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Czech: předurčeníExtensive DefinitionPredestination (also linked with foreknowledge) is areligious concept,which involves the relationship between God and His creation.The religious character of predestination distinguishes it fromother ideas about determinism and free will.Those who believe in predestination, such as John Calvin,believe that before the creationGod determined the fate of the universe throughout all of time andspace.Contrasted with other kinds of determinismPredestination:The Divine foreordaining of all that will happen; with regard tothe salvation of some and not others. It has been particularlyassociated with the teachings of St.Augustine of Hippo and of John Calvin.Predestination may sometimes be used to refer to other,materialistic, spiritualist, non-theistic or polytheistic ideas ofdeterminism,destiny, fate, doom, or karma. Such beliefs orphilosophical systems may hold that any outcome is finallydetermined by the complex interaction of multiple, possiblyimmanent,possibly impersonal, possibly equal forces, rather than the issueof a Creator's conscious choice.For example, some may speak of predestinationfrom a purely physical perspective, such as in a discussion oftimetravel. In this case, rather than referring to the afterlife, predestinationrefers to any events that will occur in the future. In apredestined universe the future is immutable and only one set ofevents can possibly occur; in a non-predestined universe, thefuture is mutable. In Chinese Buddhism,predestination is a translation of yuanfen, which does notnecessarily 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 someevents seem bound to happen.Finally, antithetical to determinism of any kindare theories of the cosmos which assert that any outcome isultimately unpredictable, the ludibrium of luck, chance, or chaos.All conceptions of an ordered or rational cosmoshave determinist implications, as a logical consequence of the ideaof predictability. But predestination usually refers to aspecifically religious type of determinism, especially as found invarious monotheistic systems where omniscience is attributed toGod, including Christianity and Islam.It is also the concept of destiny in a path toreligious freedom.Predestination and omniscienceDiscussion of predestinationusually involves consideration of whether God is omniscient, oreternal oratemporal (free from limitations of time or even causality). In terms of theseideas, God may see the past, present, and future, so that Godeffectively knows the future. If God in some sense knows ahead oftime what will happen, then events in the universe are effectivelypredetermined from God's point of view. This is a form ofdeterminism but not predestination since the latter term impliesthat God has actually determined (rather than simply seen) inadvance the destiny of creatures.Within Christendom,there is considerable disagreement about God's role in settingultimate destinies (that is, eternal lifeor eternal destruction). Christians who follow teachers such asSt.Augustine and John Calvingenerally accept that God does decide the eternal destinations ofeach person, so that their future actions or beliefs followaccording to God's choice. A contrasting Christian view maintainsthat God is completely sovereign over all things but that he choseto give each individual free will, which each person can exerciseto accept or reject God's offer of salvation and hence God'sactions and determinations follow according to man's choice.Judaism may acceptthe possibility that God is atemporal; some forms of Jewishtheology teach this virtually as a principle of faith, while otherforms of Judaism do not. Jews may use the term omniscience, orpreordination as acorollary of omniscience, but normally reject the idea ofpredestination as being incompatible with the free will andresponsibility of moral agents,and it therefore has no place in their religion.Islam traditionallyhas strong views of predestination similar to some found inChristianity. In Islam, Allah both knows and ordains whatever comesto pass. Muslims believe that God is literally atemporal, eternaland omniscient.In philosophy, the relationbetween foreknowledge and predestination is a central part ofNewcomb'sparadox.Predestination in ChristianityChristians understand thedoctrine of predestination in terms of God's work of salvation inthe world. The doctrine is a tension between the divineperspective, in which God saves those whom he chooses from eternityapart from human action, and the human perspective, in which eachperson is responsible for his or her choice to accept or rejectGod: see main article on Freewill in theology. The views on predestination withinChristianity vary somewhat in