James Akin Man's total inability 1. Before the Fall Protestants emphasize man's complete inability, without special grace, to come to God after the Fall. Catholics also emphasize this but also teach that man was completely unable, without special grace, to have union with God before the Fall.
Catholic theology divides human acts into two kinds, natural and supernatural.
Without supernatural or special grace, man is completely unable of performing these actions. They require a special infusion or outpouring of God's grace. This is true for man even in an unfallen state. Correspondingly, he would have had a pure and possibly immortal destiny on earth, but not the calling to the supernatural destiny of eternal life in intimate union with God. It depends entirely on God's gratuitous initiative, for he alone can reveal and give himself.