Author: Joe
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99-06-13-B.JSH-149 / 

© 1999  Joe Griffin

Faith-Rest Drill: Review of “God determines every event” & “Man is unable to discern these decrees” from Ecclesiastes; Philosophy of Determinism: Definition

2.	(Continued)  [Solomon expresses his “determinism” in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8] which states that a time and an hour have been set for everything.  There is, however, no comfort in this determination for, as a result of it, what man has learned by hard toil is rendered useless.
Ecclesiastes 9:11 -	I again saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, and the battle is not to the warriors, and neither is bread to the wise, nor wealth to the discerning, nor favor to men of ability; for time and chance overtake them all.
Ecclesiastes 9:12 -	Moreover, man does not know his time: like fish caught in a treacherous net and birds trapped in a snare, so the sons of men are ensnared at an evil time when it suddenly falls on them.
Solomon contends that God is in control of all events, man has little to do with his circumstances, and therefore, he must learn to orient and adjust to his “times” as they occur.
However, man has no way of knowing where he stands in this process since:
3.	Man is unable to discern these decrees in the world.  Solomon asserts that he is unable to take into account what has been decreed in any given situation by God.
Although Solomon is willing to adjust to his circumstances, he claims that he never is able to know God’s intent and purpose in what He does.
Thus, Solomon concludes that an individual should assume God has decreed what man does and therefore relax and enjoy life, his wife, and his job.
Ecclesiastes 9:7 -	Go then, eat your bread in happiness and drink your wine with a cheerful heart, for God has already approved [ already decreed ] your works.

v 9 -	Enjoy life with the woman whom you love all the days of your life of vanity which He has given to you under the sun, for this is your reward in life and in your toil [ job ] in which you have labored under the sun.
Job’s misconception of divine sovereignty is found in verse 7 where he says, “God has already approved your works.”  The words “already approved” are:
chebar  +  rasah  -	“already decreed”
Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, s.v. “2207”:
The verb rasah has a wide variety of connotations but is most important as the standard anthropomorphic expression of God’s preceptive will.
	In other words, the divine decrees.
Great confusion clouds the thinking of anyone, believer and unbeliever alike, when he attempts to figure out the meaning of life without a clear understanding of the divine decrees.
The real problem is found in ignorance of this theological principle: in human history, the sovereignty of God and the free will of man must coexist by divine decree.
Otherwise, if it is assumed that God controls everything without reference to human volition then the final conclusion reached will be a form of “determinism.”
Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary, s.v. “determinism”:
a: a theory or doctrine that acts of the will, occurrences in nature, and social or psychological phenomena are causally determined by preceding events or natural laws.  Determinism explains behavior by the combination of environment and genetics.  b: a belief in predestination.
PRINCIPLE:	This is the Devil’s World (your environment) and man is a fallen creature (your genetics).  You will conform to the norms and standards of your environment and submit to the flaws of your genetics if your volition does not respond to the influence and accept the restraint of divine thought.

In order to understand why determinism is an invalid system for analyzing human behavior and divine sovereignty, we paused to study the doctrine of the divine decrees.
We are now ready to take a look at the very destructive and depressing:
PHILOSOPHY OF DETERMINISM
I.	Definition:
1)	We have just noted the dictionary definition of the word, now let’s take a look at its application regarding human behavior and as a theology.
2)	We go first to:
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 15^th ed., s.v. “determinism”:
determinism, theory that all events, including moral choices, are completely determined by previously existing causes that preclude free will and the possibility that man could have acted otherwise.  Pierre-Simon, marquis de Laplace /la-plas/, framed the classical formulation of this thesis.
	NOTE:		Laplace was a famed French astronomer.  He offered a complete mechanical interpretation of the solar system by devising methods for calculating the motions of the planets and their satellites and their perturbations.  He applied his theory not only to the ordinary problems of chance but also to the inquiry into the causes of phenomena, vital statistics, and future events, while emphasizing the importance of physics and astronomy.  The philosophical and sociological application resulted:
For [Laplace], the present state of the universe is the effect of its previous state and the cause of the state that follows it.  If a mind, at any given moment, could know all of the forces operating in nature and the respective positions of all its components, it would thereby know with certainty the future and the past of every entity, large or small.

	NOTE:		This is, in theory, a valid observation.  But mankind cannot amass that kind of knowledge.  Solomon tried and failed miserably.  However, God has known these things from eternity past and decreed all the causes and effects that Laplace’s inquiring “mind” sought to uncover.
	In effect, Laplace discovered the harmony and order of the universe.  This is one of the several ways that God is able to reveal Himself to mankind.  It’s called The Teleological Approach: 
Thieme, R. B., Jr.  Heathenism.  2d ed.  Houston: R. B. Thieme, Jr., Bible Ministries, 1979; p. 20:
The structure of the universe demands a Designer.  Both telescopic and microscopic phenomena display order, design, arrangement, purpose, adaptation, behind which there must be a Master Planner.  The orderliness of all matter, from the structure of an atom to the configuration of galaxies, is as likely to occur spontaneously as a Shakespearean sonnet in a can of alphabet soup.
Stellar bodies of enormous dimensions hurtle through space at staggering speeds, yet their paths are perfectly and consistently patterned.  When you observe the design of the universe, you realize that Someone was behind it all.
Well, unless you are in heathenism, or in the case of Solomon, reversionism.  Let’s see what result from the misapplication of Laplace’s observations.
Elwell, Walter A. (ed.).  Evangelical Dictionary of Theology.  Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1984; pp. 428-30:
1-	Naturalistic Determinism [p. 428]:
1)	Determinism is the belief that all of man’s actions are the result of antecedent factors or causes.
2)	This is a naturalistic view that has been developed from Laplace’s observations of the order of the universe.
3)	Naturalism: a theory denying that an event or object has a supernatural significance; specifically, the doctrine that scientific laws are adequate to account for all phenomena.

4)	The naturalistic view sees human beings as part of the machinery of the universe.
5)	In such a world every event is caused by preceding events, which in turn were caused by still earlier events, ad infinitum.
6)	Since man is part of this causal chain, his actions are also determined by antecedent causes.
7)	Some of these causes are the environment and man’s genetic makeup.