ABOUT KNOWLEDGE OF PREDESTINATION
Predestination
is a basic concept of the Abrahamic religions, from which Christianity is one
of them.
The doctrine is
primarily based on the sovereignty of God. In demonstrating the almightiness
and omniscience of an all-powerful Divinity who is in control and knowledge of
everything in creation, of all without exception. The God of the Bible, is an
almighty Divinity that is never unaware or uncapable of controlling every
aspect of Creation. Nothing happens beyond his knowledge, good or bad. Not
angels, or humans, or animals, or any other created intelligent being or
element is outside his absolute control. GOD is never caught by surprise by
anyone or anything at all. (Psalm 139:4; Hebrews 4:13).
That is the
prime concern and reason this magnificent doctrine was revealed to humanity, to
be aware of the almighty power of our Creator; but it has another side, the actual
consequences on the lives of humans, and their eternal destiny.
PREDESTINATION
AND FREE WILL
In regards to
humanity, the Bible is clear that God knows the names of the people who will be
saved (Acts 13:48; Ephesians 1:5), and it is said that He chose them by His
will. However, this doctrine as a consequence, also implies that there is
another lot of not ‘chosen to eternal life’, who are ‘predestined’ to eternal
condemnation.
We will not try
to explain here in detail, the mechanics of God’s Election. For now, it would
be enough to say that God’s election cannot be arbitrary, because to leave for
eternal fire some from a pool of humans, having the power to save them,
indicates cruelty on the part of the supreme power who does this, and cruelty, which
by definition is ‘the deliberate infliction of suffering on other sentient beings
without any concern for their feelings’; it is something that is denied by
fact, by the teachings of Jesus Christ across the gospels, but specially, in
the parable of the ‘Good Samaritan’ (Luke 10:25-37).
The God who
taught us to be merciful with every human being and to forgive all offences,
cannot act with a cruel indifference towards humans created by Him, in full
knowledge of their fall, and leave them to be condemned without a fair opportunity
for repentance.
Actual free will
is what determines God’s Election from eternity, based in his Omniscience; and
not capricious decision on the part of God.
But we will
study this in depth in another occasion.
THE KNOWLEDGE
OF ELECTION
The doctrine of
Election, was revealed to humanity, to first glorify God for his power. Then to
don’t think we can surprise God with a last-minute decision in order to fool
Him. And last, to give us confidence in God’s assurance of our salvation. But
what it was never given for, was to provoke ‘Determinism’.
Determinism is a
distortion of biblical Predestination.
In true Biblical
Predestination, the future is ‘determined’ by our actions taken now, with the
only difference that GOD already knew and acted upon an advanced knowledge of
our present decisions and actions from eternity.
In ‘Determinism’,
the decisions we take now are not a product of our free will, but an automatic
reaction to a predestined decision passed upon ourselves by God. In other
words, in a determinist life, every decision and action we take, has already
been appointed by God, without our consent.
That is not what
the biblical doctrine of Predestination is about. But also, neither the confirmed
knowledge of our election, either for good or bad.
Who is
predestined to eternal life and who is not; whose names are written in the Book
of Life and which are not; are not given to us because that would stop the real
motor of our election, which are our free decisions and actions we take during our
life-time.
When the Bible
speaks of the elect to salvation as something actual and knowable like in Acts 13:48;
it is the Christian author assigning a positive election, based on the good
decisions of those acting according to the Will of God. BUT it is never a final
statement in human terms.
We can say that
all professing and practicing Christians are ‘elect and called to salvation’.
There is in fact a great probability that that may be the case. But who is ‘really’
elected for salvation, can only be known by God, since we must not only believe
and act according to God’s will to be counted among the saved, but also
persevere like that to the end of our lives.
The same goes for
the enemies of Christ. We can say that an unrepentant active enemy of
Christianity has been predestined to damnation; but only GOD really knows that,
because every evil person has the opportunity to the end of their lives to
repent honestly and attain forgiveness from God; and none of us know that will
not happen to whom we see as an enemy of God now.
CONCLUSION
The fact that
there are names destined to salvation and others to damnation, and that in
reality this cannot be altered, since the election was done in foreknowledge of
the actual decisions and actions people will take in their lives; was revealed
to humans to cause trust and confidence in God’s power.
BUT to really
know WHO is destined to salvation and condemnation, is something that only GOD
knows. Only GOD knows the sincerity and truthfulness of the faith of each
human, and only God knows his secret decisions and actions, and if they will
last faithful to the end or not.
Being conscious
that even though our final destiny is written down in Heaven, we must also know
that this decision was done by the capability of God knowing our decisions and
actions and perseverance in this life, while we are alive. So, we must make the
necessary effort to live under God’s will until the end of our lives, in order
to confirm that we were elected to eternal life. The decision is ours, not God’s.
What is God’s, is the capability to open a way to salvation, and the provision
of Grace, in order to make a just decision free from sinful desire, and the
Atoning Sacrifice of Jesus, which is done entirely by Grace (2Peter 1:10;
3:14).
The same goes
for the enemies of God. While there is life, there is hope of repentance and
forgiveness in the Name of Jesus.
Nothing is
saved, and nothing is loss, until the end, and that, depends on our cooperation
with God’s Grace, based on our free will.
“Your eyes
saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the
days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.”
Psalm 139:16
Omar Flores.
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