ONE FAMILY PLAN
Predestination
Roll of the dice?
"Though men may spin their cunning schemes-God knows who shall lose or win." (Hinduism, Hi.)
Every decision is from the Lord...
"THE LOT IS CAST INTO THE LAP, BUT ITS EVERY DECISION IS FROM THE LORD." (Proverbs 16:33)
"God knows the things of tomorrow." (Burundi, African Wisdom, Mbiti)
God directs our every step...
"A man's heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps." (Proverbs 16:9)
"Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven." (Matthew 6:10)
"It is God who doeth whatever is done." [Sikhism, Guru Amar Das, vol. 1, L (in Macauliffe Introduction)]
"The order that God has arranged, mortal man cannot upset." African Traditional Religions. Akan Proverb (Ghana)
"I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy." Judaism and Christianity. Exodus 33.19
"Neither utterance nor silence lies within man's power; Neither to ask nor to give. Neither life nor death depends on man's effort. Authority, wealth, or command--none of these come by man's own endeavor; Nor meditation, enlightenment, or cogitation. Neither by his effort nor praxis may man escape free of worldliness. God alone who has the power, exercises it. Says Nanak, All before Him are alike--none high or low." Sikhism. Adi Granth, Japuji 33, M.1, p. 7
"Nothing will happen to us except what God has decreed for us: He is our Protector." Islam. Qur'an 9.51
"No man bruises his finger here on earth unless it was so decreed against him in Heaven." Judaism. Talmud, Hullin 7b
"Where you fall, there your God pushed you down." African Traditional Religions. Igbo Proverb (Nigeria)
"Whatever you do not wish to do because of your delusions, You will do even against your will, bound by your natural duty karma The Lord, Arjuna, is present inside all beings, Moving them like puppets by his magic power." Hinduism. Bhagavad Gita 18.60-61
"I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, Pharaoh will not listen to you." Judaism and Christianity. Exodus 7.3-4
"When a man goes forward, said Mencius, there is something which urges him on; when he halts, there is something which holds him back. It is not in his power either to go forward or to halt. It is due to Heaven..." Confucianism. Mencius I.B.16
"No man, though he had a hundred souls, can outlive the statute of the gods." Hinduism. Rig Veda 10.33.9
"For not of your will were you formed, and not of your own will were you born, and not of your will do you live, and not of your own will will you die, and not of your will are you to give account and reckoning before the Supreme King of kings, the Holy One, Blessed be He." Judaism. Mishnah, Abot 4.29
"Time is no one's friend and no one's enemy; when the effect of his acts in a former existence, by which his present existence is caused, has expired, he snatches a man away forcibly. A man will not die before his time has come, even though he has been pierced by a thousand shafts; he will not live after his time is out, even though he has only been touched by the point of a blade of grass. Neither drugs, nor magical formulas, nor burnt offerings, nor prayers will save a man who is in the bonds of death or old age. An impending evil cannot be averted even by a hundred precautions; what reason then for you to complain?" Hinduism. Institutes of Vishnu 20.43-46
There are no "uncaused" choices. It is essential to understand the absolute sovereignty of God. Without this, we declare ourselves God while worshipping our alleged "free" will. His plan is established from the beginning and WE WILL follow it..."
"Man's goings are OF THE LORD; how can a man then understand his own way?" (Proverbs 20:24) "For IT IS GOD WHICH WORKS IN YOU BOTH TO WILL AND TO DO OF HIS GOOD PLEASURE." (Philippians 2:13) "In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being PREDESTINATED according to the PURPOSE of him who worketh ALL THINGS after the counsel OF HIS OWN WILL..." (Ephesians 1:11, KJV) "O LORD, I know the way of man is not in himself; IT IS NOT IN MAN WHO WALKS TO DIRECT HIS OWN STEPS." (Jeremiah 10:23, NKJV) "DECLARING THE END FROM THE BEGINNING, And from ancient times things that are not yet done, Saying, 'MY COUNSEL SHALL STAND, AND I WILL DO ALL MY PLEASURE...'" (Isaiah 46:10, NKJV)
"your eyes saw my unformed body. ALL THE DAYS ORDAINED for me were written in your book BEFORE ONE OF THEM CAME TO BE."(Psalm 139:16, NIV) "NO ONE CAN COME TO ME UNLESS THE FATHER WHO SENT ME DRAWS HIM..." (John 6:44, NKJV) "I WILL put MY SPIRIT within you and CAUSE YOU TO WALK IN MY STATUTES, and you will keep My judgments and do them." (Ezekiel 36:27, NKJV)
