Pelagianism: I hate it

I'm not sure that Father Ray is completely correct in his analysis of Pelagianism as a variant of Arianism.

It's always a struggle to work out in words the relationship between nature and grace. After 400+ years, Roman Catholic theologians decided that Martin Luther had a point, and we got a joint declaration between the World Lutheran Federation and Catholic Church.

The ability to respond is, in itself, a gift. But Paul does clearly say in Romans, and the Catholic Church has always held, that humans are able to come to know that God exists through contemplation of the natural world. Romans 1:20a "Ever since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes of eternal power and divinity have been able to be understood and perceived in what he has made."

This is not to deny God's revelation, especially the fulness of Revelation in Jesus Christ, but to honor the creation of humanity in the divine image, which is, I believe, asserted in Genesis 1.

I will not argue with St. Paul, and Maureen, you have a point. But I see in your remarks the continuing error of looking to our own experience as the starting point to theology. Yes, people can discover God through the natural world. But we are Christians. God is made manifest. He has appeared. He is revealed. So for us, our experience is not the starting point, because we could never have imagined this. HE is the starting pont.