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Godly Omission?

wmjbyatt

Lunatic from birth
What is the doctrinal position on Sins of Omission as they pertain to God? That is, why is it that God is not guilty of Sins of Omission in allowing, with foreknowledge and power to stop, suffering to exist?

In the sake of honesty, I'll go ahead and say that I am not Catholic--or even frankly Christian--but I nevertheless am not here to start debate: I leave that to the turd throwers on the Religious Debates forums. I'm genuinely interested in the doctrinal position. I was raised Roman Catholic and to this day I am deeply influenced by and in awe of Roman Catholic theology. My personal conception of the Divine has been deeply influence by St Augustine and St Thomas Aquinas, and I consider Catholic theology to be among the only really tenable Christian philosophical bodies.

Feel free to respond in detail and at length if necessary. I will read it.

Thank you all.
 

Me Myself

Back to my username
It is viewed as incorrect for God to intervene, because the catholic stance is that he doesn´t and shouldn´t "go against free will".

In other words: it is important that people can choose to do wrong, because otherwise "they wouldn´t have real freedom".

So with this freedom God permits one decides by his actions and faith in him/Jesus (if he was able to hear of them in his life, if not it becomes blury to know God´s exact judgemen, but generaly it goes with "judging him to what he did for the best of his capabilities with the info s/he had") to go to heaven.

No suffering is that big when you contrast it with hell, so don´t be a bad guy, cause yuare choosing to give your back to God and God is the only happiness and well being, hence, you end up in hell. Now, you follow the commands because of your free will and willfully go to God and you´ll end up in heaven, where all the sufferings of your life will become nothing in comparison to infinite bliss, peace and happiness.

(Or that´s my undertanding, and I may very well be corrected)
 

wmjbyatt

Lunatic from birth
It is viewed as incorrect for God to intervene, because the catholic stance is that he doesn´t and shouldn´t "go against free will".

In other words: it is important that people can choose to do wrong, because otherwise "they wouldn´t have real freedom".

So with this freedom God permits one decides by his actions and faith in him/Jesus (if he was able to hear of them in his life, if not it becomes blury to know God´s exact judgemen, but generaly it goes with "judging him to what he did for the best of his capabilities with the info s/he had") to go to heaven.

No suffering is that big when you contrast it with hell, so don´t be a bad guy, cause yuare choosing to give your back to God and God is the only happiness and well being, hence, you end up in hell. Now, you follow the commands because of your free will and willfully go to God and you´ll end up in heaven, where all the sufferings of your life will become nothing in comparison to infinite bliss, peace and happiness.

(Or that´s my undertanding, and I may very well be corrected)

I guess the way the question was falling in my mind should have been clarified.

If I remember my catechism, sin is conceived as a blemish upon the soul, an actual quality of darkness on the substance which is the sinner's being. What is the relationship, then, between my soul and God's Divine Substance? If my soul is of the same substance as God's Divinity (which I've heard theologians say, thus positing a Platonic structure to the premise that "the Kingdom of Heaven is within you"), why do those blemishes not appear on God's Substance upon omission? That is, most specifically, what is it about the character of the Divine Substance that places it in that position where non-Interventionism is desirable?
 

Quiddity

UndertheInfluenceofGiants
I guess the way the question was falling in my mind should have been clarified.

If I remember my catechism, sin is conceived as a blemish upon the soul, an actual quality of darkness on the substance which is the sinner's being. What is the relationship, then, between my soul and God's Divine Substance? If my soul is of the same substance as God's Divinity (which I've heard theologians say, thus positing a Platonic structure to the premise that "the Kingdom of Heaven is within you"), why do those blemishes not appear on God's Substance upon omission? That is, most specifically, what is it about the character of the Divine Substance that places it in that position where non-Interventionism is desirable?

If by substance you mean the stuff that it's made of, then yes, it does derive it from God. The soul is made of spirit if you will. The human person consists of body and soul. It derives the entirety of it's substances (form and matter) from God. With that in mind, why doesn't God get cut, when I get cut? All substances essentially come from Him so there is a seperation from all things and God if you will. It's also incorrect to say God is pure spirit; Angels/Demons are known to be that.

