As mentioned in the title, this was a “think piece” offered to the 10th Grade literature class that I observed on Friday. They were reading I Am Mordred and discussing Arthurian legend, so the topic really seems to fit. My response, however, may not (at least not in the class room setting). I journaled my response as Dr. Levy would have us do, but I thought that since a blog is supposed to provoke thought, it might be interesting to see what you have to say about it. My response follows:
Fate/Destiny or personal choice…man that’s like asking if the sun chooses to shine. What if one day the sun woke up and chose to rain and the clouds decided that they wanted to shine? Is that destiny? Is that God? Is that choice? YES!
Everyman (excuse my lack of political correctness, but I use the generic “he”) likes to believe that he is the captain of his destiny, but who or what is in control of the BIG PICTURE. God or Fate?
The Calvanist would say that choice means nothing, while holding to his five point TULIP. All was predestined, foreknown and foreordained by God the Father before Creation was created. I agree with this in part, but only in part. What does that hold for those voices, like me, crying out from the conservative wilderness for individuals to accept personal responsibility for their actions, attitudes, and words? A Fate/Destiny/Predestination mentality taken to its ultimate end only opens the door for laziness, or for “gathering rosebuds” and dying. With the individual’s choice stripped from him, he becomes Ichabod, for the glory has left. There are no just consequences for any of his actions. There could be no punishment or accountability. That would be too harsh. No praise would be worthy, for that would be too good and honorable.
Conversely, if man is ultimately in control of his own destiny…if his choice determines the outcome of his life, his goals, his dreams, and his demise…then what does that say for fatal car accidents or planes exploding into buildings? Certainly the acts of 9/11 were the cognizant choices of the suicidal/homicidal/genocidal terrorists, but was it also the choice of the individual innocents on the planes to perish? Or for those in the towers to plummet to their deaths? I offer a resounding and emphatic, “NO!”
Was it their fate? Perhaps. Was it God’s judgment on America as the late Rev. Falwell disturbingly promoted? Who knows? The only thing I know for certain is that it was an act of unmistakable evil.
But choice yields responsibility, and we are responsible for our actions, reactions, and our choices. We are in control of only so much of our lives; however, there is a greater hand or force or destiny or God who controls the uncontrollable.
J.I. Packer, a noted Calvinist theologian, concedes that the answer to the question of man’s free will or God’s sovereignty (fate/destiny/predestination)** is what is known as an antinome, for both are in fact true. God is sovereign (There is something out there controlling the BIG that is outside of us.)**, and man is responsible for what he does or does not do.
Fate and destiny tend to be held in the balance of choice, truth and consequence. I know it seems like dancing with the devil, but between the two is there a correct answer? Do you agree that it is as Packer calls it…an antinome. I do, but what do you think. This is my challenge for you. Talk to me about destiny/fate and of man’s free choice.
No wax,
A. Brannon Schwamlein
** The parentheses and stars above display my words and thoughts, not Packer’s. Packer only spoke of the sovereignty of God and the responsiblity of man. The source I use for this note is Packer’s Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God.
