Luiseach

Hello:

I teach a literature course and the issue of Calvinism and predestination came up in relation to textual analysis.

My understanding is that predestination is one of the central tenets of Calvinism. Am I correct?

Furthermore, my understanding of predestination is the following: God is omniscient and knows the past, present and future; he knows what human beings will do; he knows which human beings will go to Heaven and which ones will go to Hell.

Since God knows what will happen, human beings cannot control the trajectories of their lives because they are predestined to act in such ways that will lead to salvation or damnation. No matter what they do, they couldn't have done otherwise, because God has forseen it all. Hence, the issue of free will seems to become a moot point within the parameters of this doctrine.

If I'm right, and free will is meaningless because of predestination, then human beings cannot be held morally responsible for either their goodness or their wickedness. God has written the script of history, as it were, and human beings merely fulfil their allotted roles. Or is it that God's omniscience is offset by his inability to change what will happen; does predestination imply that God is not omnipotent?

I would greatly appreciate some input on this. I have one student - deeply religious and a bit miffed by my take on Calvinism/predestination - which has made me think that I have misinterpreted the doctrine.

Thank you very much in advance for your assistance in this matter.

Luiseach

Hmmm....I'm not too sure about the placing of this query...maybe I should have posted the thread in a different forum.

I hope the mods don't mind me reposting it in Biblical criticism.

[Edited to add] Actually I posted it in the Morals Forum....my query is about morality within the Calvinist paradigm, after all.

wade-w

My understanding of the calvinist doctrine of predestination is that god has already made the decision as to who will be admitted into heaven (known as the "elect") and who will be damned to hell. This is an active decision, made before we are born.

The subtle difference here is that in the calvinist doctrine, who is saved and who is not is a concious decision rather than "merely" foreknowledge of what choices we will make. In the end, I see little practical difference between predestination and your analysis; free will becomes a moot point if the future is known with certainty.

Luiseach

Thanks for your reply, wade-w...

Yes, the 'Elect'...I've heard of that term before in relation to Calvinism.

I don't think my student will be too pleased with the idea that she subscribes to a religion that makes a mockery of free will, but then again maybe it will encourage her to think about it more critically. Who knows?

Pyrrho

I strongly recommend that you do a search for "Calvinism" and "predestination" with your favorite search engine, and then select sites that either are trying to defend it, or are trying to explain it WITHOUT TRYING TO REFUTE IT. (The reason being, that many times that sites that are attempting to refute something get it wrong, and end up committing the fallacy known as "straw man".) Here is one place to look:

http://www.reformed.org/calvinism/index.html

I recommend that you also visit other sites as well.

wade-w

From the site referred to by Pyrrho above:

That sounds like what I said earlier.

keyser_soze

You may, if you feel so inclined, also do a search in the biblical archaeology forum for the use of the word "elect" in relation to jesus christ. You may find something amusing to entertain your students with.

Luiseach

lol...I've never thought of Calvinism and Predestination as inherently amusing or entertaining subjects before...

Luiseach

It does indeed.

I wonder if the Book of Job is related to the issue of Predestination.

Well I'll say one thing for sure, you guys have taught me more about Calvinism in a day (?) than my student has learned in a lifetime.

keyser_soze

Any biblical scholarship is entertaining, but then again, my tastes often run to the "dry and boring" according to my wife.