Calvin' Predestination, inexorability and fatalism, page-4

Yak,

It seems to me that if you start with the concept of God being omnipotent and omniscient then he must not only foresee human history (among all other contingecies in the universe) but he must also pre ordain everything that comes to pass. Classic Calvinism discusses this idea under the heading;The Decrees of God. Ref. Belgic and Westminster Confessions


You wouldn't get too many Catholic or for that matter many Protestant theologians defending the above position. The former influenced by Pelagius and the latter by Armenius. Both taught that God is limited by contingencies. A sort of impotent God.

That is one way to explain the sorry condition of the world (cruelty suffering and death etc) and still believe in a sort of a god. (ie. we're to blame for the mess we're in and God can't do anything about it so don't blame God.)


It seems to me that if there is a God worthy of that name then he must have the ME under control and also be working out his purposes there as everywhere else.

In this scenario it means of course that there is no such thing as chance, and hence a chaos principle and serendipity becomes a (smiling) providence.