| Destiny theological ramblings on God's decrees Without trying to embrace the philosophical opinions of Plato like did Augustine and many of the early church fathers have, let�s approach destiny from a Judeo-Christian perspective. It was the belief of Plato and his teacher Socrates that nothing could occur unless it was determined or decreed beforehand by natural and spiritual laws or will. Pardon my paraphrasing but destiny and determinism are of the same source. I encourage everyone to examine proof texts of early Christian writers and their relation to Plato who was Socrates� under study. http://www.historyguide.org/ancient/lecture16b.html this does not however mean that things like prophecy from the bible will be overridden by man's choices God desires and He also decrees. God desires that no one dies lost but when He makes a decree, it cannot be overrun. God�s creation cannot be overridden. True prophecy cannot be overridden. The prophecies and laws in the Bible are God�s decrees and cannot be overridden. Are all events the decree of God? If God allows something, does that mean He has decreed it? If you stump your toe, smash your thumb with a hammer, wear a blue shirt, clean your nostrils, or spill milk, does that make it God�s will? Shall we attribute some events to Satan? Shall we attribute events to chance or destiny? Chance and destiny both are Greek-like in nature. I have found that the most Judeo-Christian way to put it is like these statements combined: God desires and God decrees. Cause and effect. Foreknowledge and choices. God�s plans and man�s will. Let�s take one section at a time. God desires that no one dies lost. God didn�t desire for Satan and the angels to rebel. Do His desires substantiate a divine decree? Does His allowing events to occur mean that it was His will for it to occur? To say so dips into a pagan belief that all things that occur are the will of the �gods.� To say that our choices automatically line up with God�s will is to say the same thing as did the worshippers of Greek and Roman gods. They believed that all actions of men are the will of Zeus and The Fates. There has to be a Judeo-Christian approach that isn�t so in-line with paganism. Do men and angels choose their own paths and relationships, or is everything that occurs, both good and bad, the will of God? Does every choice humans make link up perfectly with God�s destiny liken unto two parallel railroad tracks? Sounds rather Greek to me in terms of Mythology afore mentioned. It runs along the lines of early Catholic opinion and some of the assertions of Luther. Martin Luther was a good man but he still embraced several weird practices even after his forced break from the Roman Catholic Church. One of those being his Platonistic approach to free will and God�s will. I am many times concerned for these early Christian philosophers who have obviously been educated beyond their intelligence. A mistake that the Pharisees made as well. Did God want Satan and 1/3 of the angels to betray Him in Heaven? Did God want Adam to lead all of creation into the fatal sin disease? Was Hell created for mankind or Satan and the fallen angels? Is to say that God did all He did for His good pleasure a statement more rooted in pagan based societies or is it a Judeo-Christian one? God has made decrees throughout history. Creation was a divine decree and cannot be overridden. Covenants and promises He made with and to man are divine decrees that cannot be overridden. Prophecies, dreams, and visions from God are also divine decrees that cannot be overridden because He has destined them to be reality. God has selected people specifically through time for His purposes. He saw that Enoch, Noah, and Abram were righteous men. He selected them for divine duty because of their hearts. For those who are flaming at this time over the word �chosen,� I ask again if Hell was prepared for Satan and his angels or humans? Both you say? The Bible says it was prepared for Satan and his angels. Isaiah 5:14 says that Hell enlarges itself. Does Hell have to be expanded to accomodate for those persons it was not created for? Matthew 25:21 says that Hell was prepared for the devil and his angels. God did not create humans for Hell. You were not meant for eternal torment. Here is where we divide God�s decrees and God�s desires. God desires that no one dies lost. That is not a decree. No one can come to the Father unless they go through Jesus. That is a decree. Mankind must individually choose the good and yield to the Holy Spirit to be saved. It is God�s desire for the above statements to be so for every human. It is a decree that you cannot come to Jesus unless the Holy Spirit draws you. It is a decree that no one can come to God unless they first accept Jesus. It is a decree that salvation is found in Christ alone. You see it is not about parallel tracks, destiny, fate, chance, or any other -ism. God has desires and gives us opportunity. But, God also decrees many things that cannot be negated. God does not decree every event that occurs. He does decree some things but not all things. The Western world loves to flirt with the notion of one person they are destined to be with Romantically. Have you noticed or searched for origins of this opinion? One person you are destined to marry? The opinion's source finds its way into many Western pagan cultures. This divine destiny of you marrying a person you were "meant" to be with. Don't get me wrong though. It's possible. But is God so confined to destiny that He cannot rework our outcomes? Isn't God able to change the future for our good? All good things come from God. We agree. Will we embrace the opinion of the Gnostics that God or gods created evil for His or their good pleasure? Again, God desires and He decrees. There is a distinction. Jeremy Brown 2003 |
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