Is Everything Predestined?

There was a lady in one of the congregations I served whose name was Moira. A friend of mine found her name difficult to pronounce. Most of us pronounced it as if it were boy-rah. Beyond that, I often wondered where her parents came up with such a strange name. I have since discovered that it is a Greek name. In Greek mythology the three fates were called the Moirai. Could it be that Moira was destined to have her name?

Seriously, what do you believe about destiny? Were you destined to grow up where you did? Were you destined to be famous or poor or tall or—more darkly—to be damned? These questions are ones most of us struggle with. My deeper concern is to ask what God's Word reveals to us. To pursue that question let's go with the Apostle Paul on his missionary journey to the city of Athens where the Greeks loved to argue about such questions. Here he is, invited to the Areopagus to present his views to the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers.

"Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, 'To the unknown god.' What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for "'In him we live and move and have our being'; as even some of your own poets have said, "'For we are indeed his offspring.' - Act 17:22-28 ESV

Paul went on to talk about Jesus and the resurrection. As soon as they heard this most of them laughed at him and walked away. Such nonsense! Luke records, however, that several did pay attention. They may have become Christians, because he names them as Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them. We hear no more about Dionysius and Damaris. It seems that Paul abandoned further attempts to argue philosophy. Yet this intriguing sentence persists: 

"And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him."

It seems Paul under the guidance of the Holy Spirit is saying to me that I was determined to live a certain period of time in the 20th and 21st centuries in a couple places called Minnesota and Texas. And in a broader sense is the United States, my nation, pre-determined by God to exist where it does during a certain period of time? Is that conclusion confirmed by other parts of Scripture?

In his farewell speech to the children of Israel about to enter the promised land Moses says something as intriguing as Paul. Paul probably had this in mind when he spoke at Athens.

Remember the days of old; consider the years of many generations; ask your father, and he will show you, your elders, and they will tell you. When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God. - Deu 32:7-8 ESV

What's this business of giving to the nations their inheritance? And fixing the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God?

I want to pursue these questions in my next posts. Please bear with me. I have no intention of messing with Greek or any other type of philosophy. And I certainly do not want to get involved in some sort of deep abstractions. Rather I want to follow the psalmist as he writes,

But I trust in you, O LORD; I say, "You are my God." My times are in your hand; rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my persecutors! Make your face shine on your servant; save me in your steadfast love! - Psa 31:14-16 ESV