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Podcast
Predestination Free Will
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Hi, I'm Dave DeWitt, and today I'd like to talk about the age-old question of predestination
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and free will. There are at least three questions we need to answer. Did God predetermine everything
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that happened, the big things, or just some of those things? Do we have real unhindered
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free will to choose, or is our choice manipulated by God? Can predestination and free will choice
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both be possible, logically? This podcast will be making the point that
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both predestination and free will are 100% true. God predetermined in His eternal plan
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every single event that ever happens. However, we humans also have complete unhindered free
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will to make real choices. If God is not sovereign over everything, then He's not God. And if
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we cannot make real free will choices, then we're not humans.
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Here's the definitions I'm using. Predestination is predetermining destiny. Free will is the
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ability to make choices. Here are a few passages that confirm predestination.
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In 2 Kings 19.25, God says, Have you not heard? Long ago I did it, from ancient times I planted.
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Now I brought it to pass. Isaiah 14.24 reads, The Lord of hosts has sworn, saying, Surely
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just as I have intended, so it will happen, and just as I have planned, so it will stand.
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Revelation 17.17 explains the actions of the godless forces against Christ's second coming
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by saying, For God has put it in their hearts to execute His purpose until the words of God
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should be fulfilled. There's no such thing as an accident. Everything's part of God's
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purpose, and all of His purposes are carried out. If we neglect the concept of God's complete
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sovereign plan, we must ignore many verses of the Bible.
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Suppose we ask the question, Did God plan for me to stub my toe? Jesus said, Are not two sparrows
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sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from their father.
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But the very hairs of your head are numbered. Therefore do not fear,
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you are of more value than any sparrows. This is from Matthew 10.
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In the same way that God is sovereign over sparrows and the hairs of your head,
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He's sovereign over everything. Ephesians 1.11 tells us that God works all things after the
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counsel of His will. Suppose a housewife on her way out the door to get groceries stubs her toe
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while getting her children ready. She sits down for a minute and rubs her toe, and then she
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goes on. Pain goes away. Insignificant? Perhaps. But perhaps not. What if a few seconds' hesitation
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caused her to be just enough behind her original schedule so that a moving van going down the
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street will have passed which otherwise would have hit her broadside, killing one of her children?
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Can we reasonably conclude that God controls the well-being of our children but not the
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stubbing of toes or the movement of traffic? Our salvation is predetermined. Paul wrote,
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He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world in Ephesians 1.4.
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In Ephesians 1.11 he wrote, Also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predetermined,
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predestined according to His purpose, who works all things according to His will.
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In Romans 8.30, And who He predestined, these He called, and who He called He also justified,
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and who He justified He also glorified. So what about free will? If there's anything
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clear from the pages of Scripture, it's that man is responsible for his decisions.
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Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden because they were held responsible for
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their sinful choices. In Genesis 6 we read, Thus Noah did according to all that God had
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commanded him, so he did. In other words, he chose to obey God. Choose life, God told Israel,
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in order that you may live, in Deuteronomy 30.19. Their life depended on their choice.
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The old prophet Samuel told the disobedient king Saul, The Lord would have established
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your kingdom over Israel forever. But he also told him, God was not going to do that,
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because you, Saul, have not kept what God commanded.
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Paul's writings are full of commands. We're free to choose to obey or not, like,
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Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you. Wives, be subject to your husbands. Husbands,
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love your wives. Devote yourself to prayer. Conduct yourself with wisdom towards outsiders.
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He also wrote, For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one
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may be recompensed for his deeds in the body according to what he's done, whether good or bad.
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Since we're responsible for our choices, we must conclude that we have real unhindered free will.
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If we neglect the concept of man's complete free will choice,
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we must cross out verses on every page of our Bible.
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Every time a person in the Bible makes a decision, it was that person's real choice.
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Paul said, Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men,
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knowing that from the Lord you will receive a reward.
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Salvation's a choice. Salvation's our choice. For God so loved the world that he gave his only
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begotten Son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
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Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
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Let the one who wishes take from the water of life without cost.
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Prayer is our choice. God commands us to pray without ceasing. He says the effective prayer
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of a righteous man can accomplish much. He also tells us to pray persistently,
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thankfully, and many other ways which require responsible choices.
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After Moses prayed in Exodus 32, we read, So the Lord changed his mind about the harm which
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he said he would do to his people. Both can be true logically.
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Logic says a thing and its opposite cannot both be true. For example, if the Bible said God
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predestined everything and God did not predestine everything, that would be a contradiction.
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But the Bible says God predestined everything and it never says he does not predestine everything.
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The Bible says people have free will. It never says they do not have free will.
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Predestination is what God does. Free will is what man does. So there's no contradiction here.
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Putting the two together is simply an area where we do not have enough knowledge.
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Deuteronomy 29 and 29 says, The secret things belong to the Lord our God.
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But the things revealed belong to us and our sons forever that we may observe all the words
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of this law. We should notice that the same is true in the natural universe.
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Light is a wave and light is a particle. Both can be easily demonstrated.
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But a wave cannot be a particle and a particle cannot be a wave.
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Time is a constant, yet the faster we move, the slower time moves. It's called time dilation.
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It can be observed but not explained. Unexplainable things are not the same as contradictions.
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So some questions and answers. Did God predestine everything that happens, the big things,
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or just some of those things? Answer, to say small things are not part of God's predetermined plan
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allows for the possibility of accidents. Then chance would be in control rather than God.
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Question, do we have real unhindered free will to choose or is our choice manipulated by God?
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Answer, every command of the Bible, every moral decision we are to make,
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and every human evaluation requires real choice. Question, can predestination, free will,
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choice, both be possible logically? Answer, we don't have enough information to know how both
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are true, but clearly every page of the Bible teaches both. Thank you for listening.
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A longer paper on this subject is available on our website relationalconcepts.org.
