KNOW YOUR FAITH, LIVE YOUR FAITH,TEACH YOUR FAITH!

If I am predestined to bad/good works, why does God judge me?

If God already knows what I am going to do in the future then why does He judge me on my actions?If He knows I will commit sins then why does He judge me on them? Similarly, if He knows what I’m going to pray about then why am I actually praying? Why do I go through the motions of life and not let things happen as God willed them to be.

All these questions address the issue of man’s free will in the face of God’s foreknowledge.

These questions are leading towards discussing the difference between foreknowledge and predestination. When we say someone is predestined to something, it is often perceived that the life of that individual is written down for him. That is actually not the case. Events do not happen because God knows them, on the contrary God knows them because they happen.

A person may believe that his/her life story is written by God and that he/she has to abide by what’s written by Him. That’s not how it works though. Since God is beyond (or greater than) time (so God does know what my story is like) He isn’t the one doing the writing, it is actually me who is doing that by practicing my own free will. The fact that God knows how I’m writing my story is what we call foreknowledge.

In God’s foreknowledge He predestines me. In other words, if God foreknows I’m about to do something good He will predestine (help me, guide me, support me and direct me) me to do it (because He knows my intention).

Predestination is explained by St Paul in Romans 8:28-30: “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified”

I have been glorified because I have been justified, because I have been called, because I have been predestined, because God foreknew that I will choose Him. God’s entire plan for me is based on my choice of actually choosing Him.

What about people that choose evil? Does God predestine them, in the same way we explained earlier, to do evil?

John 3:16 is very clear in saying that Christ was sent to save the entire world. It is not the will of God for people to do evil. If someone chooses to do evil God allows him to do so because of that person’s free will however it is not the will of God for that person to do evil. God’s will for that person is in fact for him to be saved.

Moving on to prayer, do we still need to go through the motion of prayers if God already knows how things will turn out? The answer is yes because if God knows that I will pray (because of His foreknowledge), He will act based on those prayers. For example if I pray to God with regards to an important decision I need to make, God will answer my prayers by steering me towards the right decision. God will put, in a specific time frame, an answer to those prayers. If I don’t pray then I shouldn’t expect an answer from God.

Remember know your faith, live your faith and

teach your faith