To understand PREDISTINATION, let us look at three men who theologically-interacted and had influence on one another's thought though they never met each other. These men are:
1) Martin Luther, born in Germany on November 10, 1483 and died on Febraury 18, 1546.
2) John Calvin, born in France on July 10, 1509 and died in Geneva on May 27, 1564.
3) St. Francis De Sales, Bishop of Geneva, born August 21, 1567 and died on December 28, 1622.
His Feast Day in the Church is on January 24. He is declared a Doctor of the Universal Church.
4) St. Thomas Aquinas, "Angelic Doctor", born in Naples in 1225, died in Fossa Nuova, March 7, 1274.
His Feast Day in the Church is on January 28. He is declared a Doctor of the Universal Chruch.
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1) Martin Luther was a scrupulous Catholic priest/monk who came to the all-pervasive conclusion that we are saved by grace and faith alone...and not by works or even by our own efforts to holiness or lack of it. This inability of man to reach God by our own spiritual desires but only by the grace of God and our faith in Him has some validity: This is true in that "All Salvivic Action" begins with God. Grace does come before anything. However, in James Gospel, he writes "Not by faith alone....." and "Faith without works is dead." Jesus on the last day will say to every member of the human race: "I was hungry and you gave to me to eat....Whatever you did for the least of my brethern, you did to me." And to those who are condemned, He will say: "For I was hungry and you gave me no food.....Whatever you did not do to the least of my breathen, you did not do to Me." Jesus also said: "Not those who say, 'Lord, Lord' will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but those who did the will of my Father."
The conclusion is clear: we all will be judged on what the free gift of Faith given to us - what it has produced: "fruit that will remain" or our not using that Faith to minister to Christ in our fellowman. According to what we do with this free gift of Faith will determine our etenal destiny. God does not "pre-destined" what we will do with the Faith He gives us and the Grace He gives EVERYONE to be saved. We determine what we do with God's grace and gift of Faith. We are not puppets of God; we are persons of God - ALL made in His own image and likeness. And that Image and Likeness of God is our FREEDOM to choose.
The Scripture says: "I place life and death before you; choose life." The Holy Word also has these marvelous words that God is saying to ALL of creation without exception: "I will that all men be saved and that none be lost." Therefore God gives to every person sufficient grace to be saved and be happy with Him in heaven."
Martin Luther - once separated from the One, Holy, Catholic Church - soon fell into heresy. When confronted by James gospel, Martin said: "O that gospel of straw!" So when Scripture refutes a heretic, he just gives an "ad hominem" argument against Holy Writ: "that gospel of straw." So by making James a writer of straw, then the words of James do not have any more validity. Heresy is so blind.
Martin also fell into another heresy: In stead of understanding Transubstantiation that the whole substance of bread is changed into the whole substance of the Body of Christ, Martin believed in Consubstantiation that there is still bread there but Jesus's Body is there, too. Both occupy the same substance. Well, philosphically not even theologically, Martin has left the universe of reason. Aristotle would have chided him and tell him that two substances cannot occupy the same place at the same time: that would be ontologically an impossibility. In the Eucharist only Christ is present; there is no substance of bread present.
There is two phenomenon about a heretic: the believe in a delusion (false belief - even if they have to contradict Scripture to maintain it.) and they feel compelled to teach other their erros. This was true of the priest Jansen who taught that Jesus in not God - not comsubstantial with the Father or the Holy Spirit. He taught many; and now in our present day we have the same heresy of the Jehovah Witnesses who change Scripture to read: "In the beginning was the word. The word was with God, and the word was a god." Whereas, John wrote: "In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God, and the Word was God...and the Word became flesh.." But Holy Scripture says this: "Woe to anyone who adds or subtracts for the Scritures." Placing the article "a" before god and using lower case for god instead of God is truly changing the Word of God. In Greek and Latin, there is no word for "a", so where do the Jehovah Witnesses get this article? Heresy then is always: illogical, a falsification, and a rationalization. What are the results of heresy: Well, if you go into to any Lutheran church, you will not find the Holy Eucharist in the tabernacle with a red sanctuary light to remind us the Christ is present in the church Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity. The Eucharist is the Source and Summit of Catholic Faith; but the Eucharist is no longer adored in the tabernacles of all these Lutheran churches. Without Jesus Eucharistically present, these Lutheran churchs are religious gathering places instead of the House of God - with a sanctuary of the Holy of Holies: God Himself.
