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Jenny,
I'll try to give you as brief answers as possible.
You said:
- Did people who died before Jesus get to go to Heaven?
I get the impression that Jesus died so that, through Him, people could get to Heaven.
- If so, what happened to all the people
before Him who missed this opportunity?
Catholics believe that all who died before Christ had to
wait for Christ's death and resurrection before the gates of Heaven were
opened. Some were saved, some were not. Every person, at all times in history,
has had the "offer" of
salvation through God's mercy, for the Scriptures tell us,
"God wills
that all be saved" (1 Timothy 4:1)
and He is
"the savior of all, especially
those who believe" (1 Timothy 4:10).
There is always free will and the opportunity
to respond to God's grace whatever your circumstance in life. Those who
reject God's grace and movements in their life, reject him and therefore
their salvation too.
You said:
- Do Catholics think God:
- Is detached and separate from this
time and space and therefore He cannot interfere with
our lives, or
- Can He step in and change things?
God is detached in the sense that he is transcendent, above and beyond
time and space, but not unable to affect it. He can intervene if he chooses
and suspend the laws of nature, for he is the author of the order
of nature. How, when and why, are his providence and prerogative. Of course,
we consider his greatest "intervention" and his ultimate miracle
to be the Incarnation, where God became one of us and dwelt among us in
the person of Jesus Christ.
You said:
- Does God make us who we are or is it genetics and freewill?
God makes us in his image. That means we have the capacity for love,
forgiveness, compassion, mercy, wisdom, and of course the right to say yes or no.
That is free will. Genetics certainly plays a role in providing dispositions
toward one thing or another, but ultimately we can suspend the "drives" that
nature provides us and choose to act differently.
A good case in point is
the sexual drive. Men may have a strong sex drive that would have them
performing the act in a most reckless way, but their judgment tells them
that their are moral boundaries and so they curtail the most base impulses
(at least most people, most of the time). We choose to behave differently than
other animals because we are endowed with greater faculties: principally, a
moral conscience that transcends the genetic order.
You said:
- Do Catholics believe in genetics?
I think my last answer speaks to you question here. We believe
that genetics are a powerful organizing principle for many characteristics
of peoples, but they alone do not define the human person. There is a soul,
a life principle, that is imbued with the divine image and transcends mere
matter. We are spirit and body composites.
Jenny, reason doesn't have to be at odds with faith. Some of the greatest
minds that ever lived were great believers. They understood the limitations
of science to answer the transcendent questions and didn't expect answers
to all the questions they had. Now, some scientists are taking on
an arrogant posture in attempting to reduce mankind to a set of biological
principles and using their newest science, genetics, as their god.
Don't buy into it.
- Where did their genetics come from?
They will always have
one more question to answer that surpasses their ability to answer it and
simply suggest that they haven't gotten that far yet. Meanwhile, life goes
on, and good people are doing good things for the greater glory of the God
who loves them and has a plan for their eternal life.
- Where do you think
you will ultimately find the meaning in your life?
- A genetic code?
- Or perhaps,
an eternal God who loves you, created a family to live and love with Him
forever and to see beauty in all things.
I'm sure you can think of ten things that will never be answered by geneticists.
Just start with life after death.
Peace and drop by any time to chat.
God bless,
Bob
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