evangelism. One of the reasons God hates divorce is because there needs to be a measure of security for family members to trust each other. Security is an essential means for intimacy between husband and wife. But that security is not (name removed by moderator)enetrable. It is not a license for abuse or neglect.

I was in an abusive marriage for 13 years. It got progressively worse until violence started to enter the picture. I left. The Catholic Church granted me an anullment. But I believe in my heart that I didn’t leave a day before I was suppose to, because I was duty-bound to try to make it work and make the best of things.

Why would God be less enduring of others’ mistakes and sins than me? Why could a Catholic fall out of grace for missing mass without good reason when a woman may be expected to endure emotional or verbal abuse for years and remain married. I was fortunately that my previous marriage was anulled. But I have heard of others less fortunate.

Just as a relative measure of security is necessary for trust and intimacy in marriage, we need a relative measure of security in our relationship with God in order to grow. I don’t think it is impossible to lose salvation — I think it can occur if someone intentionally rejects God and salvation or commits an evil such as murder. I also think it can occur after years of spiritual neglect or habitual smaller sins. But it does not make sense that a human marriage would be more enduring than the grace of God.

Thoughts? I’m particularly interested in perspectives on 2 Cor. 5:17.

 

[nucatholic]

Coach, if Calivin was right then there is no need for the great comission. However, don’t you know that you have to read the ENTIRE Bible to understand doctrine and faith? Jesus died for ALL sins and he calls ALL to be disciples! How many times do we read that in the Bible? God is not a snoby God that only died for the elect Calivinist’s sin, he died for every last one of us. I kind of feel sorry for you but whatever happens Jesus loves you and me and everyone else.

 

[DVIN_CKS]

Pax…could you also send me your list of 65 refutes? I don’t mean to rush you, but I’m about to move to a new house and will be changing my email address. Please send me your list this weekend if possible: wawagner@comcast.net

Thanks…I look forward to using it as a great reference source!

 

[Rae]

c0achmcguirk:

Again, what verse or verses teach that we have free will?

I have been thinking a lot about this question. Many have given beautiful answers about free will and ‘predestination’. Now I’m not as educated as some, and maybe this is not a ‘sound’ observation…but I was thinking about the very nature of Christ Himself in order to look at this question regarding free will.

These were my thoughts: We are made in the image of God. Christ took on human flesh. We know that Christ has two natures, the human and the divine. These two natures work harmoniously and do not contradict the other. So, you might say that Christ had NO free will from that of the Father. But He did.
He had all of the same weaknesses and temptations that we do.
The fact that He didn’t sin is because of His Divine nature, but the ‘free will’ of his human nature was still equally present.

I then thought about this in terms of what Satan did throughout his ministry, tempting Christ at various times, and with various offers. Christ rejected them because of His Divine nature. But He was human as well, so it wasn’t a ‘piece of cake’ either. He suffered through the temptations, and, of course, came out victorious. Satan is fully aware that He is the Son of God. Why, then did he tempt Christ? He did because he knew that Christ had a human nature, and human natures can be tempted.

He actually had a choice to die on the cross for us. You could say he was ‘predestined’ to do so, by the Father’s will, but that doesn’t mean, as we all know, that He didn’t have the choice. That’s what makes it so beautiful. He chose us. He chose to save us! He took on our flesh and still could see our value and beauty, and loved us enough to say “yes, I’ll die for them”. It wasn’t easy. But He did, praise God!!!

We only have one nature. The human. Therefore, we can be tempted by Satan. And although God calls us, we have the free will that God imparted upon all of us (including His own Son)…only we can reject his call…which is sometimes, sadly, what happens. I am a firm believer in the Catholic view of salvation. It makes sense.

Let’s all pray for one another, that we may make the right choices throughout our journey, and that, ultimately, those choices will lead us straight into His awaiting arms.