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2) John Calvin was the son of a lawyer and was trained in the humanities. He very much relied on the writings and theology of Martin Luther. For 37 years both Martin Luther and John Calvin were living on this earth at the same time. Germany was not that far from France; yet these two men never made the effort to meet. But John read a lot of Martin and fundamentally agreed with him about grace. Martin's enphasis on "grace" and "faith" alone became for Calvin the very fundamental basis of his doctrine of Predestination. The doctrine of Predestination preached by John Calvin convinced many French Catholics to embrace Protestantism. What exactly John Calvin preached was not recorded; but there is a way to possibly look into the fruit of what he taught about Predestination by a few quotes from "CalvinCorner" website. Such a website would not bear Calvin's name if it did not have some basis in Calvin doctrine and thought. Remember John Calvin did believe that man's will was so sinful that no man was capable to even respond to grace. Man was not capable of choosing God...and not responsible for not choosing God. Man was just not free to choose because of his sinfulness. Given the chance to choose, man would always choose sin..not God. Therefore, God saved those whom He wills and lets the others to go to hell because they cannot choose God. God only gives grace to some to be saved. They do not merit heaven; God just saves them. Others He does not. Man's will is so sinful that it cannot choose God. That was the crux of John Calvin's teaching which he built on Martin Luther's thought. Both of these men's teachings are heretical because they do contradict the Holy Word of God. God is TRUTH. Heresy is a sophisticated LIE. When we speak the TRUTH, we mirror God to others. When we speak the LIE, we manifest the "father of lies" - Satan. Now Satan can quote Scripture as he did when tempting Christ. But when speaking the truth of Scripture, Satan does so for his own twisted purpose. Jesus counters Satan's quotes with His own quotes that clarify the issue at hand and smash Satan's logic. The same is what Heresy: Heritical doctrine often quotes from Scripture but with a personal interpretation that is not merited from the text or a twisting of the text to fit one's own beliefs or even by an outright denial of the Scripture. For example, Predestination proponents when confronted with the Scripture: "I will that all men be saved and none be lost," merely say that "all" means "all Christians" not all men. This solopsistic interpretation of the word, "all" distorts the meaning and intent of the Holy Spirit. This distortion has to be for the Predestinationist because he believes that only those are saved whom God wills to be; and that God according to the Predestinationist doesn't will everyone to be saved. So to keep their doctrine in tact, these men distort Scripture to mean what they want it to mean. When Scripture says: "All have sinned and come short of the glory of the Lord." Does "all" here mean only Christians? It means "all" of the human race.
Let's understand something about Heresy and Satan: Satan is a diabolical chief shepherd who gives to his souls pastures of fire and brimstone. He twists the Gospel to win souls for himself. Heresy is the best way to get believers into Hell with him. Satan knows he cannot really suppress the Word of God or the Church. So, he does the next best thing: twist the Word and flood Christiandom with 50,000 denominations - all who claim to be able to interpret Scripture correctly. Jesus said: You are Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church." He did not say "churches" - so the fact that there are 50,000 different churches, shows that Satan has tried to make the ONE TRUE CHURCH unrecognizable. He's clever. He told Eve: "God knows you will not die but will be like Him knowing good and evil." So, Satan contradicts God's mandate not to eat of the fruit by appealing to Eve to become like God...and determine for herself what is good and bad. Satan is a liar...the "father of lies" and actually cannot tell the truth because the truth is not in him. So when confronted with Heresy - Predestination - you will see a lot of Satan's editorializing of Scripture and reason and rationalizations to try to make things consistent that are impossible to be consistent. It takes sometimes a hundren lies to cover up one lie. Heresy is a mini-universe of convoluted lies.
