Friday, May 28, 2010

Contemplation Conundrum

I had a very interesting evening of conversation with a non-Catholic Christian friend of mine. There was all sorts of agreement on principles about this and that. What we disagreed about was the notion that reaching the highest state of contemplation, ala St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, and St. Thomas Aquinas, means that one is no longer capable of sin. That's right... no longer capable of sin.

I fear my Protestant friend is misreading these great saints, but not having read them, and or having read them so very long ago, I cannot say for sure where he is losing his way.

It did strike me, though, that this was just another form of the Protestant "once saved always saved" business. When God has created this relationship with an individual, so my friend argued, then why would He change His mind? Wouldn't he always want you to be with him and to be able to avoid sin? We went on into a tanget about whether God can change His mind at that point.

At any rate. He has promised to send me the pertinent passages for this debate. We shall see where they lead.

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