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ynotzap
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Predestination as taught by the Catholic Church , in a theological sense is the order or plan conceived by God to bring the rational creature to it’s supernatural end, which is eternal life (St. Thomas) St.Paul in Holy Scripture speaks of it most insistently (rom. 8, Eph. l)indicating a plan of God, which envisages as a whole the Christian salvation of mankind to be effective through grace and the heavenly gifts, human cooperation, however, not being excluded. Tradition culminates in St. Augustine, who against Pelagians, developed amply the thought of St.Paul, conceiving the idea of category of men, whom God, according to His will and choice, helps in such a way as to assure their salvation. To other men God grants some help, but not as efficacious as to the pre-destined, in fact they are not saved. The intimate nature of pre-destination is a mystery, but none can accuse God of injustice, since original sin has made humanity a “mass of damnation,” and God out His sheer goodness , selects in it a group of souls pre-destined infallibly to eternal life. Moreover, no one is damned without his own guilt. The Church has defined gratuitousness of predestination to grace and glory, but has condemned the pre-destination of Gottschalk, Huss, Wicliffe, Luther, and Calvin who put those predestined to hell on the same footing, independently of merit or demerit. Christian doctrine insists on two things. A) to be saved we must co-operate with grace; B) no one is damned unless it be through his own fault. C. of Orange, C. of Trent, C. of Kiersy. Rejecting this teaching is not being consistent with the requirements of the Faithful. Which is faithful adherence to it’s teachings. One can question the teaching in order to understand it the best one can, but to reject it?
In your initial acceptance of the Faith, you say it was absolute, does this imply that at one time you had an encounter with Christ that led you to turn from sin and turn to God? Or was it a process of indoctrination, and sacramental procedure, going through the formality. Did you have a personal relationship with Christ even in the slightest degree? Did you really understand the Catholic Faith to the degree that when encountering other faiths that you could remain strong in your faith. Or could it be that the beliefs of the faith didn’t satisfy your own reason, did your faith become subject to your reason, that God had to satisfy your mind, in order that you remain faithful? Didn’t you trust Him without this satisfaction? When you say you had absolute faith why did you question it? Because you saw that what appeared to be an irrational condition in humanity? What did you believe? Your position appear to be a paradox, you where absolute, and then you became not sure. If you were weak in understanding the Faith, I can readily see where investigating other religions, and not understanding your own and the conditions of the world, and subjecting your faith to your reason could cause some serious problems in being a Christian, as a matter of fact you could have lost what you had. Then again maybe you never had an encounter with Christ to start with.