Topical Studies
What the Bible says about
Fatalism
(From Forerunner Commentary)
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Ecclesiastes 1:3-11
Overall, how do we, as Christians, perceive time? Every day we are witnesses to its progression. Daylight comes and passes, and night arrives only to be followed by daylight again. We can look at a clock and see that its hands are moving. But how - in what manner - is time moving? As a culture, the Greeks have become known as a people sensitive to the rhythms of time, and this, though written by Solomon, a Hebrew, is a decidedly Greek view of life and of time's movement. This perception of life and time - their acute awareness of things like the perpetual ebb and flow of tides, the continuous cycle of the four seasons, and the constant repetition of weather patterns - became a major building block of Greek philosophy, leading them to develop the concept that time is cyclical. They concluded that man's life is lived within a series of continuous, changeless recurrences. To them, time works like a wheel turning on an axis, and the events that mark time's progress repeat themselves endlessly. They believed that nothing could be done about it because such events will happen eternally. Thus, a person is born, lives his life on a stage, and when his part is done, he exits. Such belief inexorably leads to a fatalistic view of life. Notice verse 8 especially. The Soncino Commentary opines that Solomon is saying that this inescapable repetition in life is such weariness that he lacked the words to describe it aptly. Despite what Solomon writes in Ecclesiastes 1, the general Hebrew outlook is decidedly different. The Hebrew concept of time greatly benefited from God's revelation. In Jude 14-15, the apostle quotes an Old Testament personality, Enoch, whose pre-flood prophecy deflected Hebrew thought about time in a far different direction: Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, "Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him." (Jude 14-15) This quotation shows that the Hebrews who believed God knew that time was headed on a very different path from the Greek view. Events do not just happen in a vacuum; they are moving in a definite direction. Enoch is warning that a time is coming when men will have to answer for what they have done during their lifetimes. Even so, he is nowhere near the earliest indicator that time and the events within it are moving in a specific direction. Notice Genesis 3:14-15: So the LORD God said to the serpent; "Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; on your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel." God had revealed Himself to the Hebrew descendants of Abraham, and some among them, like Moses, believed what He said. Thus, they knew that time was not cyclical, as the Greeks perceived it, but linear: The Creator is moving time and all that happens within it in a definite direction. The prophet Amos receives credit for giving that "sometime" a general title, or at least the term is first used within his prophecy. He called it the "Day of the Lord." Generally, he appears to mean the time when God will intervene with a strong hand in the affairs of this world - an act that is definitely not repetitious. However, it remained for the Christian church to define time and its right usage for its members. The church's conception of time blends the cyclical concepts of the Greeks and the linear concepts of the Hebrews. It is true that many things in life - things like wars, economic depressions, and political revolutions - do recur in an inexorable manner. Yet, as the New Testament shows, much of this happens as a result of man's self-centered nature. In other words, they do not have to happen, but they do happen because man's choices make them happen. Man continually makes bad choices because his nature is unchangingly anti-God. Thus, in general, the Christian view is that time indeed contains stressful, repeating cycles, as Solomon describes, yet the New Testament calls these cycles "evil" (Galatians 1:4). However, it also shows that time is moving in a definite direction and that God Himself is orchestrating many of the events within its progress toward the return of Jesus Christ, the Day of the Lord, and the establishment on earth of His Family Kingdom. This led the church to develop, under the inspiration of Jesus Christ, an overall concept of time management unique to church members. It has its roots in the Old Testament: Isaiah 55:6 urges us to "seek the LORD while He may be found."
John W. Ritenbaugh
Seeking God (Part Two): A Foundation
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Ezekiel 18:1-4
During Ezekiel's time, Israel made a grave mistake in their reasoning, concluding that God was judging the present generation harshly because of the wickedness of their forefathers. They wrongly believed that it made no difference what they did, blaming their parents for all their woes. These people reasoned that they were the unfortunate victims of the ancient law in Exodus 20:5: "I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me." These Israelites obviously misunderstood the message of this verse, which teaches that descendants are affected by their fathers' sins, not that the children are predestined to make the same mistakes or are punished for what their forbears did. Sadly, because of their upbringing, children frequently find themselves practicing the same sinful acts as their fathers, and therefore, they receive the same just punishment. However, each person is still individually responsible for his or her own actions. The Israelites' misunderstanding, leading to irresponsibility and fatalism, is expressed by the proverb, "The fathers eat sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge." Jeremiah 31:29 records that this proverb was being repeated throughout Judah. The discourse that follows in Ezekiel 18 confounds the flawed reasoning behind this proverb, showing that responsibility equals accountability for one's own actions. God's response to their misconception is flatly summarized in verse 3: "You shall no longer use this proverb in Israel." The people had come to believe that righteousness and wickedness were hereditary, so there was no reason to change one's ways. God argues, however, that they were free to decide to walk in His ways or not; they were not bound by what their fathers had done. God states the basic principle of judgment for irresponsibility in Ezekiel 18:4: "The soul who sins shall die." His judgment is personal and individual. Three illustrations of this principle are found in Ezekiel 18:5-18: Verses 5-9 describe a righteous father; verses 10-13, 18 describe an unrighteous son; and verses 14-17 describe a righteous grandson. In the first illustration (Ezekiel 18:5-9), God differentiates righteousness from unrighteousness by stating five areas of His law: In the first, the righteous man refrains from involvement in pagan sacrificial meals at the high places and from the idolatry prevalent in Israel. In the second, the righteous man refuses to defile his neighbor's wife (adultery) or to have relations with a woman during her menstrual period (sexual perversion). In the third, the righteous man does not oppress people through maltreatment and extortion but restores the pledge of a poor person's debt. In the fourth, the righteous man does not steal but feeds and clothes the destitute. In the fifth, the righteous man practices justice among his fellow Israelites and refuses to take interest from them. This list shows that a person's attitude and acts toward others provide a true indication of his faith toward God. In the second illustration (Ezekiel 18:10-13, 18), the unrighteous son of the righteous father demonstrates his unrighteousness and lack of faith in a lifestyle opposite that of his father. Whatever his father did in righteousness, the son does not do, and whatever his father refrained from in righteousness, the unrighteous son does. Verse 18 summarizes his wicked deeds: "he cruelly oppressed, robbed his brother by violence, and did what is not good among his people." The third illustration (Ezekiel 18:14-17) shows that a righteous son can descend from an unrighteous father. If the son does all the righteous acts of God's law, as his righteous grandfather did, and refuses to follow his wicked father's unrighteous acts, he would not die because of his father's wickedness but would live. God repeats and expands the basic principle regarding judgment in Ezekiel 18:20: "The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself." In other words, responsibility equals accountability for our own actions. This principle is also taught in the New Testament, as, for instance, in Romans 14:12, the apostle Paul writes, "So then each of us shall give account of himself to God." Likewise, the resurrected Jesus says in Revelation 2:23, "I will give to each one of you according to his works." If we sin as individuals, we will be judged as individuals. It is a fact that we suffer from the effects of the sins of our ancestors. Look at the poor health and degenerative diseases around us, as well as what has been done to the earth by those who have gone before us. We can easily see and feel the effects of our forefathers' sins. However, their sins do not predestine or condemn us to repeat what they did. Each individual is responsible for his own actions and will receive personal judgment: "The soul who sins shall die," not the righteous person.
Martin G. Collins
Responsibility Equals Accountability
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