emphasis on one of these twoperspectives.In terms of ultimates, with God's decision tocreate as the ultimate beginning, and the ultimate outcome, abelief system has a doctrine of predestination if it teaches:God's decision, assignment or declaration concerning the lot ofpeople is conceived as occurring in some sense prior to theoutcome, andthe decision is fully predictive of the outcome, and not merelyprobable.There are numerous ways to describe the spectrumof beliefs concerning predestination in Christian thinking. To someextent, this spectrum has analogies in other monotheisticreligions, although in other religions the term predestination maynot be used. For example, teaching on predestination may vary interms of three considerations.Is God's predetermining decision based solely on a knowledge ofHis own will, or does it also include a knowledge of whatever willhappen?How particular is God's prior decision: is it concerned withparticular persons and events, or is it limited to broad categoriesof people and things?How free is God in effecting His part in the eventual outcome?Is God bound or limited by conditions external to his own will,willingly or not, in order that what has been determined will cometo pass?Furthermore, the same sort of considerationsapply to the freedom of man's will.Assuming that an individual had no choice in who, when andwhere to come into being: How are the choices of existencedetermined by what he is?Assuming that not all possible choices are available to him:How capable is the individual to desire all choices available, inorder to choose from among them?How capable is an individual to put into effect what hedesires?Predestination in the BibleSome Biblical verses often usedas sources for Christian beliefs in predestination are below."Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, whohas blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly placesin Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of theworld, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love Hepredestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself,according to the kind intention of His will, [...]" (Eph. 1:3-5,NASB)"And we know that God causes all things to work together forgood to those who love God, to those who are called according toHis purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined tobecome conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be thefirstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, Healso called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and thesewhom He justified, He also glorified." (Rom. 8:28-30,NASB)"[...] but we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the hiddenwisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; [...]"(1Co. 2:7, NASB)"For truly in this city there were gathered together againstYour holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and PontiusPilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to dowhatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur." (Act.4:27-28, NASB)"But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love withwhich He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions,made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenlyplaces in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might showthe surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in ChristJesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that notof yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, sothat no one may boast." (Eph. 2:4-9, NASB)"[...] who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, notaccording to our works, but according to His own purpose and gracewhich was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity, [...]"(2Ti. 1:9, NASB)The days that were ordained for me,When as yet there was not one of them. (Psa. 139:16,NASB)"So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man whoruns, but on God who has mercy. [verse 17 omitted] So then He hasmercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires." (Rom.9:16-18, NASB)History of the doctrineChurch Fathers on the doctrineThe early church fathersconsistently uphold the freedom of human choice. This position wascrucial in the Christian confrontation with Cynicism and some ofthe chief forms of Gnosticism, suchas Manichaeism,which taught that man is by nature flawed and therefore notresponsible for evil in himself or in the world. At the same time,belief in human responsibility to do good as a precursor tosalvation and eternal reward was consistent. The decision to dogood along with God's aid pictured a synergism of the human willand God's will. The early church Fathers taught a doctrine ofconditional predestination.Augustineof Hippo marks the beginning of a