Does the Bible support either?
2007-02-23 04:51:30 · 14 answers · asked by Paige Sputnik 1 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Both. I am lost by my free will, I am saved by the sovereign, elective, prestinating grace of God.
In other words, I was working my way to hell by my free choices, until God interfered in my life and turned me around.
2007-02-23 04:55:54 · answer #1 · answered by Mr Ed 7 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Predestination or Free Will—Reconcilable?
There is a time when people are born and a time when they die—usually at not more than 70 or 80 years of age, but sometimes sooner and sometimes later.—Psalms 90:10; see also Ecclesiastes 9:11.
If each one’s moment and manner of death were already fixed at the time of birth or earlier, there would be no need to avoid dangerous situations or to care for one’s health, and safety precautions would not alter mortality rates. But do you believe that a battlefield during war is as safe as one’s home far away from the war zone? Do you care for your health or take your children to the doctor? Why do smokers die three to four years younger, on an average, than nonsmokers? Why are there fewer fatal accidents when automobile passengers wear seat belts and when drivers obey traffic laws? Obviously, taking precautions is beneficial.
Zephaniah 2:3: “Seek Jehovah, all you meek ones of the earth . . . Seek righteousness, seek meekness. Probably you may be concealed in the day of Jehovah’s anger.” Would a just and loving God encourage people to do what is right, in hope of a reward, if he knew that they were foreordained not to succeed? Being infinite in power and matchless in wisdom, Jehovah can meet any emergency or contingency that might result as his creatures exercise their free will. (Isaiah 40:25, 26. Romans 11:33.) He can do this instantly and without forethought. Unlike fallible men with their limited abilities, The All-Powerful God does not need a detailed, cut-and-dried plan that sets out beforehand the destiny of every individual on the earth. (Proverbs 19:21) In a number of Bible translations, Ephesians 3:11 speaks of God’s having an “eternal purpose” rather than a fixed plan.
Anyone who exercises faith in him can receive everlasting life. (John 3:16.) “He that exercises faith in the Son has everlasting life." (John 3:36.) You can choose life by learning about God, his Son, and His will from the pages of the Bible and by applying what you learn.
If you would like further information or a free home Bible study, please contact Jehovah's Witnesses at the local Kingdom Hall. Or visit http://www.watchtower.org
2007-02-23 06:05:32 · answer #2 · answered by Jeremy Callahan 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You go, Mr. Ed!!! I can see free will verses in the light of predestination, but not the other way around. In fact, I don't see how predestination can be looked at with a free-will lens without twisting the meaning of predestination and foreknowledge into an impotent God that can only hope and stand on the sidelines while we tell him what to do with our lives. Not so, a sovereign God means a damaged man, and I understand Scripture in this light.
2007-02-23 08:26:34 · answer #3 · answered by ccrider 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I agree with Brother Callahan, it is free will, for example, Adam and Eve sinned of free will, it was not Jehovah's predestination at all. (^__^) If I had to type a good essay on this it'll take another 3 hours. Of all answers, only Callahan's has real scriptural basis and sound reasoning, not by his own effort, but through God's wisdom (proverbs 9:10), and know that witnesses know not by human effort, by from a careful study of the bible.
"So that people may know that you, whose name is Jehovah, you alone are the most high over all the earth." (Psalm 83:18)
2007-02-23 18:26:24 · answer #4 · answered by Kaien かいえん 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well, if we are predestined then what is the point of freewill? Why would god send us to hell? After all he chose our path. But if we had freewill, why would he instill fear of hell in order to make us do good? Then what is the point of freewill if we do not want to learn for ourselves? Then what is the point of life if it is one giant manipulation of an all powerful being?
2007-02-23 04:58:43 · answer #5 · answered by Meredith 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Freewill and choice are talked about many places in the Bible...I am not pasting them in here so you will have to find them...sorry. Predistination is not...but then it is perhaps a more modern word.
God gives us free will. Why are you worried about what the Bible supports? I mean, why not ask...does God support...we are not to worship the Bible.
tp
2007-02-23 04:59:06 · answer #6 · answered by pst 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The bible supports freewill.
2007-02-23 04:55:07 · answer #7 · answered by Fish <>< 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
yes Choose Life Deut 30:19
2007-02-23 04:55:40 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Predestination is a Calvinistic view that God chosen some to pass to Hell and others to Heaven, and no one is commonplace with for positive who's going the position so for you to do reliable works. What predestination truly means is that God is commonplace with all issues--who's going to Heaven and who's going to Hell besides because the movements human beings will take and the thoughts they have earlier a be conscious reaches their lips. God would not create human beings to deliver them to Hell. in accordance to what human beings do with Jesus, the second one individual of the Trinity, they make sure their eternal destiny. reliable works that are predestined are those God already is commonplace with someone is going to do. reliable works do not get someone into Heaven. they're an outward signal of the inward life. If one is residing for God those works are to glorify God and help us develop into who we are meant to be. If actually everyone looks residing in concern and racking up reliable works to earn factors with God, they're doing reliable issues for the incorrect reason. Predestination means God already is commonplace with in boost.
2016-12-04 20:34:54 · answer #9 · answered by plyler 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There is support for both in the Bible. It's not either/or, it's both/and. Phillippians 2:12-13 says, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.
God can't do His part if we don't do ours, but we would be incapable of doing our part without God's help. Round and round... Our actions cause things to happen, and yet things also happen to us that are beyond our control. I try to make choices freely, to remember that I have a choice even in the worst of circumstances, and taking comfort that God is directing my overall path, and that unlike me, He can't be caught off-guard. Nothing that happens is unexpected.
2007-02-23 06:14:18 · answer #10 · answered by gafpromise 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It SUPPOSEDLY supports free will.... but it doesn't. How free is your will when you're never EVER going to do anything other than what God already knows you'll do? You can agonize over a decision for a minute or a year, but when it comes down to it, God will have KNOWN you were going to do what you ended up doing... so how could you have possibly done any different?
Yeah, sure... you "freely" choose and do EXACTLY what God knows you will do EVERY SECOND of your life. So while each decision and action is "up to me", it's not like I was going to do anything different. I'm living on a very... VERY tight schedule. So tight that I never do anything other than what's on it. NEVER.
2007-02-23 04:54:29 · answer #11 · answered by ZER0 C00L ••AM••VT•• 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