What is Fatalism

Fatalism is often confused with the Biblical doctrine of predestination. Such confusion is derived from the inability to know the difference between God and fate.

The sovereign God described by Holy Scripture is the God of creation, salvation, and providence. By God’s absolute power, the image of the world formed in the Divine mind became the actual external world. God did not create at random because it is the act of a fool to do anything without purpose. Scripture says, “For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost, to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation, and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying, This man began to build and was not able to finish. Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and take counsel whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks terms of peace. So therefore, no one of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions” (Luke 14:28-33 NASB).

The sovereign God did not create for the sake of His creatures. Since there were no creatures in fact, creatures in view must exist for their Creator and not conversely. Since God created for His own glory, He lives for Himself and not for His creatures. If He lived for His creatures, He would be living for something lower than Himself. Therefore, God created for His own glory, and that glory is manifested excellence. “The LORD has made everything for its own purpose, Even the wicked for the day of evil” (Prov. 16:4 NASB). “For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created by Him and for Him” (Col. 1:16 NASB). “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.” (Rom. 11:36 NASB). What did God live for before creation?

Fate stresses the irrationality and impersonal character of events. Destiny emphasizes the idea of an unalterable course of events. Thus fate and destiny are frequently interchangeable. Both refer to natural force, but the idea of natural force governing all things is fatalism. The conclusion of fatalism is confounding God with natural law.

Fate and predestination differ as much as election and free will. Fatalism does away with mind and purpose, but predestination proceeds from a rational Being who determines everything. Predestination differs from fatalism as much as the acts of men differ from those of a machine. In predestination the freedom and responsibility of men are preserved, but fatalism allows no power of choice.

Fate is blind, but providence has eyes. Fate is an arrow shot from a bow, but it has no target. Providence has eyes. There is a design in everything, and a conclusion to be answered because all things work together for good (Rom. 8:28). Things are not done because they must be done, but they are done because there is a purpose in the things done. God’s eternal eyes were on the perfected building of eternity when He marked all the ways of history and placed all the pillars of events in the structure of time.

The minuteness of providence is seen in the fact that the very hairs of a person’s head are numbered (Matt. 10:30). God’s care and protection of His own—by Divine election—before they are regenerated should give boldness in the face of opposition and calmness in the midst of the storms of life (Jude 1; I Pet. 1:1-12; II Thess. 2:13-17).

Man is so constituted that he cannot find the way of his life in himself. Man is different from animals. Animals make no progress in life because they are guided by an unerring instinct in them. Their desires are few and limited. They are endowed with the instinct perfectly to satisfy those wants. Man, on the other hand, has the greatest desires of any creature and has the fewest instincts. Man’s way is like that of a ship crossing the ocean. There are two points outside the vessel. They are the pole star and the destination. The mariner has to go outside of himself and look at the star above and the destination beyond. Jesus Christ is not only above but He is beyond the believer who by grace is looking. “I know, O LORD, that a man’s way is not in himself; Nor is it in a man who walks to direct his steps” (Jer. 10:23 NASB). “The steps of a man are established by the LORD; and He delights in his way. When he falls, he shall not be hurled headlong; Because the LORD is the One who holds his hand” (Ps. 37:23, 24 NASB). “The mind of man plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps” (Prov. 16:9 NASB). What about the statement, “God is a Gentleman. He lets you make your own choice”?

Many believe predestination is a great shadow on the Christian horizon. They fail to consider the fact that God knows nothing now but what He knew from eternity. Furthermore, He ordains nothing now which He did not ordain from eternity. Failure to believe in predestination forces one to deny providence. However, what God designs, He completes. What He ordains, He executes. Therefore, Christians want nothing but absolute resignation to render them happy in every possible circumstance. Thus, an absolute resignation can only flow from an absolute faith, and an absolute acquiescence in God’s absolute providence founded on absolute predestination.

Predestination is not to be thought of as a mechanical pagan destiny, but it is to be used as the sure purpose of the living and loving God. It is called destination because it comprehends a determined order of the means to the conclusion. It is called “pre” destination because God appointed this order before the actual existence of those things ordered. Therefore, the Greek verb prooridzo is made up of horidzo which means to mark out, appoint, decree, determine, or ordain. The prepositional prefix pro means prior, in front of, or before. Thus, the compound verb means to determine or appoint beforehand. The genius of the word is that of placing limitations upon someone beforehand. These limitations bring that person within the sphere of a certain future or destiny. Therefore, the foreknown have had limitations put around them which bring them within the sphere of becoming God’s sons and of being conformed to the image of Christ (Eph. 1:5; Rom. 8:29).

Predestination is a Biblical doctrine. It is called by that name because God appointed this order in and with Himself before the actual existence of those things. “The One forming light and creating darkness, Causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the LORD who does all these” (Isa. 45:7 NASB). “(as it is written, A FATHER OF MANY NATIONS HAVE I MADE YOU) in the sight of Him whom he believed, even God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist” (Rom. 4:17 NASB). Co-destination is not a Biblical word, but it is the belief of all who say election is by the sinner’s faith. Post-destination, like co-destination, is not a Biblical word; but it is the belief of all who teach that no one can be sure of salvation until after death.

God deals with the elect after a definite plan. The purpose of God draws the plans. This was done before the foundation of the world. The providence of God operates in the fulfillment of God’s purpose. This is accomplished in time. God knows nothing now but what He knew from eternity. Therefore, He ordains nothing now which He did not ordain from eternity. Predestination is providence in intention, and providence is predestination in execution.

Many confuse the Biblical doctrine of predestination with the heathen doctrine of fatalism. Fatalism does away with both mind and purpose. Predestination holds that God created all things, His providence extends to all His works, and being absolutely free in Himself He does all things to please Himself.

Difficulties concerning predestination do not come from Scripture. The Bible is full of predestination, because it is full of God. Any person who denies predestination denies God. Difficulty with predestination is summed up in the word control. There is a natural unwillingness in depraved man to be wholly at the disposal of another. However, man is controlled whether he admits it or not. A god who makes a creature whom he cannot control is not the God of the Bible.

Predestination, unlike fate, vindicates the character of God. It introduces order in the universe. God is the God of order. Therefore, His purpose was formed in eternity. The orderly parts of God’s purpose were known intuitively. However, the orderly execution of these parts is successive. The scientific way of viewing things is to become absorbed with the wonders of nature, but the Christian way of viewing things is to look through the wonders of nature and view the methodical God. Everything from the fall of an empire to the fall of a sparrow does not happen without God.