free will

• Predestination


  The belief that everything that will happen has already been decided by God and cannot be changed such as who will be given salvation and who will not.
• St Augustine on Predestination

  "For God ordains eternal life for some and eternal damnation for others"
• Augustine rejected Pelagius' view that a person can gain their own salvation by their own actions
• Original Sin


  The biblical story of how Adam and Eve disobeyed God and were punished, leading to human inclination towards evil
• Concupiscence


  Sinful physical desires
• Lump of Sin (Massa Peccati)


  Augustine's view that all of humanity is so infected by sin that we cannot free ourselves from it and are therefore doomed to hell and damnation
• Liberium abitrium


  Humans can make free decisions and have an essentially free human nature
• Liberatas


  Humans' lost liberty as they are unable to stop themselves from choosing sin
• God's Grace


  A free gift from God which God gives out of love and mercy, not because anyone deserves it, to set people free from their concupiscence and enable them to respond rightly to God
• The Elect


  Those chosen by God to receive His grace
• The Reprobates


  Those not chosen by God, who deserve the wrath and punishment of hell
• John Calvin's Doctrine of Election


  The choice for salvation is not a human choice, but a choice made by God; hence it is outside of our free will
• TULIP

  • T: Total Depravity
  • U: Unconditional election
  • L: Limited atonement
  • i: Irresistible grace
  • p: preservation of saints
• Total Depravity


  Humans are sinful and can't save themselves
• Unconditional election


  God does not save you based on merit
• Limited atonement


  Only the elect are saved
• Irresistible Grace


  You cannot resist God's grace
• Perseverance of the Elect (Saints)


  The elect cannot lose their salvation
• The notion of free will

  Can help to overcome the problem faced by believers in predestination
• The concept of salvation being open to all through their own choices and free actions


  Can be argued to help maintain the notion of God's omnibenevolence
• Free will


  Can have implications for the view of God's omnipotence
• Miracles


  Can create problems for free will as it requires God to break the laws of nature and intervene in a person's life therefore compromising their free will.
• Predestination


  Strongly reinforces the omnipotence and complete sovereign power of God
• Predestination


  Could be issues with maintaining the idea of God's Omnibenevolence
• Augustinian and Calvinistic approaches to predestination

  Suggest their views are more in line with Soft Determinism
• Prayer


  Plays a pivotal role in the religious lives of believers in classical theism
• Pelagius' view on predestination


  Leaves no room for a belief in miracles
• Arminius' view on grace


  Suggests prayer is a free response to God's grace that could lead to miracles
• Augustine's view on prayer

  Sees it as a two-way process of our reaching out to God in love, who in turn descends to us in love
• Calvin's view on prayer


  While it does not secure salvation, it could be a sign of being among the elect
• Pelagius


  Rejected predestination, claimed original sin did not taint human nature, and that the human will is still capable of choosing good or evil without special divine aid (libertarian free will)
• Pelagius' view on salvation

  Humans have the ability in and of themselves (without divine aid) to obey God and earn eternal salvation
• When Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden


  They were like small children, simply obeying God's instructions without considering the moral reasons
• How Adam and Eve became mature

  1. God gave them the opportunity to learn the distinction between good and evil by putting the tree of knowledge in the garden

  2. They themselves had to make the decision whether to eat the fruit or not
• Defying God


  Allowed Adam and Eve to grow to maturity in God's image
• When human beings choose to sin, they bear moral responsibility for their own actions and cannot blame God, the Devil, or even a corrupted nature
• Pelagius' understanding of the effect of Adam's sin

  Imitation of sinful habits rather than inheritance of a sinful nature
• Grace


  Does not have a role in salvation for Pelagius
• Pelagius' view on salvation

  Rests on a human's free will and striving to live a good and holy life, not on a gift from God that is outside of a person's control
• Conditional Predestination


  The belief that Jesus died for the sins of all people and therefore Salvation is possible for all, but whether we are saved depends on how we freely respond to God's grace and is favoured by Arminius