How can armageden be possible if man has free will. Profhecies imply that god can see the future, if the future is predetermined then there can really be no real choices as the outcome cannot change. Since the outcome cannot change, then God is responsible for ultimate failure of man. We are doomed to fail by design?
2006-12-28 09:20:58 · 26 answers · asked by cybertrip1 1 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Cyber, aren't we "doomed" by design to fail even without any prophecy or free will. In watching the History channel this week and the doomsday scenarios, it seems to me that, religious or not, we will, in the end, fail to survive as a human species either by our own design or by some plan for this world.
**JENN**
2006-12-28 09:29:52 · answer #1 · answered by Air Head 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I could understand how a deity could see the future but not shape it. That would imply free will on an individuals' part. My problem has always been that the choices you have don't support real freewill.
Give yourself over to God and believe in Jesus OR face eternal damnation. That has never seemed like a real choice. What about be left alone?? Why isn't that a choice? When you really think about it, you are forced to play a game with loaded dice. Either bet with the house or lose everything. These questions and how the stories of the bible could possible be true have vexed me since I was first forced to go to church. Because of them, I have never been comfortable in any church. I've never felt anything in a religious setting but anxiety.
2006-12-28 17:42:05 · answer #2 · answered by ontopofoldsmokie 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The future doesn't have to be predetermined because God knows every possible outcome of every decision we could possibly make. We are not doomed to fail but thanks to Jesus we are all guaranteed to succeed eventually. Our futures can change because of our free will and God can make adjustments depending on our choices to make those prophecies happen. God's power and wisdom has no limits like everything in this world has limits.
2006-12-28 20:59:48 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
With a prophecy, God is not determining a "man's" freewill. He is simply stating facts. After all, you don't have to worry about an "anti-christ" because that's all nonesense from the christian right. The antichrist has been alive, many many times. And every time he was a different person. It doesn't make him who the Christian right and popular writers say he is, the devils son, etc. He is simply someone who stands up in opposition to christs people.
So, the only person who was actually "pre-destined" was Christ Jesus and He was happy to do so, up until the Garden of Gesthemane. Even then, he overcame his fear to do his fathers bidding. The rest of us are just players that are largely ignored and need only worry about ourselves. We are not doomed to fail, in fact, we are designed to succeed. And a surprising number will do so.
2006-12-28 17:29:29 · answer #4 · answered by AdamKadmon 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Obstacles are put in our path, bad things, happen, and yet we still keep rolling along. Prophecy can be self-fulling, or it can be used as tool for learning and planning. I believe that certain natural events are beyond our control, predicted or not. However, each individual has the free will to decide how to react (or not) to everything that occurs in life.
We are not doomed to fail, but we might take a seeming failure and turn it into a beacon of Truth. When anything happens to us, it has the power to make us better people or to destroy us (that includes good things as well as bad).
Even Christ had a choice. As he was dying, he could have cursed the people who were torturing him, but instead he asked God to forgive them. He was a human being---he made a choice, not God. At one point, even Christ expressed doubt, asking why God had forsaken him, yet he soon found peace and understanding prior to his death. God did not fail Christ, nor was Christ's death on the cross inevitable---but it was needed to make a point, and Jesus himself made the decision for the outcome that affected us all---love, forgiveness, and grace.
See each day, and each event in your life as a chance to make a choice that makes a positive difference for yourself, others, and the world. Do not live in the world of prophecy or probable outcomes---live in the now and in appreciation of your right to choose your destiny.
2006-12-28 17:40:39 · answer #5 · answered by Darlene G 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Armageddon is going to happen. That is assured. But the prophecies are there to WARN us so that we can REPENT and turn AWAY from sin. FREE WILL is the CHOICES we make to accept or reject Jesus as the SON of GOD and only way to Salvation. Free will has NOTHING to do with prophescies or salvation or armageddon. prophecies are the warning. armegeddon is the concequences and free will is the choice. Jesus is the way. That sums it up. Our reward is waiting at the Throne of Judgement. For those who accpt Jesus, It will be good but you will STILL have to account for what you do here on Earth. Read Revelations. We are doomed to fail but that is where the Grace of God comes in. That is the whole point of Jesus dying on the cross. Moses and Satan will be our accusers, Moses with the Law, Satan with tempation. And our inclination to GIVE IN is not going to help. Jesus was the sacrifice. God knows what the future is but you don't. Live your life. preferably With Jesus and serving God. And when he asks what you did for him you can honestly tell him what you did. The choice is yours. No one can make it for you. God Bless!
2006-12-28 17:31:11 · answer #6 · answered by KZ 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
You are so wrong about the "outcome cannot change". Read the Book of Jonah. Prophecy made, Nineveh repented, then not destroyed.
Secondly, God is completely omniscient...that means that He knows what happens in any and all variables. He knows what will happen if you turn right, or turn left, or go straight...or an infinite amount of variables.
You limit God. You cannot do that. He is the Limitless One.
2006-12-28 17:28:15 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
God of whom all things are possible, lives in the present, not the past or the future. However, at times he can and does relate to both. Past or Future. Like for an example Prophecy and the Book of Revelation, to let his People, his Church, the Body of Christ know what is in the future. Remember, the Book of Revelation was written for the Church, and not the World.
As the Apostle Paul says; But the "Natural" man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto them, neither can he know them, for they are spiritual discerned.
2006-12-28 17:32:06 · answer #8 · answered by n_007pen 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Prophecy didnt occur until man sinned in the garden. Destruction was not God's purpose. Fulfillment has came as an ultimate conclusion to something that was started.
Man's purpose was to maintain and populate the earth. Not kill one another and steal from one another.
The wonderful part is that God created a way to escape the penalty, and that's through Jesus.
2006-12-28 17:27:59 · answer #9 · answered by jr8551_us 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
The only prophets included in the Torah (Old Testament) were those whose prophesies actually materialized. Scholars can tell exactly when the books were written because prophesies after the writing never materialized.
Armageden is not a part of the Torah. Revelation was rejected from inclusion in the Jewish canon.
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2006-12-28 17:35:13 · answer #10 · answered by Hatikvah 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