Which dictionary do you get your definition from? It is impossible not to be aware of certain truths through no fault of your own?
What is your definition of truly ignorant?
What is your definition of invincibly ignorant?
Some people believe that invincibly ignorant equates to being stubborn.
To me saying that invincible ignorance exists is to deny the omnipotence of God.
After all, it is scripture that it is God who chooses us and not we who choose God.
I do not mean this sarcastically but I am interested in the actual definition of invincible ignorance as opposed to what some people think.
I believe I fully understand your point. If people are ignorant they deserve to be be otherwise God would not let them stay ignorant. Correct?
My point is there is little room for the term 'invinvible" in a world created by an "Omni-potent" God. Scripture says that we cannot posses an understanding of God's will. To have to over-embellish to make things look pretty shows a lack of faith in God.
I'm losing you somewhere. It seems you are saying no one can possess an understanding of God's will yet no one can be invincibly ignorant. Can you clarify?
I am saying it is God who chooses us, that is a teaching of the Church. Saying "invincible" flies in the face of the efficacy of God's omnipotence.
He does choose us but we must cooperate with the graces He makes available to us. Some do cooperate with Him. Others do not. To whom much is given much is expected. To whom little is given little is expected. If God creates a person mentally deformed, he will still need to cooperate with the will of God to the degree he is reasonably able. If he chooses his own will above God's God knows, if he chooses God's will over his own, God knows. This can happen before the mentally malformed becomes aware of the Catholic Church and her necessity for salvation and the necessity of Baptism. He can still be good willed and cooperate with what little actual grace God has provided him or reject it to his own demise.
God tests each of us according to our capacity. And He has given us all different capacities. He does not give us all the same test despite its being incredibly easy for some and incredibly difficult or impossible for others. He gives all the ability to pass the test He gives them. But He only tests them according to their ability. The Angels had a different test than Adam and Eve. Abraham, Moses and the martyrs had a different test than we have. The mentally retarded have a different test than we have. But all of us are given the capability to pass that test. Once past the age of reason it becomes our choice, based upon what we know and can be reasonably expected to know. Quite frankly some have no excuse to not know the necessity of the Catholic Church for salvation. But others do have a legitimate excuse. That is why some that are objectively far more spiritually advanced than others can look worse in the eyes of God than others as those less spiritually advanced may have overcome alot more to get where they are than those more spiritually advanced. He judges the effort and sincerity. He does not damn them for not being culpable of not knowing better.
Remember Calvinism was condemned because of its view on predestination. God shed his blood for all and has given all the ability to accept or reject the grace He offers them until they die unrepentant and guilty of sin.
It is better for non-members not to have to overcome an extended time of bad will before they cooperate with His grace because they do not have the aids that members of the Church have to repent and be saved. They do not have the infallible truth preached to them, or the sacraments or the disciplines that keep us on the right path. But they still can cooperate with His actual graces to the point that they do not reject Him but accept Him and love Him with a love of benevolence based upon a supernatural faith that is derived from divine revelation.
This is in the realm for God to judge, not us. The Church merely teaches, against what the Calvinist would have us believe - i.e. that some are damned and there is nothing they can do their entire life to save themselves. Others are saved and there is nothing they can do to damn themselves. There is predestination AND free-will. We all have the ability to be saved. Those who are damned and have reached the age of reason chose against God, in their own way, preferring their own will in the moral realm and or consciously culpably reject the faith and the Church.
Again when a soul capable of legitimately choosing for or against God is damned it is through his own fault. Not because of something he is not culpable of.
Topic: Faith of Desire (Read 5249 times)