Predestination, in theological
belief, means that God has already predetermined in advance which
person will spend eternity in heaven and which person will spend eternity
in hell. Islam is one such religious ideology that teaches predestination,
while Christianity preaches that God gives all people the freedom
to choose for themselves. Granted, there are some Christian dogmas
that also lean toward predestination; however, the basis of such teaching
is countered when one reads the complete message as presented in the
Holy Bible.
What may be confused with predestination is God's
Divine attribute of being All-Knowing (Omniscient). Therefore, although
God desires all of mankind to be saved from the wrath to come, He
actually knows which individual will choose to accept His plan of
Salvation and which individual will choose to reject Him. This does
not prevent God from continually offering each individual the opportunity
to know of His existence. In the end, each person will not be able
to say that they were not aware of the existence of God nor can they
say that they had not been told of His plan. Basically, each person
chooses to love God willingly and through his or her own personal
decision. By the same token, one willfully chooses to reject God through
one’s own personal decision of unbelief.
As stated, if predestination was a true fact with God, then all people have already been assigned to either heaven or hell and they literally have no choice in the matter. Their fate has been pre-planned! That means that no matter how good or how bad a person lives on earth, they already have their eternal destination waiting for them. Does that sound like a Just and fair God?
Note: Color-coded text in this section:
Green = Qur'an / Ahadith Red = New Testament Blue = Old Testament