Predestination issue

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I am referring this to all of you. Can you please make me understand what Predestiantion means to the Catholic teachings? Thanks
 
I’ll give you a simplified view of Catholic teaching.

Catholics believe two things:
  1. God has a plan for everyone and that plan will come to pass
  2. Man has free will and can chose to be saved by getting Baptized and staying in the state of Grace by doing the will of God thereafter. If man turns from God through sin, he can be reconciled through the sacrament of reconciliation. If he is not reconciled, he has condemned himself.
Catholic teaching teaches that both of the two things listed above can and will be satisfied without infringing on the other. This states means that God’s plan for man can coexist with man’s free will and that the two will cooperate perfectly. While there is no doubt about the result, the actual means of this cooperation has never been resolved because it simply can’t be known in this life. The Thomists (followers of Thomas Aquinas) speculated that God made each man in such a way that each man would do exactly what God planned for him of his own free will. The Molinist (Followers of the great Dominican theologist, Molina) speculate that God could foresee what each man would do and developed his plan accordingly. In any case, it doesn’t matter to man what the mechanism is because he has know idea of God’s plan for his life and so he must simply lead it the best he can and the will be rewarded or condemned based on whether he remains in the state of grace as discussed above.

The two main ramifications of the Catholic sotierology are:
  1. Man can not claim he earns heaven through his works because everything comes from God and salvation is a free gift of God through his mercy.
  2. Man also can not blame God if he is not saved, because salvation is the responsibility of the individual based on the choices he makes in life: to life a life in the state or Grace or to turn from God through sin.
So man IS predestined as part of God’s plan but he is also responsible for his salvation. We believe that these are NOT contradictory statements, and that God can make them happen in perfect harmony.

I hope this helps explain it in simple terms.
 
gookykookypig said:
I am referring this to all of you. Can you please make me understand what Predestiantion means to the Catholic teachings? Thanks
Click to expand...
According to Thomas Aquinas it is an extension of the idea of God’s providence over all things. “God wills their [the predestined’s] salvation; and to this belong election and love: --love inasmuch as He wills them this particular good of eternal salvation…:–election inasmuch as he wills this good to some in preference to others, since he reprobates some…”. This is all grounded in God’s Love according to Thomas and the sole basis for God’s election of the predestined is God’s Love.

Thomas’ treatment of Predestination can be found in the Summa Theologica, Part I, Question 23. Thomas is very much an Augustinian on the topic.
The general treatment of Providence in the Catechism can be found beginning at #302 and following. #759 is also worth looking at.

salaam.
 
Badaliyyah said:
According to Thomas Aquinas it is an extension of the idea of God’s providence over all things. “God wills their [the predestined’s] salvation; and to this belong election and love: --love inasmuch as He wills them this particular good of eternal salvation…:–election inasmuch as he wills this good to some in preference to others, since he reprobates some…”. This is all grounded in God’s Love according to Thomas and the sole basis for God’s election of the predestined is God’s Love.

Thomas’ treatment of Predestination can be found in the Summa Theologica, Part I, Question 23. Thomas is very much an Augustinian on the topic.
The general treatment of Providence in the Catechism can be found beginning at #302 and following. #759 is also worth looking at.

salaam.
Click to expand...
And #600!
 
Heard something some what disturbing today on an evangelical radio station with regards to what seemed was predestination. His basic premise was that Christ did not die to grant salvation to all, basically what he called an unlimited salvation with limited effect, but that he died to grant salvation to those that would believe what he called limited salvation with unlimited effect. I’m not sure why it was disturbing, but it just didn’t sit right.
 
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