system of thought that deniesfree will and affirms that salvation needs an initial input by Godin the life of every person. While his early writings affirm thatGod's predestinating grace is granted on the basis of hisforeknowledge of the human desire to pursue salvation, this changedafter 396. His later position affirmed the necessity of Godgranting grace in order for the desire for salvation to beawakened. Augustine's thoughts thus took a more determinist (or"unconditional") direction as he wrestled with the implications ofthe writings of the ApostlePaul.Augustine's position raised objections. Julianbishop of Eclanum, expressed that Augustine was bringing Manicheethoughts into the church. For Vincentof Lérins, this was a disturbing innovation. This new tensioneventually became obvious with the confrontation between Augustineand Pelagiusculminating in condemnation of Pelagianism (asinterpreted by Augustine) at the Councilof Ephesus in 431. The British monk Pelagius deniedAugustine's view of "predestination" in order to affirm thatsalvation is achieved by an act of free will.The influence of Augustine also then showed intranslations of the bible from that time on. Variations which arenot in themselves visible in the syntax or grammar of the NewTestament Greek text. Perhaps the best example of this in theVulgate isthe addition of 'prae' to 'ordinati' in Acts 13:48 which is thereonly to give the idea this was God who did this. Later translationsshow this influence of the doctrine by the additions of the word'his' in Romans 8:28 and 11:22 all suggesting an interpretationconsistent with unconditional election.Augustine's formulation is neither complete noruniversally accepted by Christians. But his system laid thefoundation onto virgin ground for the then later writers andinnovators of the Reformation period.The Reformers on the doctrineThe BelgicConfession of 1561 affirmed that God "delivers and preserves"from perdition "all whom he, in his eternal and unchangeablecouncil, of mere goodness hath elected in Christ Jesus our Lord,without respect to their works" (Article XVI).Various views on Christian predestinationConditional predestinationConditional Predestination, ormore commonly referred to as conditionalelection, is a theological stance stemming from the writingsand teachings of JacobusArminius, after whom Arminianism isnamed. Arminius studied under the staunch Reformed scholar TheodoreBeza, whose views of election,Arminius eventually argued, could not reconcile freedom withmoralresponsibility.Arminius used a philosophy called Molinism (namedfor the philosopher, Luis deMolina) that attempted to reconcile freedom with God's omniscience. They both sawhuman freedom in terms of the Libertarianphilosophy: man's choice is not decided by God's choice, thus God'schoice is "conditional", depending on what man chooses. Arminiussaw God "looking down the corridors of time" to see the freechoices of man, and choosing those who will respond in faith andlove to God's love and promises, revealed in Jesus.Arminianismsees the choice of Christ as an impossibility, apart from God'sgrace; and the freedom to choose is given to all, because God'sprevenientgrace is universal (given to everyone). Therefore, Godpredestines on the basis of foreknowledge of how some will respondto his universal love ("conditional"). In contrast, Calvinism viewsuniversal grace as resistible and not sufficient for leading tosalvation--or denies universal grace altogether--and insteadsupposes grace that leads to salvation to be particular andirresistible,given to some but not to others on the basis of God'spredestinating choice ("unconditional"). This is also known as"double-predestination."Temporal predestinationTemporal predestination is the viewthat God only determines temporal matters, and not eternal ones.This Christian view is analogous to the traditional Jewish view,which distinguishes between preordination and predestination.Temporal matters are pre-ordained by God, but eternal matters,being supra-temporal, are subject to absolute freedom of choice.J.Kenneth GriderInfralapsarianismInfralapsarianism(also called sublapsarianism) holds that predestination logicallycoincides with the preordination of Man's fall into sin. That is,God predestined sinful men for salvation. Therefore according tothis view, God is the "ultimate cause", but not the "proximatesource" or "author" of sin. Infralapsarians often emphasize adifference between God's decree (which is inviolable andinscrutable), and his revealed will (against which man isdisobedient). Proponents also typically emphasize the grace andmercy of God toward all men, although teaching also that only someare predestined for salvation.In common English parlance, the doctrine ofpredestination often