With that introduction, here are some contemporary thoughts from The Calvin Corner which you can seek out for complete coverage. But these quotes are the essential understanding of John Calvin and mirror quite well John Calvin's thought. Please understand as a theologian, John Calvin is second only to St. Augustine in his influence on Christianity. So, nothing here is unimportant. We should try to follow the logic if any to understand our Protestant brothers and sisters:
1) "Predestination is the doctrine that God alone chooses (elects) who is saved. God makes His choice independent of the quality and condition in sinful man. He does not look in a person and recognize good and bad. He does not look into the future to see who would choose Him."
[My comment: How God chooses who will be saved or not is clearly explained in the Gospels: Jesus said: "I was hungry and you gave me to eat..naked and you clothed me...in prison and you came to visit me..Come enter into my Father's Kingdom. (and to those on his left: He said: "I was hungry and you did not give me food. I was naked and you did not clothe me...in prison and you did not visit me. ...Go away from me you evil doers..." So the Criterion Jesus uses is simply how we all minister to Him in our life. Note that all men of all faiths will hear these words. Jesus will not be talking to just Christians. In this criterion, Jesus Himself believes in the free choice of man to do good or neglect good. God choice is absolutely not independent of the good or bad He sees in man. It is absolutely what He sees in man's soul that determines his eternal destiny. Man thus choose heaven or hell based on his ministering to Christ in all the poor. Jesus is talking to all men of all faiths. At the Last Judgment he will again reiterate what He has said: "Not those who say, 'Lord, Lord' but those who do the will of my Father." Also, when Jesus says "Whatever you did for the least of my brethren you did to me..." - both of these words: "do" and "did" imply a free choice. If we were not free to choose, then He could not reward or condemn. God is just.]
2) "God elects people to salvation purely on the basis of His good pleasure. Those not elected are those not saved. He does this because He is sovereign. He has the right to elect some to salvation and let all the rest go their natural way: to hell. This is predestination."
[My comments: The above theology of God is truly heretical because it does not square with God's revelation of Himself. Satan would like you to believe paragraph 2 because "that God" would be an unloveable and unjust God. Satan here is attacking more than doctrines; he is attacking the very nature and essence of God. Satan is trying to create God in Satan's own image and likeness: unjust and unloveable.]
3) "Man's free will: many believe that man has free will, something that resides in him...is completely able to independently accept or reject God. Man's free will is sinful. What will a sinful free will choose? Sin! His free will would never allow him to reach out to God. Free will is the ability to choose according to one's desires. ..Since man is full of sin, no goodness he chooses can undo his sinfulness. What will a sinful free will choose? Sin!"
[My comments: the above quote mis-defines free will and then set out to refute free will as it is thus mis-defined. No where does any theologian or scripture say that "man can independently accept or reject God." That is not what free will is! This above quote is convoluted and illogical. Free will is man's very capability for acceptance or rejection of God's Grace. We are dependent on God's grace and can accept or reject it. The predestinationist says that so-called free will cannot choose anything but sin. That very statement contradicts the vert essebce if what the grace of God really is: grace is the life of God within us. If we have to choose sin, then we cannot choose to accept God's grace. That would make man not human but a robot of some sort that has to act according to one's programming. But man is not programmed to do evil. He can by God's grace accept God's grace. God gave man to be in the image and likeness of God: freedom. God is essentially free. God can Know and Love. So therefore we who are in the image and likeness of God are free and can know and love. Man's freedom is his being like God: in the image and likeness of God. The predestinaionist essentially negates who man is: whom God made man to be for His honor and glory. Man is free to accept or reject God's grace because man is like God - free to choose. Thus, the predestinastionist argument is circular and redefines not only man but God Himself. Of course, that is Satan's plan completely. The predestinationist without knowing it is working tooth and nail for Satan's grand plan. Debase man and thus debase man's perception of God.]
4) Predestinationist: "But I actually did choose to accept God. That's right. You did so only because God first regenerated you, freed your will from sin, and then therefore allowed you to be able to choose Him. Regeneratin precedes Faith. The regenerated person is no longer a slave..to sin and is then able to accept God. He then does choose God."
