“”All double predestination means is that God is sovereign and He chooses His children and who will be with Him in Heaven.””
Everyone is chosen to be God’s children,it’s our free decisions that send us to hell and has nothing to do with God sovereignty deciding from eternity.God can only desire goodness in creation since that is His essence.Hell is completed connected to mans decisions to do evil
“Thou lovest all things that are, and hatest nothing of the things that Thou hast made” (Wisd. xi, 25)
From the words of the late blessed Pope JPII...
“Eternal damnation”, therefore, is not attributed to God’s initiative because in his merciful love he can only desire the salvation of the beings he created. In reality, it is the creature who closes himself to his love. Damnation consists precisely in definitive separation from God, freely chosen by the human person and confirmed with death that seals his choice for ever. God’s judgement ratifies this state.
FK-””I really may not understand what the Church teaches here as I find these two sections completely contradictory. One shares credit between God and man’s free will (meaning will that has not been under God’s control)””
Nothing contradictory,dear brother. Man moved by Grace can accept that Grace and freely follow God’s will,thus man synergistically WITH GOD does good works enlightened by the Holy Spirit being fully aware and wanting to participate with God through that synergism with God.
A few words from Church Fathers...
“When effort on our part is absent, then God’s help also stops.” Saint John Chrysostom
“God works together with willing souls. But if the person abandons his eagerness, the spirit from God is also restrained. To save the unwilling is the act of one using compulsion; but to save the willing, that of one showing grace.” 190 AD St. Clement of Alexandria Salvation of the Rich Man chap. 21
Everyone is chosen to be God’s children,it’s our free decisions that send us to hell and has nothing to do with God sovereignty deciding from eternity.God can only desire goodness in creation since that is His essence.Hell is completed connected to mans decisions to do evil
“Thou lovest all things that are, and hatest nothing of the things that Thou hast made” (Wisd. xi, 25)
If one examines Scriptural inclusion of the 'reprobate', one discovers that there are only 3 instances and only in Paul. They speak of reprobate of works and of faith. Not of the pre-damned of Reformed theology.
and
"“Eternal damnation”, therefore, is not attributed to God’s initiative because in his merciful love he can only desire the salvation of the beings he created. In reality, it is the creature who closes himself to his love. Damnation consists precisely in definitive separation from God, freely chosen by the human person and confirmed with death that seals his choice for ever. God’s judgement ratifies this state."
Sometimes Roman Catholicism can be completely Orthodox. :)
And then there are times when the Catechism deviates from the the consensus patrum that it is positively breath taking. For example, that section of the Catechism found here:
http://www.vatican.va/archive/catechism/p3s1c3a2.htm
on "Merit" is so at odds with what The Church in the East teaches as to be a stumbling block to reunion. Quite aside from the assertion that we can become partakers of the Divine Nature ("[T]he hypostatic union is fulfilled only in the case of the Logos, the God-man." +Gregory Palamas), to maintain that our theosis is in any fashion the result of some "merit" as opposed to dying to the self and becoming like God, by freely given grace alone, through the following of the Commandments and the practice of those virtues which are particular attributes of God.
"We unite ourselves to Him [God], in so far as this is possible, by participating in the godlike virtues and by entering into communion with Him through prayer and praise. Because the virtues are similitudes of God, to participate in them puts us in a fit state to receive the Deity, yet it does not actually unite us to Him. But prayer through its sacral and hieratic power actualizes our ascent to and union with the Deity, for it is a bond between noetic creatures and their Creator." +Gregory Palamas
The Catechism's talk of "merit", and even more so of the "Treasury of Merit", leads me to conclude that the Western Church believes that somehow or other humans can "deserve" theosis, that they can "merit" it and that The Church can dole out additional "merit" from its Treasury to whomsoever it wishes. This looks to me to be the pernicious result of the notions of indulgences and quantifiable "created grace (created energies)". There is a profound difference, at least as I see it, between the metanoia leading to theosis experienced by those who die to the self and live only in noetic contemplation of the Trinity and practicing the divine virtues and following the Commandments in order to get "merit" which then, apparently, compels God (Necessity again?)to admit the Christian into a union with Him. Do I misunderstand? Is it simply the words the Catechism uses? You know, the implications of this for any reunion are not good, my friend.
That is my understanding of Catholicism as it relates to salvation. God's sovereignty has nothing to do with it. Only man's sovereignty matters in the end. I realize the argument might be that God wanted it that way, but I can't accept it. :)
“When effort on our part is absent, then God’s help also stops.” Saint John Chrysostom
That sounds eerily similar to "God only helps those who help themselves". He didn't mean that, did he? :)
On a side note, I might be making a few more posts, but I'm sure they will be trailing off as Christmas eve approaches. So just in case, let me take this opportunity to wish each of you and your families a most blessed and merry Christmas. May the Good Lord shine His heart on all of your spirits as we celebrate our Savior's birth. God bless you all.