Predestination vs free will?

[Adamski]

Does the catholic church teach both are possible ?

And if some are predestined for heaven are others predestined to hell?
So many people I meet refuse to seek God by searching at all

 

[stewstew03]

Does the catholic church teach both are possible ?

And if some are predestined for heaven are others predestined to hell?
So many people I meet refuse to seek God by searching at all

Scripture teaches both, so yes, the Church teaches both.

:bible1:

 

[mymamamary]

Yes I would say so, because Our LORD does know where we are going to end up (Predestination), however, HE has given us a Free Will and by this gives us a chance to fix our possible end, meaning that even though HE knows where we will end up, its “not set in stone”, we can still change that by our actions,and HE gives us the Grace and oppertunities to do that.

 

[R_C]

Here is a General Audience of the Pope on the topic: The Mystery of Predestination in Christ.

St. Ignatius of Loyola wrote the following “rule” in his Spiritual Exercises:

We ought not, by way of custom, to speak much of predestination; but if in some way and at some times one speaks, let him so speak that the common people may not come into any error, as sometimes happens, saying: Whether I have to be saved or condemned is already determined, and no other thing can now be, through my doing well or ill; and with this, growing lazy, they become negligent in the works which lead to the salvation and the spiritual profit of their souls.

 

[Richca]

Both predestination to eternal life and free will are truths of scripture and the catholic faith. However, God doesn’t predestine any person to hell before foreseen demerits as He wills all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Tim 2:4). Confer the “Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma” by Dr. Ludwig Ott. Throughout the history of the Church there has been much theological discussion concerning the mysteries of predestination and God’s providence and how to reconcile those mysteries with free will. One of the best books I have read concerning these mysteries is by Fr. William G. Most and is titled “Grace, Predestination, and the Salvific Will of God”. Concerning grace and free will the Council of Trent defined that man can resist the grace of God. In the Catechism of the Catholic Church it says talking about grace that " God’s free initiative demands man’s free reponse" ( No. 2002). In the same catechism we read, " To God, all moments of time are present in their immediacy. When therefore he establishes his eternal plan of predestination, he includes in it each person’s free response to his grace" (No. 600). Indeed, it is by obstinately resisting God’s grace and his will that we pave a path to hell ourselves.

 

[ajcstr]

From wiki:

The Roman Catholic Church calls predestination God’s Plan and states that this plan also includes free will for mankind. Catechism of the Catholic Church #600 says:

To God, all moments of time are present in their immediacy. When therefore he establishes his eternal plan of “predestination,” he includes in it each person’s free response to his grace: “In this city, in fact, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.” [Acts 4:27-28; cf. Ps 2:1-2] For the sake of accomplishing his plan of salvation, God permitted the acts that flowed from their blindness. [cf. Mt 26:54; Jn 18:36; 19:11; Acts 3:17-18]

Catechism #1037 also states:

God predestines no one to go to hell; for this, a willful turning away from God (a mortal sin) is necessary, and persistence in it until the end. In the Eucharistic liturgy and in the daily prayers of her faithful, the Church implores the mercy of God, who does not want “any to perish, but all to come to repentance…”.[7]

 

[babs57]

We know what we need to be saved. ie:

Faith
Baptism
Doing the will of the Father
Persevering to the end

It stands to reason that if we are predestined, we will be doing all these things.

We ourselves don’t know if we are one of “the elect”, because we cannot know if we will persevere to the end. But we must try. We CANNOT BE one of the elect if we don’t. We must cooperate with God’s will, and this cooperation is the exercise of our free will.

 

[babs57]

Does the catholic church teach both are possible ?

And if some are predestined for heaven are others predestined to hell?
So many people I meet refuse to seek God by searching at all

No on is predestined to hell. (This is called double predestination.) God does not will anyone to be damned. But it is my understanding that He merely passes by those whom He knows will not do His will, and gives graces to those who will respond to Him.