WJEC/Eduqas RS for A2/Yr2: Religion and Ethics (DRAFT)

T4 Determinism and free will

The link between God and evil The last implication of predestination, for religious belief, is the link between God and evil. If God predestines all things he must also have caused all moral evil. For example, a predestining God could be held responsible for such evil events as the holocaust. As has already been explained this was a point taken up by theologian Jacobus Arminius. Arminius was inspired to write his free will theory because he felt the need to defend God against the accusation that he is the creator of all evil. For Augustine, an evil person has something lacking in them, something that limits or impoverishes their life. To do evil is ‘to neglect eternal things’, to give one’s love wholly to temporal things. God is not responsible for the bad use a person makes of God’s gift to them. As Augustine put it, ‘God is not the cause of sin. ( The Confessions :Book 2 ) It is very doubtful that Augustine or Calvin believed that predestination was total and applied to every action of a person. Calvin argues that God is not predestining a person to be evil but rather that predestination is about a person’s inclination to repent and believe. Calvin clearly stated that the ‘elect’ could still be sinful but that God chooses to grant them repentance and faith. Therefore, when they sin they cannot resist the calling on their lives to seek forgiveness. This forgiveness is through the atoning death of Christ. Therefore, Calvin’s theory could be taken to suggest that evil is humanity’s fault and what God does is to decide what that person does with that sin i.e. he grants repentance and faith or not. AO1 Activity Work in groups of five. Firstly, divide the five implications of predestination between you: 1. The implications of predestination on God’s omnipotence. 2. The implications of predestination on God’s omnibenevolence. 3. The implications of predestination on the use of prayer. 4. The implications of predestination on the existence of miracles. 5. The implications of predestination on evil. Each person then summarises their implication in no more than 50 words. Each person then presents their summary to the other four people in their group.

Key quote God might not be considered the author of all sin. (Arminius)

DRAFT

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