Predestination

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Predestination
Chapter 14
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To what extent does God control our destiny ?

• Things like
• Prosperity and decline?
• Fortune and misfortune in human life?
• Salvation and damnation?
• Even the rise and fall of nations?

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Christianity

• Support Predestination

• Deny Predestination

• "And those whom he predestined he also called
  and those whom he called he also justified and
  those whom he justified he also glorified.
• Romans 830

• AFTER THE FALL
• "And the LORD was sorry that he had made man on
  the earth, and it grieved him to his heart."
• Genesis 66

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Islam

• Support Predestination

• Deny Predestination

• "No soul can believe, except by the Will of God,
  and He (Allah) will place doubt on those who will
  not understand.
• Quran 10100

• God changes not what is in a people, until they
  change what is in themselves.
• Quran 1311

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Sikhism

• Support Predestination

• Deny Predestination

• "All existence the theater of Gods play... All
  happens as by His will Nothing by our power
  comes to pass.
• Adi Granth, Majh M.5, (pg 103)

• By ones own hands is ones affairs set
  straight.
• Adi Granth,
• Asa M.1 (pg. 473-4)

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Hinduism

• Support Predestination

• Deny Predestination

• Gods power of wonder moves all things - puppets
  in a play of shadows - whirling them onwards on
  the stream of time.
• Bhagavad Gita 1860-61

• "I have given you words of vision Ponder them in
  the silence of your soul, and then in freedom do
  you will."
• Bhagavad Gita 183

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Buddhism

• Support Predestination

• Deny Predestination

• "Any wrong or evil a man does, is born in
  himself and this crushes the foolish man as a
  hard stone grinds the weaker stone.
• Dhammapada 12161

• "Make of yourself a light. Rely upon yourself do
  not depend upon anyone else."
• Digha Nikaya 16, (TB pg. 10)

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Predestination of Gods Will
God
Gods Will
Absolute, Unique, Eternal, Unchanging
Absolute, Unique, Eternal, Unchanging

• Predestination of Gods Will Absolute
• For example
• Purpose of Creation
• Providence of Restoration

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Predestination of Fulfillment of Gods Will
Gods Will
Absolute
But, the fulfillment of Gods will
Gods Responsibility 95
Human Responsibility 5

Predestination of the Fulfillment of Gods Will
is Conditional.
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Two Types Scriptures

• Verses that Support Predestination

• Verses that Deny Predestination

• Focus on the predestination of Gods Will which
  is
• Absolute

• Focus on the fulfillment of Gods Will which
  is
• Conditional

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Qualifications of a Central Figure
? Central or Correlate history. ? Ancestry. ? I
nborn nature. ? Character traits.
? Providential time.
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Accomplishment of Gods Will is Not Absolutely
Predestined
It Depends upon us fulfilling our
responsibility
Our Responsibility 5
Gods Responsibility 95
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The Value of a Perfected Person
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The Relationship between God and the Universe

mind
-
Man

All Things

Image (Map)
body
External Form
-
-
God

External Form

-
mind
-
All Things
Embody the Principle

body
Symbol (Flag)
-
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Realizing the Ideal of Creation through Love

• God created the world in order to realize love.
  He created the universe so that He could rejoice
  over people and all things as they become one
  centering on His love and making a harmonious
  world of love.

CSG, pg. 90
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The Original Ideal of Man

• Do you not know that you are God's temple and
  that God's Spirit dwells in you?
• I Corinthians 316

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The Original Ideal of Man

• Offering and keeping Precepts make the foundation
  necessary to build a great castle on. Endurance
  and Endeavor are the walls of the castle
• Avatamsaka-sutra 6
• (Teachings of Buddha, pg. 169)

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The Original Ideal of Man

• "And when a man sees that the God in himself is
  the same God in all that is, he hurts not himself
  by hurting others then he goes indeed to the
  highest Path."
• Bhagavad Gita 1328

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The Original Ideal of Man

• We have indeed created man in the best of moulds.
• Koran 954
• He (Allah) breathed into him (man) something of
  His spirit.
• Koran 327-9

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The Original Ideal of Man

• ... Our Soul is the image of the Transcendent
  God.
• Adi Granth, pg 868

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The Value of a Person Who has Fulfilledthe
Purpose of Creation
God
Mind
Perfect
First Mind
Body
True Person
Perfect
Second Mind
Perfected Person Divine Value
Eternal Value
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The Value of a Person Who has Fulfilledthe
Purpose of Creation
God
A
C
B
Joy
Joy
C
A
Joy
Only One
B
Perfected Person Unique Value
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The Value of a Person Who has Fulfilledthe
Purpose of Creation
Internal Character
Spirit Self
God
Physical Self
External Form
Perfected Person Cosmic Value
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The Person Who has Fulfilled the Purpose of
Creation
God
Mind
Body
Man
? Divine Value ? Eternal Value ? Unique
Value ? Cosmic Value
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Swami Sivananda

• What you are, is Gods gift to you. What you
  become, is your gift to God.

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Lessons Learned

• Absoluteness of Gods will
• Absolute necessity of human beings to fulfill
  their responsibility
• Perfection of our individual character is based
  on our relationship with God.

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Thank you !