[My comments: What is so false about that statment 4) is that even when God allows some to freely choose Him, He does not give this regenerative power to all men equally. If God does not offer this grace of regeneration to everyone, then God is not "good" but a God of caprice. Thus statement 4) is the most subtle of all because it sounds so true. But the ring you hear is not the ring of truth but a ring of rationalization to prove that God is "good" because He saves some people. The the predestinationist argues that without Predestination, no one would be saved at all! But that argument of God's saving a few as thus saving God from being "bad" does not follow logically because the major premise: God only gives the grace of choose Him to a few is a false statement based on positing as a statement about God as true when it is that very statement that one is setting out to prove. Thus the predestinationist is confusing "de facto" (from the fact) with "ipso facto" (the very fact).
It is just possible to posit a "good" God when he creates a soul that is destined for hell. If God does not offer salvation to everyone, then He is definitely committing the sin of double predestination: ordering some to heaven and some to hell..without anyone's free choice involved. O yes, we must understand that God does give some "free will" to freely choose Him; but He does not give this free will to others. The predestinationist worldview or heavenview is a God who is sovereign but not caring: not Fatherly. Actually, the God of the Muslems fit that kind of God: What happens is because "Allah wills it!" That phrase is essentially a negation of God's gift of free will.
Therefore, Predestination is a false doctrine: a heresy because it defines God as essentally a non-God because if God is not "good", then He is not God. Scripture says: "I will that all men be saved and none be lost," the predestinationist-heretic has to re-define "all" as meaning just Christians, because when Scripture refutes a heretic, he just changes the meaning of Scripture to fit his rationalization Because if God saves the few, He is not good. But the predestinationist says "God is merciful to even save a few and is not constrained to save anyone." "Bonum est diffusivum sui" - "Goodness has a tendency to go out of itself." God radiates goodness when He creates us. When God created Adam and Eve, they were "good" and not sinful. They were free. They did not have to sin. Adam and Eve's nature was essentially GOOD. It was the lies of Satan who tempted them to sin. And Satan is still tempting the predestinationist to sin by changeing God's nature and man's nature. God did not create a sinful nature in man. Man freely chose to reject God's counsel and to try and be like God. Satan is the Father of Lies. Heresy is Satan's loud-speaker!]
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3) Saint Francis De Sales:
Just three years after John Calvin died in Geneva in1564, Francis De Sales was born in Geneva in 1567.
When Francis was growing up, predestination as taught be John Calvin was rappant in France. Whole districts of Catholics were won over by Calvinist missionaries who taught predestination vigorously.
Francis was consecrated Bishop of Geneva by the choice of Pope Clement VII in 1602. The very first thing Bishop De Sales did was to make a catechetical institute for the old and the young. Remember, the Prostestant Reformation spearheaded by Martin Lugther and John Calvin has won over many Catholics; and the Bishop knew that this was because of poor catechesis in the docrines of the Catholic Church. He wrote pamphlets and gave many talks - even outside his diocese. He won back whole districts of the faithful back to the Catholic Church and true doctrine. He was so successful that there were two assassination attempts on his life. Heresy does not like to be denounced. Some heretics thought that if you kill the messenger, the message will die with him. That was not the case however; because the Bishop's courage in the face of martyrdom only became stronger. In fighting the heresy of predestination, he went to the Seat of Wisdom: Our Lady and received much healing from her and the wisdom to refute the errors of Calvanism.
In 1622, Bishop Francis De Sales died and was Beatified in 1661. He was cCannozied a Saint by Pope Alexander VII, in 1665. He was declared a Doctor of the Universal Church.
It is interesting that Martin Luther and John Calvin were not declared "Saints"...because as Jesus said: "He who teaches all that I have given you shall be great in the kingdom of God; those who do not teach all that I have given you will be called least in the kingdom of God."
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4) Saint Thomas Aquinas:
St. Thomas was a philosopher, theologian, Doctor of the Church and is considered patron of Catholic universities and schools. His life could be summed up as devoted to praying, preaching, teaching, writing and journeying. He surpassed everyone of his day in accuracy, lucidity, brevity and power of exposition. and most of all in universality of knowledge which was eclectic: it was Aristotelian, Platonic, Socatic; it was inductive and deductive, analytic and synthetic. He was holy, as well: after having completed a treatise on the Eucharist, he was lifted up in ectasy, and his bretheren heard a voice coming from the crucifix on the altar saying: "Thou has written well of Me. Thomas, what reward will thou have?" Thomas replied: "None other than Thyself, Lord."
