What's the concept of Catholic Church about Free Will?

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I’m a recent convert - came from Calvinism.Calvinism emphasizes the denial of free will. What’s the Catholic concept of Free Will and how to combat Calvinism’s anti-Free Will?
 
null02 said:
I’m a recent convert - came from Calvinism.Calvinism emphasizes the denial of free will. What’s the Catholic concept of Free Will and how to combat Calvinism’s anti-Free Will?
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Catechism
MAN’S FREEDOM

1730 God created man a rational being, conferring on him the dignity of a person who can initiate and control his own actions. "God willed that man should be ‘left in the hand of his own counsel,’ so that he might of his own accord seek his Creator and freely attain his full and blessed perfection by cleaving to him."26
Man is rational and therefore like God; he is created with free will and is master over his acts.27
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1734 Freedom makes man responsible for his acts to the extent that they are voluntary. Progress in virtue, knowledge of the good, and ascesis enhance the mastery of the will over its acts.

1739 Freedom and sin. Man’s freedom is limited and fallible. In fact, man failed. He freely sinned. By refusing God’s plan of love, he deceived himself and became a slave to sin. This first alienation engendered a multitude of others. From its outset, human history attests the wretchedness and oppression born of the human heart in consequence of the abuse of freedom.

1741 Liberation and salvation. By his glorious Cross Christ has won salvation for all men. He redeemed them from the sin that held them in bondage. "For freedom Christ has set us free."34 In him we have communion with the "truth that makes us free."35 The Holy Spirit has been given to us and, as the Apostle teaches, "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom."36 Already we glory in the "liberty of the children of God."37
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http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s1c1a3.htm
 
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In Catholicism we cannot possibly be saved without our Savior, and yet we can still reject His grace, the gift of faith; we can still refuse to be saved. If we accept, and are baptized, baptism being the “sacrament of faith” and constituting our first formal public profession of faith, we can still always walk away again at any point in time. With Baptism we’re forgiven, cleansed, made new creations; we’re justified. From there we’re to continue to cooperate with even more grace given, as per the Parable of the Talents, with more expected from those who’re given more (Luke 12:48). In this way we ‘work out our salvation with He who works in us’. We can have a high degree of assurance that were saved to the extent that we bear fruit-consider Matt 25:31-46, but in the end only God knows with 100% certainty who will be saved, who will persevere to the end, whose names are written in the Book of Life.

In Catholicism the basis of that judgment is really summed up most concisely with the words of St John of the Cross:
"At the evening of life we shall be judged on our love". Love of God and neighbor is what man’s justice really consists of; it’s what faith is mean to lead to. But as Augustine put it, "Without love faith may indeed exist, but avails nothing."
 
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Basically we live in a probabilistic not deterministic world. When you get down to particle level, they do not have a fixed position in the universe. You can only ever say that a particle was in a given position to a given probability. Therefore, it’s inherently false to look at the world in 2018 and say, it was predestined to be like this. There was a probability and other possibilities depending on what the particles did.
 
Our will is a faculty or capability given to us by God to do the good, to serve Him, to pursue the good and the truth; it separates us from animals. It IS trainable.

Theologians and Philosophers sometimes refer to what’s called the “appetites”.

We have sensitive/sensible appetites…desires of our senses, inclinations toward some good…food, water, comfort, sex, rest.

And we have rational appetites, mainly “the will”, which is a desire or inclination to seek other goods…truth, acts of charity.

The Will “is defined as the rational appetite that inclines the spiritual being toward the good known by the intellect. In other words, it is the tendency to attain a good known as such. The existence of a will necessarily implies the existence of a knowing intellect.” (Charles Belmonte).

So the question for Catholics/Christians is…how do I use my will to love God, to do His will, to serve Him, to adore Him, to glorify Him, to comfort Him. How do I use (and train) my will to love Him and all His children?

“whole heart, mind, soul, and strength”.
 
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You basically gave a concept of will.But why is this will free,from a catholic perspective?
 
Go to Calvin2Catholic.com an/or call Dr. David Anders on his EWTN radio show “Called to Communion” Dr. Anders, a Presbyterian convert, deconstructs Calvinism (What did Jesus say about Jean Calvin???) on a daily basis.
 
Who is this Heisenberg and why should we care about anything he said? He a saint somehow? How just some guy be reason enough because he said so?
 
Mary888 said:
Who is this Heisenberg and why should we care about anything he said? He a saint somehow? How just some guy be reason enough because he said so?
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Oh gosh this really made me laugh. Thank you, genuinely the funniest thing i’ve read in 2018.
 
Well I am glad. Maybe I am not a complete wate of skin and tissues.
🤓
 
God made it so; revealed truth. Scripture is full of direct points that we have a will that can choose or not choose to do the will of God.

Mary’s own example. St John’s repeated use of “Abide in me” (clearly a choice for us).

From a Catholic perspective, enabling humans with such a will - free to choose or not choose God - allows for the expansion of the glory of God. A perfection of perfection.

And so, it’s better that way!

About the only things that God DOESN’T have is composition and potency.

He is not composed of sub parts or faculties AND He is total actuality, pure act, pure essence.

Free will thus shows our potency! We have the potential to choose the good or not. God always seeks the greatest good imaginable.

So we add to God’s glory by choosing Him.
 
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