has particular reference to the doctrines ofCalvinism. Theversion of predestination espoused by John Calvin,after whom Calvinism is named, is sometimes referred to as "doublepredestination" because in it God predestines some people forsalvation (i.e. Unconditionalelection) and some for condemnation (i.e. Reprobation).Calvin himself defines predestination as "the eternal decree ofGod, by which he determined with himself whatever he wished tohappen with regard to every man. Not all are created on equalterms, but some are preordained to eternal life, others to eternaldamnation; and, accordingly, as each has been created for one orother of these ends, we say that he has been predestined to life orto death.".On the spectrum of beliefs concerningpredestination, Calvinism is the strongest form among Christians.It teaches that God's predestining decision is based on theknowledge of His own will rather than foreknowledge, concerningevery particular person and event; and, God continually acts withentire freedom, in order to bring about his will in completeness,but in such a way that the freedom of the creature is not violated,"but rather, established"Calvinists who hold the infralapsarian view ofpredestination usually prefer that term to "sublapsarianism,"perhaps with the intent of blocking the inference that they believepredestination is on the basis of foreknowledge (sublapsarianmeaning, assuming the fall into sin). The different terminology hasthe benefit of distinguishing the Calvinist double predestinationversion of infralapsarianism, from Lutheranism's view thatpredestination is a mystery, which forbids the unprofitableintrusion of prying minds.Calvinists seek never to divide predestination ina mathematical way. Their doctrine is uninterested, in theabstract, in questions of "how much" either God or man isresponsible for a particular destiny. Questions of "how much" willbecome hopelessly entangled in paradox, Calvinists teach,regardless of the view of predestination adopted. Instead,Calvinism divides the issues of predestination according to twokinds of being, knowledge, and will,distinguishing that which is divine from that which is human.Therefore, it is not so much an issue of quantity, but of distinctroles or modes of being. God is not a creature nor the creature Godin knowledge, will, freedom, ability, responsibility, or anythingelse. Calvinists will often attribute salvation entirely to God;and yet they will also assert that it is man's responsibility topursue obedience. As the archetypal illustration of this idea, theybelieve Jesusin his words and work humanly fulfilled all that he as part of theTrinity haddetermined from the Father should be done. What he did humanly isdistinguishable, but not separate, from what he did divinely.SupralapsarianismSupralapsarianismis the doctrine that God's decree of predestination for salvationand reprobation logically precedes his preordination of the humanrace's fall into sin. That is, God decided to save, and to damn; hethen determined that the fall of man into sin would accomplish Hispurpose. It is a matter of controversy whether or not Calvinhimself held this view, but most scholars link him with theinfralapsarian position. It is known, however, that Calvin'ssuccessor in Geneva, TheodoreBeza, held to the supralapsarian view.Open theismIn terms of predestination, Open theismrepresents a break from traditional renderings of the doctrine. Inthe open theist view, God does not have exhaustive knowledge of thefuture. This excludes the possibility that God has knowledge ofindividual persons who would be born and thus, the open theistavers, God does not predestine individuals, but a church.Jewish viewsGenerally speaking ReformJudaism has no strong doctrine of predestination. The idea thatGod is omnipotent andomniscient didn'tformally exist in Judaism during the Biblical era, butrather was a later development due to the influence of neo-Platonicand neo-Aristotelian philosophy. Many modern Jewish thinkers in the20th century have resolved the dialectical tension by holding thatGod is simply not omnipotent, in the commonly used sense of thatword. These thinkers are primarily not Orthodox Jews. OrthodoxJewish rabbisgenerally affirm that God must be viewed as omnipotent, but they havevarying definitions of what the word omnipotent means. Thus onefinds that some Modern Orthodox theologians have views that areessentially the same as non-Orthodox theologians, but they usedifferent terminology.One noted Jewish philosopher, HasdaiCrescas, resolved this dialectical tension by taking theposition that free-will doesn't exist. Hence all of a person'sactions are pre-determined by the moment of their birth, and thustheir judgment in the eyes of God (so to speak) is effectivelypre-ordained. However