Fatalism

In our street ministry, I asked a person where he was going to spend eternity, and he said he was going to hell. I asked him why, and he said, “It was because God hadn’t saved him.” This man was expecting God to save him against his will, which God will never do or has done. To be saved, we must be willing to forsake sin, die to our love of sin, and instead love God. We must be willing to repent of sin and place our faith in Jesus Christ to save us. However, God will do the converting of our hearts. (Ezekiel 36:26)

There is a lot of fatalism going around these days. A lot of philosophy takes this approach, as well as psychology, if not in theory, yet in practice. They would state that you are entirely a product of your genetics, past experiences, and sins against you. Fatalism is also true for even some Christian theologians. These Christian theologians believe that God has elected some people before creation who would be saved, and God arbitrarily decided based on his preferences. If people are going to be saved, they will, so we don’t have to be concerned about people's souls and sharing the gospel evangelistically. To be fair some who hold this view also believe in Evangelism and hold God’s sovereignty and man’s free will as antimony. (i.e. J.I. Packer)

Fatalism is illustrated in Adam blaming Eve, for giving him the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, even though he was standing right beside her and the decision was probably a collaborative one, and then also blaming God for putting them in this situation. They do not take responsibility for their choices. They can just blame it on fate or God.

Other Christian theologians have a different view. These people, like myself, believe that God in his foreknowledge knows who will of their own free will receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. God sees the past, the present, and the future all at one time, so of course, he knows who will be the elect. (1 Peter 1:2; Acts 2:23; Romans 8:29) However, I also would lean strongly into the Sovereignty of God above man or Satan’s choices.

Philosophy and psychology see things only from man's limited perspective and power. The fatalist approach is seen in the belief that people cannot change. However, God changes people from the inside out. Some are changed radically at conversion, and others are not so much. There are many possible factors in this transformation, but it would be very complex to mention all the factors that bring about the different results. However, God sees the heart. There must be discipline and effort to grow in Christlikeness. God’s grace is not in opposition to effort.

Some come from very dysfunctional backgrounds and lives, and the transformation process may take some time, but conversion is the start of the process. Those who have been born again as Christians in the Bible are called saints; however, we are also recovering sinners. However, many times those from difficult backgrounds who become Christians advance more than those who had a good family background. Jesus said, “Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little” (Luke 7:47). Grace is not opposed to effort, especially in the sanctification process, and this involves discipline and focus. Above all, get your focus right. (Proverbs 4:23)

Let’s consider an illustration from the Old Testament. Able brought a blood sacrifice to God, and Cain brought a sacrifice from the land harvest. Only the blood of Christ can remove the penalty of sin and its slavery. Able trusted in God’s grace, and Cain trusted in his own merit. God had no regard for Cain’s offering. “The Lord said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it” (Genesis 4:6-7). We must press into God until we come to the way of grace rather than thinking that our own goodness can earn heaven. We must press in until we come to true repentance of sin and faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, and be willing also to acknowledge God as God of our life, not ourselves. You must press in until you find the way of grace with God, and then God will find you.

If anyone finds themselves in hell, they have only themselves to blame. God, at great cost to himself personally, came in the flesh as Jesus, both God and man, and lived among us and taught us, and died for the just penalty of our sin on the cross and rose from the dead to give us eternal life. The remedy for sin and hell is made available to all mankind. Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand”, which means the kingdom is now available to everyone in Christ. This gift of salvation is available to all, but you must receive it for it to be real in your life. You must experience God in salvation, which the Bible calls being born again. We are then raised from spiritual death to spiritual life in Christ.

Where will you spend eternity? Eternity is a very long time. Our time on earth is a drop in the ocean of eternity. The kingdom of God is available to all through and in Jesus Christ, the Savior and Lord.

You must be willing to turn from sin and turn to God. Your destiny depends primarily on this choice.

Resources for further study

The New Chosen People, William W. Klein

Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God, J.I. Packer

Conversion, E. Stanley Jones