Predestination
In our world today there are many different religions, Christianity being the most widely spread of them all. In Christianity there are numerous numbers of denominations all claiming to believe in the same god, but having different stances on certain issues. Each denomination stands firm on the specific issues, but only one may be right, the Catholic Church. One of the commonly disagreed upon issues is freewill and predestination. The Catholic Church and the Calvinist have widely opposing beliefs on the issue of free will and predestination. Since, religions of opposing beliefs cannot both be right, one of the denominations must be wrong, thus it is the Calvinists. The Catholic Church teaches everyone has enough actual grace to choose good over evil. This also means every human has the option to accept Christ as their lord and savior, or reject him and his teachings. No one is forced against his or her own free will to embrace the faith. The act of faith of its very nature is a free act (CCC 160). Some people choose to do right and others choose to do wrong, all do what they do by the exercise of free will. The Catholic Church teaches that free will is a gift bestowed upon us by god.
and seek salvation through patience in well doing, we may receive eternal life (CCC 55). This means anyone who uses their free will to seek out god and then decide to accept the faith they in return accept the gift of eternal life in heaven. The Catholic Church teaches that Jesus Christ died for the souls of everyone in the world for all times. This takes away any restrictions for receiving eternal life. The only person who determines their final destination is the individual. This means it is up to each person to do what they need to do to arrive at where they want to live for all eternity, heaven or hell. Thoughtfully, upon reading this essay the reader must come to the conclusion that man has free will. One must also agree with the fact that man has the will to sin or avoid sin. There is no supernatural power drawing men to sin against their will. The Calvinists are correct stating god's knowledge of who will have eternal life in heaven, but are wrong in stating solely god is the deciding factor in one's final destination. Knowing these facts, the Catholic faith has successfully disproved the teachings of Calvin on the issues of free will, predestination, and atonement. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Catholic faith clearly teaches man has free will to choose good over evil. In the case of Calvinism, man has no free will, therefore stating everything man does is because of some external supernatural force. The truth is man has free will, god has given man actual grace. This actual grace is the force granted by god to help choose good over evil. Each person has actual grace whether in the state of grace or not. This also means no single person in the whole world is forced to sin. Why would god force someone to sin? The fact is god doesn't want people to sin because sin separates the sinner from him, god wants all of his children next to him. This gives each and every human being the potential to achieve salvation, and in the end receive eternal life in heaven. This doctrine of the Catholic Church disproves the doctrine of Calvin on the issue of human's lack of free will. By deciding to reject the teachings of Christ and the teachings instituted by the Catholic Church we in turn are choosing to spend eternal life in hell. In deciding to accept the teachings of Christ and teachings of the Catholic Church one is granted eternal life in heaven. One must remember everyone is called, but not forced to seek out salvation, no one has to do what he or she doesn't want to do. In the final judging by god, he includes each person's free response (free will) to either accept or reject h
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Approximate Word count = 1798
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
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