in this scheme this is not a result of God'spredetermining one's fate, but rather from the view that theuniverse is deterministic. Crescas's views on this topic wererejected by Judaism at large. In later centuries this ideaindependently developed among some in the Chabad (Lubavitch) sectof HasidicJudaism. Many individuals within Chabad take this viewseriously, and hence effectively deny the existence of freewill.However, many Chabad (Lubavitch) Jews attempt tohold both views. They affirm as infallible their rebbe'steachings that God knows and controls the fate of all, yet at thesame time affirm the classical Jewish belief in free-will (i.e. nosuch thing as determinism). The inherent contradiction between thetwo results in their belief that such contradictions are only"apparent", due to man's inherent lack of ability to understandgreater truths and due to the fact that Creator and Created existin different realities.One does not have to be a Chabad Hassid tobelieve in this, however. It is enough to read the statement inPirkeiAvot: "Everything is predetermined but freedom of will isgiven." The same idea is strongly repeated by Rambam (MishnehTorah, Laws of Repentance, Chapter 5).Many other Jews (Orthodox, Conservative, Reformand secular) affirm that since free-will exists, then by definitionone's fate is not preordained. It is held as a tenet of faith thatwhether God is omniscient or not, nothing interferes with mankind'sfree will. Some Jewish theologians, both during the medieval eraand today, have attempted to formulate a philosophy in which freewill is preserved, while also affirming that God has knowledge ofwhat decisions people will make in the future. Whether or not thesetwo ideas are mutually compatible, or whether there is acontradiction between the two, is still a matter of great study andinterest in philosophy today.In Rabbinicliterature, there is much discussion as to the apparentcontradictionbetween God's omniscience and free will.The representative view is that "Everything is foreseen; yet freewill is given" (Rabbi Akiva,PirkeiAvoth 3:15).Based on this understanding, the problem is formally described as aparadox, beyond ourunderstanding.Islamic viewsIn Islam,"predestination" is the usual English language rendering of abelief that Muslims call al-qada wa al-qadar in Arabic.The phrase means "the divine decree and the predestination";al-qadar derives from a root that means to measure out.This is a difficult concept to understand andtranslate. In Islam, God's omniscience doesn't suggest that we haveno free will. God's advance knowledge of what each human willchoose with his/her free will is said to not in any way negate thefreedom granted to humans.http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?pagename=IslamOnline-English-Ask_Scholar/FatwaE/FatwaE cid=1119503544138Some suggest that free will doesn't actuallyexist in Islamhttp://quran.al-islam.com/Targama/DispTargam.asp?nType=1 nSeg=0 l=eng nSora=81 nAya=25 t=enghttp://www.islam-qa.com/index.php?ref=96978 ln=eng.When referring to the future, Muslims frequentlyqualify any predictions of what will come to pass with the phraseinshallah,Arabic for "if God wills." The phrase recognises that humanknowledge of the future is limited, and that all that may or maynot come to pass is under the control of God.Muslims believe that God is omniscient and so hasthe power to prevent or allow any action from occurring. Therefore,if God does not prevent an act from occurring than that act isthought to be God's will.http://www.answering-christianity.com/bassam_zawadi/predestination.htmhttp://www.answering-christianity.com/quran/ma_guiding.htmHumans do not have control in making decisions in their life. Thereis no "free will" to choose to do certain things or not to docertain things. People can believe they have control over theirlives, but they are not able to do anything without it being God'swill first. Nothing is allowed to come to pass unless it is thewill of God, hence the phrase "if God wills". A related phrase,mashallah,indicates acceptance of what God has ordained in terms of good orill fortune that may befall a believer.Shia IslamIn Shia Islam, there is a greater emphasis onfree will, and the importance of personal decision which will becalled back on the Day ofJudgementhttp://www.al-islam.org/inquiries/9.html.Predestination is a way of thinking that is challenged by the Imamsof Shia Islam in many speeches and letters. The main factor indetermining how one's reality is processed has to do with his/her"nearness" to God. Therefore, the levels of relationship that onehas with God is what determines what a person may be "allowed" todo. For example, drinking alcoholicbeverages is a sin according to the religion of Islam (seeIslam