This is a topic request from AbiF :)
"Predestination"--it's a long word for an interesting doctrine. Predestination is the Calvinistic (from John Calvin, who lived at the time of the Protestant Reformation) doctrine that holds the beliefs that God controls everything, from the weather and the earth to our choices and even our sins.
How much control God chooses to exert is a fact that I don't think humans will ever be able to grasp or understand. God simply hasn't given us as much information as we would like or need to understand the topic; however, from the Bible passages He has provided, we can settle on a few different theories as to how much and what God controls.
Let's start at the basics: either we are free to make choices, or we believe that we are free to make choices when, in fact, we are simply following a script written by God. We all know that we feel we can make choices--it's in our nature. As a baby, we learn to choose to say one thing or another; to choose to play with a doll or a toy car; to choose where to crawl, to choose when to crawl. As we age, we learn that we can choose to play baseball or to dance; we can choose to wear a sweater or a longsleeve shirt, or to wear pink or to wear blue; we can choose to keep friends or let friendships lapse. We can, to a certain extent, choose what classes we take in school, whether we go to college, what college we go to, how long we stay at college, what we major in, what our career is, where we live, who we marry...humans make choices, or are under the impression that they make choices.
On the other hand, we are also aware that we do not always have a choice. Maybe we we could choose which baseball team to join, but when we sign up there is only one team open. Maybe we thought we could choose to wear our favorite sweater, but the sweater is in the wash and we much choose something else. We thought we could choose what college to attend, but were denied acceptance or lacked the funds to pay for college.
From these circumstances arose the idea of Fate, an invisible, intangible force that sometimes eliminates a person's choices. It was Fate that filled up the baseball team I wanted to join; it was Fate that brought you to me; it was Fate that _______. Sometimes Fate is kind, and sometimes Fate is unkind, but humans agree that there is--at least, sometimes there seems to be--a subtle, supernatural force behind the happenings of the world.
As Christians, we realize that this Fate character either must be fictional or must be God.
This is where the discussion goes a million different ways, but I'll try to continue to attempt to explain it (bear with me here).
Christians will say things like "It was God's will that I was not accepted to one college, because the college I ended up attending was much better." This implies that God had a hand where Fate is usually credited: God directed the application process or the scholarship process or whatever so that the speaker's life turned out for the better. Most Christians do not have a problem agreeing with this; however, if God directed the application process at a certain college, that implies that He either directly or indirectly exerted influence on those people reviewing the application. Did He? Some say "yes." Some say "no." Some say God does not have that control; I believe that God is all-powerful, and if He does not control something the reason is that He chooses not to control that area.
Here are some verses that I believe indicate that God has chosen to control our choices:
Daniel 2:20-21: "Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever;
wisdom and power are his....
he sets up kings and deposes them."
Here, Daniel indicates that God is the one who raises up leaders.
EXAMPLE: Obama was elected President in 2008. How was Obama elected by God? God somehow influenced some or all of the people involved in the election--Obama, Obama's campaign team, the voters--to cause Obama to rise to the Presidency.
Proverbs 21:1: "The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD;
he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases. "
Here, Solomon reminds us that a leader's thoughts, beliefs, and decisions are determined by the LORD.
Now, whether God exerts complete control or simply an influence--or whether God's methods of control vary with regards to situation--could be debated forever. One concept is clear, however: God wants us to be responsible. He doesn't want us to be reckless just because "Well, it's all under God's control anyway." God says that we reap what we sow, that there are consequences to the wrong choices that we make. Also, since we are at every moment unsure if our exact actions are being controlled or if God is simply whispering His will and leaving the choice up to us, we need to do our best to follow what we know is His will.
There is a whole other side to predestination, which I plan to cover in Predestination II...until then! :)
~Ruth
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