The Balance
If, as Augustine posits, no good act is possible for us without grace, then how is it possible for us to truly engage our free will, for it would then seem to follow that every good act is God's act and not our own. But, what then of Christ's words, when he says "What good is your love if you love only those who love you. Even the Pharisees do this." How then, if Augsutine is right, can the Pharisee truly engage in that good act of love? Or is it that the deepest and purest love is an act of God. Is it that God's action initiates the good in us, or presents the seed of good. Free will seems then to enter the picture when we are given the chance to deny the oppurtunity presented to us, but without God's grace would we never even think to do good. (???) It then seems that good acts become a union of God's will with our own acceptence of the good, and the good act becomes something done in God and through God and with God.
posted by Velvet at 6:58 PM
2 Comments:
I like this post... It makes me think about the intentions and actions of the wealthy, who do good acts, but receive some form of benefits as a result of those actions. For example, Bill Gates and His wife give away over one Billion dollars a year to thousands of charities. They are doing good, by providing funds to organizations and individuals who need it, in order to help others. However, they do apply the maximum percentage of those donations on their taxes. And since they give more money to charities,than would be applied to lessen their tax burden, would only THAT money be seen as a good act? Or does the fact that they claim that donation on their taxes negate the benevelence of their good intentions?
In other words, Is it really Charity, if the "Charitable Person" receives something in return?
That is perhaps WHY one can never do good/ a supreme act of love WITHOUT grace, because we naturally tend to act for ourselves; true love is inherently self-LESS, self-denying... something one cannot do without Divine aid, ie grace... perhaps?
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