St. Thomas' "Summa Theologica" - the greatest theological work ever written in the Church - contains 38 treatises, 612 questions subdivided into 3120 articles in which 10,000 objections are proposed and answered. Even so, this work was never completed because three months before Thomas died, God gave Thomas such a great revelation of Himself to Thomas that Thomas could not even put it into word. In fact, Thomas did not speak during those months until God took him hom to Himself. I am convinced that only in dialogue with God - in spirit and truth - can any true knowledge be attained. It is what we hear in our loving conversation with God that we learn about God. We can only write what God reveals to us and the Holy Spirit recalls to minds and lucidates even more as we write or talk about God. EVERYTHING good comes from the Holy Spirit. A piano key is nothing unless a master plays upon it. Without the Master, The Holy Spirit we remain a silent and inert piano key which has no knowledge of Beethoven or Bach.
Now, a to the question of Free Will and Grace, let us turn to Saint Thomas Aquinas. Martin Luther and John Calvin surely had access to the writings of Saint Thomas, a Doctor of the Universal Church. In this quote I am about to give you, please notice how closely St.Thomas anticipated the twisting of "grace" and "free will" of Calvin, almost using the very terms that Calvin would use two hundred years in the future: Saint Thomas wrote:
"Since a man cannot be directed to his ultimate end except by the help of divine grace, someone might think a man should not be blamed if he lacks these things, especially since he cannot merit the help of divine grace or turn to God unless God turns him. But..many unsuitable thins obviously follow..he would not be worthy of punishment...To solve this problem we must notice that although a man by the movement of free will can neither merit nor obtain grace, yet he can block himself from receiving it...But they alone are deprived of grace who set up in themselves an impediment to grace, just when the sun shines on the world, he deserves blame who shuts his eyes."
In this passage, St. Thomas says: "they alone are deprived of grace who set up in themselves an impediment to grace" which implies that man has a free will to reject grace and only those who freely reject grace are those who will be blamed. Yes, it is true that Grace is gratutous from God. Faith is gratuitous. But God's gratutious gifts are blocked not by God but by man's free rejection of grace. Predestination says that some are predestined to heaven or hell. But St. Thomas Aquinas' flow of logical theology presupposes that God offers ALL men the sufficient grace to be saved. If someone is not saved, it is not God's fault or will. It is the person's free choice to reject Grace and Salvation. Predestination actually is false because it rejects the caupability of man for the loss of his salvation. Man is caupable. God has said: "I will that all men be saved and none be lost." That shows that the gratitous gift of God is offered to all men.
Regarding God's most gratitous Gift of all: "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him shall have eternal life." John 3:16. PREDESTINATION NULLIFIES THIS GIFT FROM THE FATHER. Predestination makes the Paschal Mystery: Christ's suffering, death and resurrection - null and void because Predestination says that Jesus only died for a few and not for all.
Make no mistake: Predestination actually make null and void the Incarnation of Jesus Christ because Christ came to die for ALL men that ALL men may be saved. Predestination is therefore an attack upon God, Himself, Jesus Christ....who with His Free WIll chose not to do what He wanted but to do the Will of the Father who sent Him: Father, if possible let this chalice pass from me but not as I will but as You will." Therefore, it is by our free will that we can give up what we want and do the will of God - in chastity of heart - that is having a pure love for God that the Holy Spirit enables us to have. Freedom of Will is not freedom to do as we wish but freedom to choose to do what is right and good. That free will makes us like Jesus and especially like our Father in Heaven who called us ALL into existence to be happy with Him now and in Heaven eternally.
Father, God of Love and Truth, be merciful and forgiving to all those who teach and preach Predestination and grant them the Holy Spirit of Truth to speak to their hearts so that they would truly come to know You and the One You sent so that they can be saved and come to the community of the Saints - now and forever.
All this we ask humbly in Jesus' Name, we pray. Amen.
Peace and love,
Pio
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