Does Fate Rule Our Lives? Or Does God Hold Us Responsible?

 HOW would you answer those two questions? Of course, you may never have thought about the matter. Or you may wonder what the questions have to do with each other, saying: ‘Of course God will hold us responsible for what we do. And whatever fate has in store for us will happen.’

If this is your opinion, please stop for a moment and think!

Who holds us accountable? God. Who, then, fixes our fate? Many would also answer: “God.” But is that logical? Would you force a person to do something and then later blame him for having done it? Consider a father who in the morning locks the doors of the house in order to prevent his son from going outside. When he comes home that evening, he finds that his son has stayed home all day. Now, what if the father asks his son why he did not go outside, perhaps even punishing him for being lazy? Would that be just? What would you think of such a father?

‘That would never happen,’ you say. Yet, according to some, that is what God does. If good and bad are from God and he has written everything on our foreheads, as it were, why would he hold us responsible for doing bad? If what we do is what God has determined, why are we held accountable for our actions? Why must we answer to God for something about which we had no choice?

 Perhaps at this point you are thinking: ‘This is a very deep subject. Who are we to understand God’s ways? Let theologians argue about it.’

You Are Affected

Reflect, though. These questions affect all of us. In this world, we have only one life to live, and it passes very quickly. The way we live our life is profoundly affected by our answers to the questions mentioned above. If God has determined our fate, why would we bother to try to improve ourselves? Why even bother to learn about God? Words like “right” and “wrong,” “sin” and “merit,” are meaningless. If it is our fate to do something that we regard as wrong, then we will do it anyway because we cannot change what has been predetermined.

If, though, that is the way things are, why has God taught us his commandments? Why did he send the prophets? Why have books, called God’s Word, been written? If fate rules, would not all these things be pointless? Surely, human intelligence objects to reasoning that contradicts itself. The logical human mind cannot accept it.

On the other hand, if we have free will and God holds us accountable for what we do, then we have to use our short life to take in accurate knowledge about God and his purposes and learn to live our lives the way he wants us to. This becomes the personal responsibility of every living human. No one else can serve God on our behalf. One is reminded of a Turkish proverb, “Each mutton is hung by its own leg.” That is, each one must answer for his own misdeeds.

Do you see why it is so important that we learn the correct answers to the questions: Will God hold us responsible? Or is fate ruling our lives?

 Where to Find the Answers

Where can we find the answers to our questions? One place is in the Bible, known in the Islamic world as Tevrat, Zebur, and Incil, and accepted as “the Word of God.” * In the Bible, we read the following: “Now as regards someone wicked, in case he should turn back from all his sins that he has committed and he should actually keep all my statutes and execute justice and righteousness, he will positively keep living. He will not die. Do I take any delight at all in the death of someone wicked, . . . and not in that he should turn back from his ways and actually keep living?” (Ezekiel 18:21, 23) Evidently, it is possible for a wicked man to change his ways. He is not fated to remain wicked all his days.

The same conclusion is drawn from another Bible passage: “Son of man, a watchman is what I have made you . . . , and you must hear from my mouth speech and you must warn them from me. When I say to someone wicked, ‛You will positively die,’ and you do not actually warn him and speak in order to warn the wicked one from his wicked way to preserve him alive, he being wicked, in his error he will die, but his blood I shall ask back from your own hand.”—Ezekiel 3:17, 18.

Yes, God’s Word clearly says that fate does not rule man’s life. Man can choose. He can do either good or bad. And if out of ignorance he does bad, when he learns the truth, he can change to doing good and thus gain life. Plainly, we are responsible for our actions.

 How Can You Choose?

The Bible says that our Creator is a God of love in whom no wickedness dwells. This God of love says: “I have put life and death before you, the blessing and the malediction; and you must choose life in order that you may keep alive, you and your offspring.” (Deuteronomy 30:19) God created man with free will. When humans chose to stop acting in harmony with God’s purpose, they became subject to death. However, you can choose life. But you have to make the choice for yourself. Nobody can make that choice for you.

How do you choose life? First, you have to assure yourself that the Bible is God’s inspired Word. For this, an earnest, unprejudiced study of that book is necessary. Then you have to learn from the Bible why God created man, why we die, what happens after death, and how you can please God.

Don’t say: ‘This is a very difficult task; I am unable to do it.’ Would God promise life and then make it impossible for some individuals to find it? If the information we need is in the Bible, will not God help us in our investigation of that book? Just put forth a sincere effort. It is the most worthwhile thing you can do.

Times Are Urgent

And do not delay. Times are urgent. In the Bible we find a composite “sign” that marks the last days of this system of things. (Matthew 24:3) Here are some parts of the sign:

“Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom.” “There will be food shortages.” (Matthew 24:7) “There will be great earthquakes.” “[There will be] in one place after another pestilences.” (Luke 21:11) ‘Lawlessness will increase.’—Matthew 24:12.

 According to the Bible, these and other parts of the sign of the last days would all happen together. All the evidence says that this sign has been observable since the time of World War I, which broke out in 1914.

For this reason, we invite you to examine the Bible without delay. God’s Word tells us: “The conclusion of the matter, everything having been heard, is: Fear the true God and keep his commandments. For this is the whole obligation of man. For the true God himself will bring every sort of work into the judgment in relation to every hidden thing, as to whether it is good or bad.”—Ecclesiastes 12:13, 14.

If you want to learn more about how you can make a wise choice for life in these difficult last days, please write to one of the following addresses, and it will be a pleasure to help you.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Bible quotations are from the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures.

[Footnotes]

[Picture Credit Line on page 6]

Photo Credit: Car interior on cover: H. Armstrong Roberts.