Predestination, Freewill or Evil?

[corrgc]

I tried this on the apologists but never got a reply and unfortunately weighs on my mind.

How do we KNOW when an event is a predestined act of the Lord, an act of man’s free will or an act of Evil through Satan ?

Examples: A teenage pregnancy, the protestant reformation, the strengthening of a communist nation…

The best answer I recieved was “we shouldn’t worry ourselves about such things…” That won’t suffice.

If it is not predestination, then does that mean that man’s freewill or a small victory by Satan “alters” the Lord’s plan slightly?

I ask this in sincerity, in search of the truth.

Thank you for your opinions!

 

[CARose]

Mankind always has freewill, the freedom to act in accord with God’s will or to rebel against his preference. In the meantime, God knows our choices before we do, for he is all knowing and all powerful.

He desires that we all join Him in heaven, but as Heaven is a place of perfection and perfect Love is only perfect if it has been chosen, he allows us to chose against heaven.

Satan, and as well as the other Angels, was also created with free will, which he used to chose against God. As such, he now seeks to encourage others to join him in his rebellion against God. I think we can safely say that Satan has a role in all the evil we encounter in the world, even though in most cases, it requires a certain degree of human cooperation in his evil plans.

God never predestines someone into Evil, as He is all Loving and incapable of a lie.

CARose

 

[Steven_Merten]

NAB SIR 15:11 Man’s Free Will.

Say not: “It was God’s doing that I fell away”; for what he hates he does not do. Say not: “It was he who set me astray”; for he has no need of wicked man. Abominable wickedness the LORD hates, he does not let it befall those who fear him. When God, in the beginning, created man, he made him subject to his own free choice. If you choose you can keep the commandments; it is loyalty to do his will. There are set before you fire and water; to whichever you choose, stretch forth your hand. Before man are life and death, whichever he chooses shall be given him.NAB DEU 30:19

“I call heaven and earth today to witness against you:** I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life,** then, that you and your descendants may live, by loving the LORD, your God, heeding his voice, and holding fast to him.” NAB MAT 7:12

" . . . treat others the way you would have them treat you: this sums up the law and the prophets. Enter through the narrow gate. The gate that leads to damnation is wide, the road is clear, and many choose to travel it. But how narrow is the gate that leads to life, how rough the road, and how few there are who find it!" NAB SIR 21:10 Sin Must Be Avoided.

The path of sinners is smooth stones that end in the depths of the nether world.​

NAB DEU 30:15 The Choice before Israel.

“Here then, I have today set before you life and prosperity, death and doom. If you obey the commandments of the LORD, your God, which I enjoin on you today, loving him, and walking in his ways, and keeping his commandments, statutes and decrees, you will live and grow numerous, and the LORD, your God, will bless you in the land you are entering to occupy.”

 

[Bobby_A.Greene]

Predestination is another form of fatalism.