Predestination
Predestination
Theological controversy over predestination has caused great confusion in the religious lives of many people. Let us begin by examining the source of this controversy.
In the Bible, we find many passages which are often interpreted to mean that everything in an individual's life - prosperity and decline, happiness and misery, salvation and damnation, as well the rise and fall of nations - comes to pass exactly as predestined by God. For example, St. Paul wrote:
- Those whom He predestined He also called; and those whom He called He also justified; and those whom He justified He also glorified. - Rom. 8:30
- "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." So it depends not upon man's will or exertion, but upon God's mercy. - Rom. 9:15-16
- Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for beauty and another for menial use? - Rom. 9:21
It is also written that, even while they were still in their mother's womb, God loved Jacob and hated Esau and announced their destiny, saying, "the elder will serve the younger" (Rom. 9:11-13). Thus, there are ample biblical grounds to justify the doctrine of God's absolute and complete predestination.
Yet we can also find sufficient evidence in the Bible to refute the doctrine of absolute predestination. For example, God warned the first human ancestors not to eat of the fruit in order to prevent their Fall (Gen. 2:17). We can deduce from this that the human Fall was not the outcome of God's predestination, but rather the result of man's disobedience to God's commandment. Again we read, "the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth and it grieved him to his heart" (Gen. 6:6). If the human Fall were predestined by God, there would be no reason for Him to grieve over fallen human beings, who were acting in accordance with His predestination. Moreover, it is written in the Gospel of John that whoever believes in Christ shall not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:16), implying that no one is predestined to damnation.
The doctrine that the outcome of human undertakings is determined not by God's predestination, but instead by human effort, is supported by the well-known biblical verse, "Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you" (Matt. 7:7). If every human undertaking were to turn out as God had predestined, why did Jesus emphasize the need for human effort? The Bible instructs us to pray for our sick brothers (James 5:14-15), suggesting that illness and health do not depend solely on God's predestination. If everything were determined by inevitable fate, as predestined by God, our tearful supplications would be to no avail.
Download: PREDESTINATION
Exposition of the Divine Principle: Part 1 - chapter 6
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