You’re right! Calvinism leads to fatalism. If your eternal fate was fixed before you were born and you can't change it, then why worry? Just assume you're elect and "follow your bliss". That’s the only consistent response that doesn’t drive you insane.
You're not eternally guilty of anything, nothing's really ever wrong for you to do. So when you follow your bliss, presuming you're among the elect, there are no guardrails. You could commit crimes.
But what's the alternative? That you're reprobate. You're going to spend an eternity suffering because you crushed a bug, and then also, for every other wrong thing you ever did, forever.
So ofc therefore, you should spend this life following your bliss.
The problem for you is that Catholicism doesn’t actually escape this trap. It just dresses it up in sacraments and mystery.
Catholicism affirms predestination. Augustine taught that God elects some to eternal life, and your Church has never rejected that. Calvin just followed it through to its logical end. You still believe God predestined everything. You still believe He foreknows all outcomes. You still affirm that grace is infused at baptism apart from your will. It’s just a softer (i.e. less consistent) determinism that's wrapped in ritual and called mystery instead of decree.
So, if Calvinism leads to “follow your bliss,” why doesn’t Catholicism? If your fate is eternally known and decreed by God, and your free will is just part of the plan, as Catholicism clearly teaches, then what, exactly, are you doing that a Calvinist isn’t?
Same trap. Different door.
I don't think so. I'm still following my bliss, that's my secret. This is exactly what I want to do. I believe in Jesus, that's just the fact. I tried not believing in Him, it didn't stick. So I'm all-in. So what I want to do now is whatever makes the most sense, given that I believe in Christ. So I'm following my bliss, as I navigate this terrain.
