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Predestination and Free Will Name of Doctrine?

A

Ahazmat

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What is this take on the issue of predestination and free will called?
Predestination
God created laws and determined that if a person violates them their destination is Hell, and if a person follows them the soul goes to Heaven or to God.

Free Will

A person can either follow the laws or not follow them.

I am including the matter of a belief in Jesus Christ as a Law.

Is there a formal name for this view of the predestination and free will debate?

Does this view agree with common theology?
 

wnwall

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A Calvinist would not disagree with either assertion, but would certainly disagree with the definitions. God did create laws and declare whoever disobeys the law deserves hell. A person can also either follow God's law or not; there's no disagreement there. But I've never heard anyone (Calvinist or Arminian) define the terms "predestination" and "free will" that way. And it's certainly not the way the Bible uses the term "predestination". The Bible does not use the term "free will" (edit: I found it in the NASB translation of Philemon 1:14, but it has nothing to do with predestination; instead it's Paul saying he doesn't want Philemon to feel compelled to have to do good but wants him to do good out of his own "free will"; ESV translates it "of your own accord").

Does this view agree with common theology?
Not anything I've heard.

Calvinists teach that we were all predestined before creation to our eternal destinies (heaven or hell). God knew before creation that man would sin and planned to save some of us by sending a sacrifice for our sins. He baptizes those who he elected with the Holy Spirit and creates in them a new heart and a desire to follow God.

Arminians teach that God "chose" everyone and has sent a sacrifice for everyone. Whether someone goes to heaven or not is up to whether they accept the sacrifice and ask to be regenerated through the work of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes they try to explain the word "predestination" as God simply knowing whether someone would accept Christ before creation.
 
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heymikey80

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There's no agreement over what "free will" means as a definitive term. Different people mean different things.

As for "predestination" the only thing it can mean is that something is predetermined (its synonym). In other words, someone's destiny is defined for him beforehand -- earlier than it occurs. In Christianity predestination is "before the world's foundations" (Ephesians 1).
 
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