Differentiating fatalism, determinism and predestination

Using the disappearance of Madeline McCann to illustrate the differences...

Fatalism: Madeline was always going to go missing. The time, place and circumstances of the abduction were all set and therefore no human choices could have changed them and the resulting outcome.

Determinism: Madeline was always going to go missing. The time, place and circumstances of the abduction were influenced and determined by the choices that her parents, the abductor and all those involved made; these caused the same resulting inevitable outcome.

Predestination: Madeline was always going to go missing. An ultimate being foresaw and planned the event. There is no reliance on human choices or cause and effect to produce the resulting outcome. Alternatively, it is possible for humans to still exercise free will whilst God 'oversees' time and therefore knows what is going to happen (in our perspective of time) before we act.

Here come the girls...

In the Bible, there are many female characters and figures all of whom are depicted in a slightly different way. There are stories involving women in both the New and Old Testament and whilst their messages can be interpreted in a variety of ways, it is fairly apparent that women have been neatly categorised according to their characteristics and actions as either pure, patient and perfect or scheming, seductive and sinful...

I have studied a handful of women in the Bible, examined their characters and summarised how their behaviour enables us to place them under one of the two categories.

Firstly the 'good' girls:

Esther is so keen to avoid others from suffering that she goes conscientiously warns the king about Haman's plan to kill the Jews. She exclaims, "For how can I bear to see disaster fall on my people? How can I bear to see the destruction of my family?" (Esther 8:6) Here she is portrayed as a maternal, caring and compassionate woman.

In Ruth (1:16-18), Ruth shows her selflessness when she chooses to remain loyal to her mother in law and stay with her after her son (Ruth's husband) dies. This shows that she has a life and desire to good that extends beyond pleasing her husband; she acts on her own accord. She extends this admirable generosity to Naomi when she agrees to marry Boaz in order to help her and protect her future, as well as her own.

When Mary is told by the angel that God has blessed her with a child through the Holy Spirit, she immediately submits to God's will saying, "I am the Lord's servant... May it be to me as you have said." (Luke 1:38) Her response reflects her humble and godly character which is then further seen in the Magnificat where Mary praises and glorifies God for his mercy.

Now we move on to the 'not so good':

In Genesis, we see the very first woman come into existence. Eve is made as a "helper" (2:18) for man and is created out Adam himself (2:23). This order of events is immediately suggestive of the fact that male and female are different and perhaps even implies that women are in some way inferior as they were derived from man. It is Eve who gives in to the temptation of the serpent to eat from the forbidden tree which gives the impression that she (arguably as a woman) is weak, selfish, attracted to pleasure and therefore rather shallow and superficial. Her position worsens when she is unable to accept blame for her fault when she simply answers God's questioning with, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate it." (3:13)

Then there's Potiphar's wife (who is notably unnamed and instead a possession of her husband). She pressurises, seduces and tempts Joseph, seemingly trying to 'corrupt' him by getting him to sleep with her; she clearly lacks self-worth. She is incredibly persistent in her demands to the point of being seeming almost possessed. She ends up being the cause of injustice when she lies about Joseph, landing him in prison. Despite deceiving her husband, her power is actually virtually none because she rather pettily 'tells' on Joseph, relying on a male's authority to punish.

Finally, in Judges, Delilah is persuaded by the rulers of Philistine to seduce Samson in order to find out the "secret of his strength" (16:5). These men use and successfully bribe her for their own benefit. In verse 15 she asks Samson, "How can you say 'I love you'..?" - this questions depicts women as being rather petty an pathetic in their reliance on a man's affirmation for security and contentment.

 

What is a human being? Take 2.

So here is my second attempt at defining what it is to be a human being; should be simple enough..!

Humans are relational beings and have the ability to have relationships with one another as well as with God. In Genesis 1:26-27 we read that humans were created by God in his image, ‘imago dei’. We must therefore explore God’s nature in order to infer how this reflection is relevant to human nature. In the ‘Nicene Creed’ - a statement of belief written for believers to outline their faith – the concept of the Trinity is highlighted. God is referred to in three forms: Father, Son and Holy Spirit whereby each of these has a ‘role’ to play in fulfilling God’s will. They are all God whilst still being able to work together in a communicative, relational manner; the three aspects to God are connected and associate with the others. This notion of relation must in turn be a quality of humankind and must apply to human beings seeing as they are made in the very image of God himself. The Bible states, “Love your neighbour as yourself,” in Mark 12:31 which enforces and further suggests human capability for relation. The link between “neighbour” and “self” proposes that humans cannot only interact but have the ability to feel emotion for others through their relationships.

The creation of the world is accounted in Genesis 1 in which we also read of the creation of mankind. Psalm 139 provides an intimate insight into God’s individual, unique design of every single human: “For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb” (139:13) – this vivid image shows how from the moment that we are created, we rely on God purely for our existence. The Psalm also speaks of God’s omniscience, omnipotence and omnipresence and how He has “written all the days that were formed when none of them yet existed” (139:16). This shows our human dependence on God throughout our life and the way that we supposedly rely on his provision as we follow the ‘path’ that he has laid out for us.

Finally, it is the ability to be rational that clearly sets humans apart from other species. Christian Theologian St Thomas Aquinas developed several arguments for the existence of God (namely the ‘Cosmological Argument’ and the ‘Design Argument’) both of which essentially conclude by claiming that God exists because he was the ‘first cause’ and ‘intelligent designer’ of the universe. The intelligence that Aquinas uses (through reasoning) to try to understand God’s relationship with the world around us acts as evidence of a rational, human brain. The idea of reason is another aspect of human nature that is enabled by human experience. CS Lewis, in the poem ‘Being Human’ compares angels and humans and outlines the fundamental difference between the two being a human’s capacity (being on earth) to have a sensory experience of the world whilst angels lack sensitivity to these tactile details. Our ability to reflect on experiences, whether painful or joyous, thus influences our future decisions through anticipation and imagination, once again connoting rationality.

To conclude, the human being is relational, created by, dependent and reliant on God with the ability to reason and be rational.