andalcohol). If a person who has "turned his back" on God decidesto drink, there will be no obstacle between himself and the drink.Accordingly, a drink voids 40 days of prayers and supplication,which distances that soul "further" from God. However, if theperson is a "pious" believer who has fallen to despair due to somedifficulty and decides to have a drink to give up his state andposition, there may be numerous obstacles in the universe betweenhim and the drink, until he finally gives up on that endeavour andreturns repentant. The hopelessness in human action is what isdisputed by Shia philosophers with those who lean far towardpredestination.http://www.al-islam.org/mananddestiny/4.htmIslam and ChristianityAlthough comparable in broad terms,the differences between Christian and Islamic ideas ofpredestination are complex. These differences are due to thedistinctives of each faith's belief system. In broad terms, thedoctrine of predestination refers to inevitability as a generalprinciple, and usually more particularly refers to the exercise ofGod's will as it relates to the future of members of the humanrace, considered either as groups or as individuals, with specialconcern for issues of human responsibility as it relates to thesovereignty of God. Predestination always involves issues of theCreator's personality and will; and consequently, the differentversions of the doctrine of predestination go hand in hand withappropriately different conceptions of the contribution anycreature is able to make toward its own present condition, orfuture destiny.Predestination in Other ReligionsHinduismIn Hinduism, which consists of four schools,predestination does not play an important role, as most followersbelieve in karma,associated with free will.However, in the Dvaita school ofVaishnavism,the philosopher Madhvacharyabelieved in a similar concept. For example, Madhvacharya differedsignificantly from traditional Hindu beliefs in his concept ofeternal damnation. For example, he divides souls into threeclasses, one class which qualify for liberation, Mukti-yogyas,another subject to eternal rebirth or eternally transmigrating dueto samsara, Nitya-samsarins,and significantly, a class that is eventually condemned to eternalhell or Andhatamas,known as Tamo-yogyas.He has hypothesized (based on vedic texts and yukti) that souls are eternal andnot created ex nihilo byGod, as in the Semitic religions.Souls depend on God for their very "being" and "becoming." Madhvahas compared this relationship of God with souls to therelationship between a source (bimba) and its reflection(pratibimba).See alsoSynchronicityFatalismProvidentialismReferencesExternal links"Determinismin Theology: Predestination" by Robert M. Kindon in TheDictionary of the History of Ideas (1973-74)Understanding Predestination in IslamDetailed Lecture on Islamic Perspective on FateOccurrences of"predestination" in the Bible text (ESV)TheReformed Doctrine of Predestination (1932) by LoraineBoettner (conservative Calvinist perspective)The Biblical Doctrine Of Predestination, Foreordination, andElection by F. Furman Kearley (Arminian perspective)"Predestination"from TheCatholic Encyclopedia (1913)Academicarticles on predestination and election (Lutheranperspective)predestination in Czech: Predestinacepredestination in Danish: Prædestinationpredestination in German: Prädestinationpredestination in Modern Greek (1453-): ΑπόλυτοςΠροορισμόςpredestination in Spanish: Predestinaciónpredestination in French: Prédestinationpredestination in Korean: 예정론predestination in Icelandic: Fyrirhugunpredestination in Italian: Predestinazionepredestination in Hebrew: פרדסטינציהpredestination in Lithuanian:Predestinacijapredestination in Hungarian:Predesztinációpredestination in Dutch: Predestinatiepredestination in Japanese: 予定説predestination in Polish: Predestynacjapredestination in Portuguese:Predestinaçãopredestination in Russian: Предопределениеpredestination in Slovenian:Predestinacijapredestination in Serbian: Предодређењеpredestination in Finnish: Predestinaatiopredestination in Swedish:PredestinationsläranSynonyms, Antonyms and RelatedWordsabsolute certainty, absoluteness, assurance, assuredness, certainknowledge, certainness, certainty, certitude, dead certainty,decree, definiteness, destiny, determinacy, determinateness,doom, fate, foredestiny, foregoneconclusion, foreknowledge, foreordination, fortune, future, ineluctability, inerrability, inerrancy, inevitability, infallibilism, infallibility, karma, kismet, lot, necessity, nonambiguity, noncontingency, positiveness, predetermination,preordination,prescience, probatum, proved fact, sureness, surety, truth, unambiguity, unequivocalness,univocity, unmistakableness

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