Matthew 12
22 Some people brought to Jesus a man who was blind and could not talk because he had a demon in him. Jesus healed the man, and then he was able to talk and see. 23 The crowds were so amazed that they asked, “Could Jesus be the Son of David?”
Jeremiah 22
If you obey me, the kings from David’s family will continue to rule Judah from this palace. They and their officials will ride in and out on their horses or in their chariots. 5 But if you ignore me, I promise in my own name that this palace will lie in ruins. 6 Listen to what I think about it:
The palace of Judah’s king
is as glorious as Gilead
or Lebanon’s highest peaks.
But it will be as empty
as a ghost-town
when I’m through with it.
7 I’ll send troops to tear it apart,
and its beautiful cedar beams
will be used for firewood.
8 People from different nations will pass by and ask, “Why did the Lord do this to such a great city as Jerusalem?” 9 Others will answer, “It’s because the people worshiped foreign gods and broke the agreement that the Lord their God had made with them.”
Exposition of the Divine Principle
3 Color Edition-The Red part
Predestination
Theological controversy over predestination has caused great confusion in the religious lives of many people. Let us begin by examining the source of this controversy. In the Bible, we find many passages which are often interpreted to mean that everything in an individual’s life—prosperity and decline, happiness and misery, salvation and damnation, as well as the rise and fall of nations—comes to pass exactly as predestined by God.
Yet we can also find sufficient evidence in the Bible to refute the doctrine of absolute predestination. Since there are ample grounds in the Bible to justify either of these two contrasting doctrines, controversy over the issue of predestination has been inevitable. How can the Principle solve this problem?
THE PREDESTINATION OF GOD’S WILL
Before discussing the predestination of God’s Will, let us first examine what is being willed. Let us remember: God could not accomplish His purpose of creation due to the human Fall. Accordingly, God’s Will in carrying out His providence for fallen humanity is still to accomplish the purpose of creation. In this sense, God’s Will is that restoration be accomplished.
To what extent does God predestine His Will—the ultimate accomplishment of the purpose of creation? God is the absolute Being, unique, eternal and unchanging; therefore, the purpose of His creation must also be absolute, unique, eternal and unchanging. Likewise, His Will for the providence of restoration, the goal of which is the accomplishment of the purpose of creation, must also be absolute, unique and unchanging. It follows that God’s predestination of His Will—that the purpose of creation one day be fulfilled—must also be absolute, as it is written, “I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it.”
THE PREDESTINATION OF THE WAY IN WHICH GOD’S WILL IS FULFILLED
According to the Principle of Creation, God’s purpose of creation can be realized only when human beings complete their portion of responsibility. Although God’s Will to realize this purpose through the providence of restoration is absolute and beyond human influence, its fulfillment necessarily requires the accomplishment of the human portion of responsibility.
To what extent does God predestine the unfolding of the events in the providence? Although God’s Will to realize the purpose of the providence of restoration is absolute, God predestines the process of its accomplishment conditionally, contingent upon the five percent responsibility of the central figure, which must be completed in addition to the ninety-five percent responsibility of God. The proportion of five percent is used to indicate that the human portion of responsibility is extremely small when compared to God’s portion of responsibility. Yet for human beings, this five percent is equivalent to one hundred percent of our effort.
View slides 1 to 16 below for an illustrated presentation of the above content:
2007p1-CHAPT-6-Predestination_revised-4-28-2014