“Windows To Spirituality”
Destiny & Free Will
Destiny is a title of Divine Knowledge, it is not something that annuls man’s free will and forces him to behave in a pre-ordained way.
Destiny, sometimes referred to as fate, is a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual.
God’s pre-knowledge of the individual’s behavior in a given circumstances does not contradict man’s having free will.
Free will is the ability to choose between different possible courses of action unimpeded. Free will is closely linked to the concepts of responsibility, praise, guilt, sin, and other judgements which apply only to actions that are freely chosen
What Is Predestination? Predestination (Latin præ, destinare), taken in its widest meaning, is every Divine decree by which God, owing to His infallible prescience of the future, has appointed and ordained from eternity all events occurring in time, especially those which directly proceed from, or at least are influenced by, man’s free will. It includes all historical facts, as for...
Predestination In Catholicism Predestination in Catholicism is the Catholic Church‘s teachings on predestination and Catholic saints‘ views on it. The church believes that predestination is not based on anything external to God – for example, the grace of baptism is not merited but given freely to those who receive baptism – since predestination was formulated before the foundation of the...
Intention Intentions are mental states in which the agent commits themselves to a course of action. Having the plan to visit the zoo tomorrow is an example of an intention. The action plan is the content of the intention while the commitment is the attitude towards this content. Other mental states can have action plans as their...
Fatalism Fatalism is a family of related philosophical doctrines that stress the subjugation of all events or actions to fate or destiny, and is commonly associated with the consequent attitude of resignation in the face of future events which are thought to be inevitable. Definition The term “fatalism” can refer to any of the...
Fate Fate (Latin fatum, from fari, to tell or predict) is almost redundant in the vocabulary of a Catholic as such, for its meaning as the prime cause of events is better expressed by the term Divine Providence, while, as a constant force at work in the physical universe, it is nothing more nor less than natural law. Hence St. Augustine says (City...
What Is Fate? Fate or Destiny refers to a predetermined course of events, which may be conceived as affecting the world in general or a specific individual. It is a concept based on the belief that there is a fixed order to the universe. That order can be seen as the product of...
Free Will Explained The question of free will, moral liberty, or the liberum arbitrium of the Schoolmen, ranks amongst the three or four most important philosophical problems of all time. It ramifies into ethics, theology, metaphysics, and psychology. The view adopted in response to it will determine a man’s position in regard to the most momentous issues that...
Destiny In The Old Testament This article covers destiny in the Old Testament. The Old Testament (abbreviated OT) is the first part of Christian Bibles, based primarily upon the Hebrew Bible (or Tanakh), a collection of ancient religious writings by the Israelites believed by most Christians and religious Jews to be the sacred Word of God. The...
Argument From Free Will The argument from free will, also called the paradox of free will or theological fatalism, contends that omniscience and free will are incompatible and that any conception of God that incorporates both properties is therefore inherently contradictory. These arguments are deeply concerned with the implications of predestination. Omniscience and free will...
What Is Compatibilism? Compatibilism is the belief that free will and determinism are mutually compatible and that it is possible to believe in both without being logically inconsistent. Compatibilists believe freedom can be present or absent in situations for reasons that have nothing to do with metaphysics. They define free will as freedom to act according to...
What Is Destiny? Destiny, sometimes referred to as fate, is a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual. Fate Although often used interchangeably, the words “fate” and “destiny” have distinct connotations. Traditional usage defines fate as a power or agency that...
Agency In LDS Church Agency (free agency or moral agency), in LDS Church, is “the privilege of choice which was introduced by God the Eternal Father to all of his spirit children in the premortal state”. Mortal life is viewed as a test of faith, where our choices are central to the plan of...
Predestination In Calvinism Predestination is a doctrine in Calvinism dealing with the question of the control that God exercises over the world. In the words of the Westminster Confession of Faith, God “freely and unchangeably ordained whatsoever comes to pass.” The second use of the word “predestination” applies this to the salvation, and refers...
What Is Corporate Election? The idea of corporate election expresses a Christian soteriological view that understands Christian salvation as based on “God choosing in Christ a people whom he destines to be holy and blameless in his sight”. Put another way, “Election is the corporate choice of the church ‘in Christ.’” Paul Marston and Roger Forster state that...
Free Will In Theology Free will in theology is an important part of the debate on free will in general. Religions vary greatly in their response to the standard argument against free will and thus might appeal to any number of responses to the paradox of free will, the claim that omniscience and free will are...
Predestination In Islam This article covers the meaning of predestination in Islam. Qadar (قدر, qadar, meaning “power”), but translated variously as: “fate“, “divine fore-ordainment“, “predestination”, “Divine Decree“, “Preordainment”, is the concept of divine destiny in Islam. As God is all-knowing and all-powerful, everything that has happened and will happen in the universe—including sinful human behavior—is commanded...
What Is Theological Determinism? Theological determinism is a form of predeterminism which states that all events that happen are pre-ordained, or/and predestined to happen, by a God/gods, or that they are destined to occur given its omniscience. Theological determinism exists in a number of religions, including Jainism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. It is also supported by proponents of Classical pantheism such as the Stoics and Baruch Spinoza....
What Is Predeterminism? Predeterminism is the idea that all events are determined in advance. Predeterminism is the philosophy that all events of history, past, present, and future, have been already decided or are already known (by God, fate, or some other force), including human actions. Predeterminism is closely related to determinism. The concept of...
What Is Predestination? Predestination, in theology, is the doctrine that all events have been willed by God, usually with reference to the eventual fate of the individual soul. Explanations of predestination often seek to address the “paradox of free will“, whereby God‘s omniscience seems incompatible with human free will. In this usage, predestination can be...
What Is Determinism? Determinism is the philosophical view that all events are determined completely by previously existing causes. Deterministic theories throughout the history of philosophy have sprung from diverse and sometimes overlapping motives and considerations. The opposite of determinism is some kind of indeterminism (otherwise called nondeterminism) or randomness. Determinism is often contrasted with free will, although...
