Free Will & Predestination

There are many issues related to the predestination and free will debate. The British heretic Morgan, known as Pelagius, refuted the notion that predestination exists or that God has preordained or controls our actions and lives in any manner. This means that salvation is within human control. This undermines the concept of original sin. St. Augustine denied this argument and forcefully upheld the doctrine of predestination and original sin. Augustine viewed predestination and free will as coexisting without conflict. He believed that God created us and knows and controls the whole course of each of our lives. The free will aspect of human nature is whether we choose to accept or reject God's salvation. The decision of salvation is ours, but God still writes the whole story of each individual's existence. The Great Awakenings with an emphasis on enlightenment and humanism would emphasize free will while rejecting predestination.

The concept of predestination was originated in thought prior to John Calvin, but Calvin became the "main proponent of the doctrine that those saved by God are chosen by Him." Calvinism views God as having sovereign over all creatures and actions in creation. Without his permission and without his choosing, nothing is permitted. God has the foreknowledge to foreordain those who will accept his grace and knows who will not. He chooses to grant eternal life to those who accept Him and receive His grace. The pr

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es into play because such a scenario argues that man must take some measure in his own regeneration to be worthy of salvation. This is symbolic of Roman Catholic theory on man and grace. Repentance is a doctrine that incorporates the concept of free will because it takes human willpower to adopt repentant actions. In Ezekiel we see that it is up to the will of the individual to make for himself or herself a new heart. One might consider the concept of being born again as dependent on human free will in order to accept Christ and his grace. However, Ezekiel also illustrates the belief that a new heart can only be had due God's grace, a gift only God bestows. Despite such resolutions to the predestination/free will issue, I believe that free will is a quality that is inherent in human beings and posits them as the controller of their own moral actions and fate. The First and Second Great Awakenings are an excellent support for why I believe that free will is internal and not connected to any all-powerful or omnipotent God. The question of the right to a free exercise of religion and the ability of believers to follow their own conscience in expressing their beliefs was integral to the First Great Awakening. Cairns suggests

Category: Philosophy - F