I Had To Write This Post

I am going to tackle predestination in this post, not only to address what is an easily misunderstood doctrine but also to make one other point that should apply to all of our doctrinal teachings.

Predestination in a nutshell is the belief that God planned everything that will ever happen in His creation from the beginning until the end. An excellent example of predestination in action is Jesus foretelling the disciples of Judas' betrayal (John 13:21). Another well known example can be found when Jesus foretells Peter's denial of Him later in the same chapter (John 13:38). A strict application of predestination would state that these men were meant to do these things from the very foundation of the Earth.

The whole thought of predestination however seems to fly in the face of the concept of free will. I've heard from my earliest days in Sunday School that God created us with free will because He desired a people who would make the choice to worship Him because they wanted to. As far as I know choice has been a root of Christianity, and is taught as one of the primary elements of salvation. Do we not preach to those without Jesus that they need to choose to listen to His call and follow Him?

The debate that has centered around the doctrine of predestination for hundreds of years can be summed up in the following question: If every action that we take has already been planned out and God has predetermined what will happen throughout His creation, how can you say that we act as free agents capable of making decisions in our own lives?

It seems on the surface that predestination and free will are at least inconsistent if not in complete opposition to each other. I've even heard some detractors of the Bible bring up the subject of predestination as one of those contradictions or discrepancies that in their opinion disprove the Bible. Certainly it can seem that the idea of free will contradicts predestination, but in truth this is just not the case and is instead a problem with understanding.

The problem as I see it is actually a matter of pride. People assume that they can understand everything, but this is just not the case. The Lord's ways are above our ways and in some cases we are just not capable of understanding them (Isa 55:8-9). People often come into contact with this concept at great times of loss in their lives; an example of which would be the loss of a loved one. Most likely they will struggle to work out in their own mind why God would take this person away from them but will eventually console themselves with the thought that we cannot totally understand God's ways. We are able to accept on a base level when emotional trauma has stripped us of so much of our resistance, but when there is no emotional impact involved we struggle with it from an academic standpoint.

To imagine that we are capable of completely understanding how God set up creation is laughable (Rom 11:33-34). How can we really think that our understanding is actually on par with that of God (Prov 3:5,7)? This condition is prevalent enough however that we have developed a word to describe this way of thinking: hubris. There is also an aspect of this hubris where we impose the limits of our understanding on God as well. We are limited in not only our understanding, but also in our perception. Does our arrogance translates those limitations to God as well? Are we really so confident in ourselves that we think that our ability to understand somehow dictates God's ability to act? I think that unfortunately this is all too common a belief, and one God has addressed (Job 38:4, 40:2).

How can we know something that is unknowable? Paul seemed to think that this was possible (Eph 3:19). Is Paul speaking in riddles in this passage or is there something else happening here with this comprehension that Paul is speaking of (Eph 3:17-18)? Instead of a full understanding, Paul is referencing an appreciation of the fact that God is not only more capable than us, He is more capable than we can conceive (Eph 3:20). It is possible to know a thing and not completely understand all of it's design and harmonious inner workings. How much more the thoughts of God (1 Cor 2:11)? Put your trust in Him.

Personally speaking I do not find it in any way incongruous to believe that God is capable of predetermining His creation in such a way that it incorporates our free will. Ask yourself, is your God powerful enough to do such a thing even if you are not able to understand it? Ponder that question while we look at predestination at a personal level.

Let's assume for a minute that there is a real difference between free will and predestination for arguments sake. Unless you had explicit, detailed knowledge of the future, your ignorance of said future would render the difference between the two a moot point at least to you would it not? What is the real difference between complete free will, and unknowable determinism? Conceptually they are different, but in any real life application they are indistinct from each other.

This certainly hasn't stopped people from perverting predestination doctrine in an effort to absolve themselves from personal responsibility though. I've heard this abdication of responsibility from both sides of the argument. On one hand, I've heard people who will justify horrendous acts as being predetermined by God in such a way that it seems that they are almost blaming Him. Atrocities have happened and well-meaning but misguided individuals have either stated that these actions are the judgment of God or might point out that if it was not in God's plan, He would have stopped it. In essence, they are stating that God is responsible for actions perpetrated by people. On the flip side I've heard people ignore their own responsibilities to live productive lives for Christ, and instead using reliance on Christ as if it were some kind of a all-encompassing waiver. I saw an example of this in high school when one of my friends told me that she did not see any reason to try to tell anyone about Jesus because He was capable of adding to the church as He saw fit which was an obvious misuse of Acts 2:47 (BTW, I questioned her about this further and this is really how she had been taught at her church). In both cases, people were more than willing to abuse the doctrine of predestination to dump the responsibility of their actions, or lack thereof, squarely on God's shoulders, and in some cases the blame too. This is just despicable.

This brings me to my other point. Our doctrines as well as our actions should bring glory to God and not reproach. In my examples of how the doctrine of predestination can be misunderstood it is important to realize that these applications can be logically derived from how predestination is actually taught in many churches (it certainly was in the case of my friend). This being true, this understanding of predestination has in it an inherent application that brings reproach to God. If for no other reason this is enough in my estimation to bring this doctrine into question. Yes, I do understand that people can misunderstand any doctrine and any scripture can be misused, but in this case the applications can be inferred by how the doctrine is taught. This to me is indicative of a faulty doctrine.

Instead, how much better to believe that yes we are responsible for our actions because of free will and that the predestination in creation exists as a greater level than we do (not that it does not apply to us)? This brings glory to God in our recognition of just how great He really is and it keeps us aware of our role in His plan (Isa 64:8). Should this qualification not be one of the measurements by which we determine whether a doctrine is good or not? Should we not endeavor to glorify God in every aspect of our lives, especially our doctrine? I certainly think so.