Absolute Predestination

[Bob Jones Student]

Hello again,

I'm kind of curious, Biblically, would it be exegetically and logical to state that God has predestinated everything? That everything is set on an unalterable course? Could someone show me if this is correct, or incorrect?

To me, it seems that history is preplanned, and in order to make history go the way God wants it to go, then everyone's actions have to be predetermined to go into the direction God would have the world go.

Also, with this idea, would it be plausible for God to be the author of sin, and also predetermining the fall of Adam, yet without being sinful. Basically could God create sin, and predestine Adam to fall, without being evil Himself?

I've been wrestling with this for a while. To me, logically everything seems that it's predestinated.

Please set me in the right direction biblically.

 

[heymikey80]

I'm kind of curious, Biblically, would it be exegetically and logical to state that God has predestinated everything? That everything is set on an unalterable course? Could someone show me if this is correct, or incorrect?

To me, it seems that history is preplanned, and in order to make history go the way God wants it to go, then everyone's actions have to be predetermined to go into the direction God would have the world go.

It's a reasonable conclusion from what Scripture says. It's not completely required, because there are ways to "slip out" of some of what Scripture says.

Can Scripture accomodate non-exhaustive determinism? Yes. But it does so with a little sophistry.

Also, with this idea, would it be plausible for God to be the author of sin, and also predetermining the fall of Adam, yet without being sinful. Basically could God create sin, and predestine Adam to fall, without being evil Himself?

No, because authorship of sin is by definition equivalent to being sinful.

Causing sin in Creation is not equivalent to being sinful, though.

But authorship isn't causation. The difference is intent. Someone who authors sin, intends to do sin by proxy or directly, which requires a sinful nature. On the other hand, Someone who causes sin in time, may do so with the full intent of correcting it in eternity. Which is what we see from God's plan.

I've been wrestling with this for a while. To me, logically everything seems that it's predestinated.

Keep in mind that predestination and determinism, neither absolves people of responsibility for their sin. Christ takes on that responsibility. Also keep in mind, libertarian schemes of morality and responsibility are so entwined in libertarian freedom that they don't work in deterministic frameworks of sin and responsibility. So when libertarians talk about "had to have the freedom to choose the other side", determinism talks about responsibility for sin, regardless. Someone who likes to kill people can't simply sign up for the Marines and be absolved of his sinful desire.

We talk about mitigating circumstances when we humans judge one anothers' sins. That's because of things we cannot know about people. That mitigates the punishment, sometimes sets the accused free. Sadly, in our day much of human justice has become "situational ethics". We can do what we're allowed in the situation, and nobody accuses us of immorality. But God is omniscient. He knows how much to punish, how much is our intent and neglect, and how much is someone else's. he knows our hearts. So His judgment is perfect.