Whether we believe in predestination or not it has an effect on how we live our life. If you do not believe in predestination you probably believe in free will and allow yourself more freedom when making choices. If however you do believe in predestination it may take away your initiative and creativity because everything is already set, so why bother. Some belief systems think that all events have been willed by God and that If you live by the bible and accept Jesus Christ as your savior you will enter the kingdom of heaven at your death. Predestination teaches that God predestined to salvation those whose future faith and merits he foreordained, that certain people have been selected for salvation while others are destined for reprobation, disapproval and to be unprincipled.
John Calvin and his belief system called Calvinism and some of the writings of St. Augustine and Martin Luther all believed that God has already determined who he will save and who he will damn, regardless of their faith, love, or merit or the lack of. This is predestination at its worst, because it takes away ones creativity. St. Augustine, Luther, and St Thomas Aquinas ascribed the salvation of human beings to the unmerited grace of God and predestination, but attributed divine reprobation to human sin and guilt.
Unity church gives us a metaphysical meaning for predestination–“The preordination of men to everlasting happiness or misery. “Since man is created in the image and after the likeness of God, he is predestined to bring the perfect pattern into expression. “I am God almighty, walk before me, and be thou perfect.” [Gen 17:1] Man has freedom of thought and must work out his own salvation. This is an affirmation by Unity. “In the name of Jesus Christ: I am the son of God and the Spirit of the Most High dwells in me. I am the lord of my mind and express only that which is constructive and up-building. I am predestined to be the perfect expression of my Father and the fullness of all good is mine.” This belief system says that all humans are destined to manifest the perfect pattern and that we have freedom of thought which allows for our creativity to be expressed. This is a more freeing and positive outlook on life and gives us free will.
Which belief is right? I do not know that any one of them is more right than the other, or that they are all right or all wrong. I believe it is up to each individual to search for and find their own truth, what works for them. Some of us need rules to follow and others need freedom to create for themselves. I experienced many different churches and their individual beliefs in my younger years as we moved often to follow Dads work. My Mother was quite religious and we attended whatever church was near to where we lived. All of these churches believed in God and had more in common than what was different so I became programmed with religion. I left the church when I was 20 years old.
I have spent the past 59 years reading, searching and evolving myself and my belief system. I am not sure about Predestination being cast in stone, but I do think that it is mutable in the sense that our thoughts and actions set up things to come. Our thinking is an energy that draws more of the same type of energy and situations to us. This is the law of cause and effect. I believe there is an energy field that science calls the quantum field that has all of the characteristics that we apply to God, so the quantum field is God. This field of energy gives back to us what we think into it. Todays actions of physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual nature will result in a like-natured manifestation in the future. We create our own predestination with our present thoughts and actions.
I believe that the religions of old were created to control the masses. Human behavior was very primitive and chaotic with a need for structure and guidance so creating rules and guidance for acceptable behavior was a logical outcome. Some belief systems such as Catholicism went way beyond what religion was created to be. Human greed, prejudices, and sadism ruled the early years of Catholicism causing unimaginable pain and suffering. I advocate creating your own belief system from your life experiences, what you read and listen to, and what you intuitively know on the knowing level. A strong belief in a higher power that is within you, guiding you, and protecting you will never fail you. So what predestination are you creating now?
