The Debate Between Augustine and Pelagius Essay

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Predestination

The debate between Augustine and Pelagius with regards to Predestination

Predestination according to Augustine is based on the belief that God is the ruler who can control people and make their actions according to personal will. In other words, God is the creator of the human destinies, he chooses who deserves salvation and who is to be punished.

Additionally, God does not only chooses those who are to be protected and saved he can control thoughts and actions of all people and this is really important as impacting the actions of people God chooses what each of them is going to do, and therefore, the individuals who are to be saved are determined in advance.

Pelagius has another point of view. He states that God just knows the actions of people and can only be aware in advance who deserve salvation. According to this point of view people can choose what to do themselves, their actions and thoughts are not controlled by God.

God just plays the function of a person who monitors the world and predicts the actions of all people, without being able to interfere into their lives. The knowledge of the future decisions does not give any possibility for God to control their decisions.

Predestination as it was defined by the Jesuits/Arminius vs. the Strict Calvinist/Jansenism

Jesuits/Arminius are sure that God can foreknowledge of the way how people are going to act, how they are to think and draw their decisions. This gives God an opportunity to protect those who are to be protected due to their fair thoughts and just actions.

Therefore, the opponents of this consideration managed to protest against it trying to prove that those who support this point of view just support the fact that God ids the author of sins as he is aware of the actions of all people, knows who are going to act unjust and unfair and does nothing to prevent them from those actions therefore becoming the co-participant of the crimes.

The Strict Calvinist/Jansenism hade the faith that human destiny is presupposed and created before the beginning of their lives. Additionally, the Strict Calvinists and the representatives of Jansenism were sure that people are born sinful and they are unable to change except the divine power is able to save them. However, due to some circumstances God is unable to present salvation to all people.

Personal perspective and position on the problem of predestination

As for me, people are given an opportunity to choose their ways. Each person is the creator for his/her own life and the actions they perform and thoughts they have are their own creations. God can just predict what people will do, but God is unable to change of impact human thoughts and actions. I support Pelagius in this perspective as he also believed that God’s mission is just limited by foreknowledge of the way how people are going to act and think.

Nevertheless, my theory goes further and I am sure that God can predict human actions just one may, only on the basis of their decision tight now. People can change their decisions and it will change their actions. Therefore, God will see another vision as the future and the consequences of human actions in the future are going to be changed.

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IvyPanda. 2019. "The Debate Between Augustine and Pelagius." April 2, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-debate-between-augustine-and-pelagius/.

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IvyPanda. "The Debate Between Augustine and Pelagius." April 2, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-debate-between-augustine-and-pelagius/.

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