Thursday 29 July 2010

Further Thoughts

The question that I added at the end of my first post of thoughts on the topic of predestination has bothered me. It seems 'impious' to assert that the fall of Adam was inevitable. Yet, it did happen, and with limited intellectual capabilities, such speculation is beyond man.
Was it 'necessary' that God should create the universe? Certainly not. Creation did not 'emanate' from Him, under some form of compulsion. The Lord freely chose to bring the earth and her inhabitants into existence ex nihilo. In other words, He would have lost nothing of His goodness and glory should He have chosen differently.
In His wisdom, He, from all eternity, decided to allow man to share in the divine trinitarian life and manifest His glory.
So it was with the fall of man. We could say, under certain conditions, that the fall was inevitable as God had foreseen it occurring in time and space and permitted it. The divine will is not directionless, it rests upon the divine intellect, otherwise He would love what He does not comprehend.
Such a good as the Incarnation of the Logos outweighed the evil of man, which God has permitted to bring men to sanctity. It may appear unfathomable that so many souls should perish so that this great good could occur, yet God is not unjust. Those who sin, do so willingly.
Another question that has troubled me, as well as giving me a source of joy, is that I exist in a particular time and place. I, although born outwith the Church, was led to her relatively young, and the Good Lord protected me until that moment. He could have placed me with a Muslim family, rather than a religiously indifferent one. I could have been given to light before the birth of our Lord. I could have not even been created at all. I can only be thankful that He in His mercy has placed me within His Church, outwith her, no man can be saved. Why did He do this? I do not know. I can not repay Him, but I must return myself wholeheartedly. When one is given much, much is expected.

1 comment:

  1. "Do they not see that God, who created the heavens and the earth, and was not wearied by their creation, is able to give life to the dead. Yes, indeed He has power over all things."

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