Can you reword your last sentence please?

 

wmjbyatt

Lunatic from birth
If by substance you mean the stuff that it's made of, then yes, it does derive it from God. The soul is made of spirit if you will. The human person consists of body and soul. It derives the entirety of it's substances (form and matter) from God. With that in mind, why doesn't God get cut, when I get cut? All substances essentially come from Him so there is a seperation from all things and God if you will. It's also incorrect to say God is pure spirit; Angels/Demons are known to be that.

That's fair, and I guess that makes sense--I think I was taking things in too much of a Platonic/Spinozan fashion, but Spinoza was excommunicated, so I guess his thoughts on the matter would be (by definition) heterodox. Are you aware of this being the doctrinal, theological position, and if so do you know where it is codified? So far as re-wording my last sentence, I was asking what about God's substance (in the Platonic sense) causes His substance to not be affected by that same blemish which is sin. (This question loses value with the notion of substantial separation, but it still retains some intellectual urgency).
 

Quiddity

UndertheInfluenceofGiants
That's fair, and I guess that makes sense--I think I was taking things in too much of a Platonic/Spinozan fashion, but Spinoza was excommunicated, so I guess his thoughts on the matter would be (by definition) heterodox. Are you aware of this being the doctrinal, theological position, and if so do you know where it is codified?
I'm familiar more with Plato then Spinoza. I'm really not sure what connections Plato and Spinoza had in light of the fact that Plato is known to be more of an extreme realist. I don't think I'd categorize Spinoza (who leaned toward pantheism) that way (but I'm open to being wrong about this).

When you ask whether this is doctrinal or not, I assume you speak of what I previously wrote? If so, [and at risk of sounding pendant] I'd be inclined to say yes. But we make a distinction between pious belief, doctrine, and dogma and there lies a hirerachy within them as well but it's mostly we catholics discuss.
So far as re-wording my last sentence, I was asking what about God's substance (in the Platonic sense) causes His substance to not be affected by that same blemish which is sin. (This question loses value with the notion of substantial separation, but it still retains some intellectual urgency).

From a Platonic sense it's much easier to explain then an Aristolian-Thomistic sense. Plato argued that universals exist independent of individuals, in a world of ideas. There was a disconnect here. For Aristotle, it's more complicated and it's akin to synergy. It's God working through man, but the man still has free will. That whole dilema is still being argued about to this day even amongst us.
 

Renji

Well-Known Member
It is viewed as incorrect for God to intervene, because the catholic stance is that he doesn´t and shouldn´t "go against free will".

It is not necessarily true. Catholics don't view that way. The reason why God (sometimes) does not seem to intervene is because of many reasons. Probably because there are "better things" for you or because it's part of a natural order that God himself has set, like weather disturbances and so on (and he won't change it).

In other words: it is important that people can choose to do wrong, because otherwise "they wouldn´t have real freedom".

"Real freedom", if your going to ask the Church fathers is the ability to do something that is good/ an action that bears good fruit, without someone telling/forcing you to do it. Therefore, if you sin, there's no "freedom" that's in there. Why? Let's say you killed someone, there's no freedom in that scenario since you yourself has denied the "right"/"freedom" of the person to live. So if you do something wrong, that's not "real freedom" but "abused freedom".

So with this freedom God permits one decides by his actions and faith in him/Jesus (if he was able to hear of them in his life, if not it becomes blury to know God´s exact judgemen, but generaly it goes with "judging him to what he did for the best of his capabilities with the info s/he had") to go to heaven.

Or more appropriately, one's desire to carry his own cross and his determination to follow the footsteps of Christ.

No suffering is that big when you contrast it with hell, so don´t be a bad guy, cause yuare choosing to give your back to God and God is the only happiness and well being, hence, you end up in hell. Now, you follow the commands because of your free will and willfully go to God and you´ll end up in heaven, where all the sufferings of your life will become nothing in comparison to infinite bliss, peace and happiness.

(Or that´s my undertanding, and I may very well be corrected)

The "real suffering" of hell isn't actually the "fire" in it (though it's part of it) but the separation from God, which makes one's soul "ugly" and impure, therefore, the happiness that you are referring would be, the loving relationship with God.
 
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