Yes, I believe He elects us. I just don’t believe His election means we don’t have a free will. I don’t think you are wrong about many things! You have good knowledge of Scripture, and you may rely on Him more than myself, for all I know.
What I am suggesting, is that the “elect” are such, because they have been chosen and cooperated with God, unto the end.
I don’t believe God allows the elect to die in their Mortal sins. He gives them the opportunity to repent, like David and Peter. Yet some, who believed and are sanctified, do not repent, and may be cut off from the Salvation offered to them.
But this shouldn’t be a point of division for us. We should accept what the Church determines, or simply acknowledge that it is our personal opinion and not think we “know”. Right?
I generally use RSV-CE… and ESV (from my non-Catholic years). But the term Mortal means “unto death”. So this shouldn’t be a source of contention either.
I agree, but also disagree. I agree, because God is in eternity. He knows our final state of justification. But I disagree, because we are in time, and we can receive His Spirit of Life, yet after trials and temptations, give up this Spirit for our own pleasures and weaknesses.
Ok, thank you. I don’t know if I can find them! It’s a large thread now!
I hope you know that I’m not trying to tell you, you are wrong. I just think that you seem to be portraying some Catholic positions with an inaccurate interpretation. I think the whole “elect” issue has come up often, and it’s not so simple to understand. I believe we need to understand the “elect” as those who God knew would prevail in His grace. We should not think it means that the “elect” are able to sin without remorse and repentance.
So, I’m sure this passage has been addressed, but it’s the most appropriate for the discussion of “election”.
1 Peter 1
His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, that through these you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of passion, and become partakers of the divine nature.
For this very reason make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these things are yours and abound, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these things is blind and shortsighted and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. Therefore, brethren, be the more zealous to confirm your call and election, for if you do this you will never fall; so there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
If you look closely to passages like these, you see that their is a “condition” to our calling and election. What does it mean to “confirm your calling and election”? Peter explains earlier that we must “supliment our faith” with virtues that produce fruits of faith.
This is what I think we should acknowledge. That without a “living faith” that turns from sins, we fall away from Him and His salvation. I agree that we don’t need to earn our salvation, but that we get to participate in our salvation. We are given His Spirit to be led by. If we neglect His Spirit, we can be “cut off” from the Tree of Life". He alone will be the judge of this matter, when we meet Him after our death.
