Thread by @EOrthodoxy

@StMichael71 @TGBelt Eternal damnation is only possible if God ceases by grace to rescue the damned from the _state_ of mortal sin, which is the traditional, if not dogmatic, view of Catholicism. And that is why the state of mortal sin is inescapable for the damned! >>

@StMichael71 @TGBelt You have already conceded elsewhere that God could save the damned if he willed to do so. But after the particular judgment he no longer wills to save the damned. He condemns them to their state of incorrigibility, with all the suffering that entails. >>

@StMichael71 @TGBelt As Benedict XII solemnly defined in 'Benedictus Deus': "Moreover we define that according to the general disposition of God, the souls of those who die in actual mortal sin go down into hell immediately (mox) after death and there suffer the pain of hell." >>

@StMichael71 @TGBelt There is no repentance after death because God wills the reprobate to remain eternally in their state of mortal sin. Death is the cut-off point. That is Catholic doctrine and St Thomas Aquinas agrees, as do the overwhelming majority of Catholic theologians. You must know this. >>

@StMichael71 @TGBelt And that is why your complaint that universalists deny mortal sin is a Macguffin. All universalists agree that God can--and will--raise the damned from the state of mortal sin. That is the whole point of Kronen & Reitan's (preferred) argument on efficacious grace. >>

@StMichael71 @TGBelt Hart and Talbott also presuppose something like that, even though both believe that the notion that a human being who possesses perfect knowledge of the Good and freedom from disordered desires will do so is incoherent. >>

@StMichael71 @TGBelt It's not such much that they reject mortal sin per se; they reject the claim that we sinners qualify. A definitive and irrevocable rejection of the Good is rationally incoherent. They may be wrong, but their universalist commitments do not hinge upon it. >>

@StMichael71 @TGBelt All that ultimately matters is God's eternal commitment to restore humanity to himself. That is the true point of contention between universalists and the proponents of eternal perdition. Everything else is smokescreens and mirrors. Period.

@StMichael71 @TGBelt @threadreaderapp unroll