Predestination in Some Religions

13 For example, some people may speak of predestination from a purely physical perspective, such as in a discussion of time travel. In a predestined universe the future is immutable and only one set of events can possibly occur; in a non-predestined universe, the future is mutable. In Chinese Buddhism, predestination is a translation of yuanfen, which does not necessarily imply the existence or involvement of a deity. Predestination in this sense takes on a very literal meaning: pre- before and destiny, in a straightforward way indicating that some events seem bound to happen. Finally, antithetical to determinism of any kind are theories of the cosmos which assert that any outcome is ultimately unpredictable, the luckiness, chance, or chaos theory have determinist implications, as a logical consequence of the idea of predictability. But predestination usually refers to a specifically religious type of determinism, especially as found in various monotheistic systems where omniscience is attributed to God, including Christianity and Islam.

2.2.3 Predestination in Some Religions

Discussion of predestination usually involves consideration of whether God is omniscient, or eternal or atemporal free from limitations of time or even causality based on Subjects of Sovereignty by Andrew Telford 1978:205. In terms of these ideas, God may see the past, present, and future, so that God effectively knows the future. If God in some sense knows ahead of time what will happen, then events in the universe are effectively predetermined from Gods point of view. 14 Within Christendom, there is considerable disagreement about Gods role in setting ultimate destinies that is, eternal life or eternal destruction. Christians who follow teachers such as St. Augustine and John Calvin generally accept that God decides the eternal destinations of each person, so that their future actions or beliefs follow according to Gods choice Farrely, 1964: 154. This view is a contrasting Christian view maintains that God is completely sovereign over all things but that he choses to give each individual free will, which each person can exercise to accept or reject Gods offer of salvation and hence Gods actions and determinations follow according to mans choice. Judaism may accept the possibility that God is atemporal; some forms of Jewish theology teach this virtually as a principle of faith, while other forms of Judaism do not Farrely, 1964: 362. Jews may use the term omniscience, or preordination as a corollary of omniscience, but normally reject the idea of predestination as being incompatible with the free will and responsibility of moral agents, and it therefore has no place in their religion. Islam traditionally has strong views of predestination similar to some found in Christianity. In Islam, Allah both knows and ordains whatever comes to pass. Muslims believe that Allah is literally a temporal, eternal and omniscient. Predestination was reveal in some religion. It was a proof that basically God is in charge both of history in general and of our lifes. We are unable to come to know and serve him on our own. We are completely dependent upon his decision to save us, and his work in our life to transform us. Then, human makes 15 responsible decisions. We will be judged by God for how we respond to him, and how we deal with each other.

2.2.4 Types of Predestination