2007-10-18 10:18:09 · 11 answers · asked by alex a 6 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Though man has the free will, however its bondage to his sin. Man, by his fall into a state of sin, had wholly lost all ability of will to do any spiritual good accompanying salvation.
Though man has free will to choose good or evil, man always chooses what God has predestined.
Judah Iscariot exercised his free will by betraying Jesus to the cross; nevertheless, Judah by his (free will) action fulfilled what God had predestined before the foundation of world; “Jesus the Lamb of God slain before the foundation of world.”
2007-10-18 14:34:35 · answer #1 · answered by Steve 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I strongly disagree with those who suggest that these two items are contradictory. Opposites aren't always all that apparent. You might say that black is the opposite of white... but what does that mean? They are two separate things... and not necessarily opposed. Night is not the opposite of day... it is simply the period when the local world is not facing the sun... how is that really an opposite?
In the case of your question, free will and predestination are complexly interlinked. It is possible to exercise free will, and still have a predetermined destiny.
An example would be two people who are destined to die of cancer... perhaps because a genetic predilection. Well, yes, they will eventually die of cancer... but one person may live their life in a strictly bounded way knowing this, and try for some conforting normalcy of existence... assuming that by going with some kind of groove or flow they will achieve some kind of happiness. They will then live a normal enough life, pretty much determined by the lack of freedom to which they have submitted themselves.
Another person with the same predetermined genetic fate might rebel, and live a rich complex life outside of societal norms, a kind of rebellion against their doom. Traveling the world, taking great risks, being enormously creative in the face of fate.
Sure they are both doomed (and who indeed is not?) but these two individuals will have very different moments in this world, one bound by fearful conformity, and the other in glorious rebellion.
So it is possible that free will and predestination are not exactly the opposites that the casual and causal analysis would indicate.
Fate will always trump life in the end, but life can be lived in a billion different ways, some of them greatly informed by the idea of freedom of being.
2007-10-18 17:33:26 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
They are two contradictory positions to the question of "destiny," and are also (probably) both unverifiable.
Predestination is fairly easy to shoot down.
Free will is a more subtle construct. There are several approaches to understanding free will, but my current favorite is to appreciate that the illusion of free will can be developed in biological systems. Think about it: you have certain systems within you that you cannot control consciously (muscle pangs, heart beat, choosing to stop breathing indefinitely), so you have no free will over much of your own body. Therefore, how can anyone state they have perfect free will?
We have will, but it seems to be limited in many ways. And there is no need to invoke predestination to account for any event.
2007-10-18 17:29:18 · answer #3 · answered by kwxilvr 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If there is double predestination (predeterminism) there can be no free will and visa versa.
If we are predestined by God to Heaven does not mean that we are predetermined or "forced' to accept the grace of justification and sanctification and that universal divine will for universal salvation does not contradict free will of rational/emotive creatures since we can either accept or refuse the grace.
2007-10-18 17:29:19 · answer #4 · answered by James O 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You will the correlation between the two in the following verse:
Proverbs 16:9
" A man's heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps. "
2007-10-18 17:23:21 · answer #5 · answered by Bobby Jim 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The only relationship is that they are contradictory statements used to beat down rational thought.
See the light. Believe in yourself.
2007-10-18 17:21:12 · answer #6 · answered by Dick 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
There is none.
You have free will.
There is no such thing as predestination.
- Bob
2007-10-18 17:23:41 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 2⤋
Both are used in Christianity....was or is, depends on the sect.
2007-10-18 17:23:33 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
They are both undetectable and have no bearing on the way we perceive ourselves to live our lives. Ultimately that makes them both meaningless.
2007-10-18 17:21:47 · answer #9 · answered by Dharma Nature 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
just like light and dark, one can't exist without the other.
2007-10-18 17:24:27 · answer #10 · answered by ghotstfeller 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