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35: PREDESTINATION
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Question.--If God has knowledge of an action which will
be performed by someone, and it has been written on the
Tablet of Fate, is it possible to resist it?
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Answer.--The foreknowledge of a thing is not the cause
of its realization; for the essential knowledge of God surrounds,
in the same way, the realities of things, before as
well as after their existence, and it does not become the
cause of their existence. It is a perfection of God. But that
which was prophesied by the inspiration of God through
the tongues of the Prophets, concerning the appearance of
the Promised One of the Bible, was not the cause of the
manifestation of Christ.
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The hidden secrets of the future were revealed to the
Prophets, and They thus became acquainted with the future
events which They announced. This knowledge and
these prophecies were not the cause of the occurrences.
For example, tonight everyone knows that after seven
hours the sun will rise, but this general foreknowledge
does not cause the rising and appearance of the sun.
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Therefore, the knowledge of God in the realm of contingency
does not produce the forms of the things. On the
contrary, it is purified from the past, present and future. It
is identical with the reality of the things; it is not the cause
of their occurrence.
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In the same way, the record and the mention of a thing
in the Book does not become the cause of its existence. The
Prophets, through the divine inspiration, knew what
would come to pass. For instance, through the divine inspiration
They knew that Christ would be martyred, and
They announced it. Now, was Their knowledge and information
the cause of the martyrdom of Christ? No; this
knowledge is a perfection of the Prophets and did not
cause the martyrdom.
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6 |
The mathematicians by astronomical calculations
know that at a certain time an eclipse of the moon or the
sun will occur. Surely this discovery does not cause the
eclipse to take place. This is, of course, only an analogy
and not an exact image.
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