a lot of people at my school (plus me!) are having trouble with this...
What are the impacts of the doctrine of predestination?! :o :confused:
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Puritans believed that since God was all-knowing, then he already had pre-destined whether or not you were going to heaven or he!!. This thought was introduced by Calvin. Why was it important? Well, if God already knew if you were one of the "elect" then good deeds COULDN'T get you into heaven. Your fate had already been decided.
In order for others to think or know that you were one of the elect, there had to be some sort of divine revelation that happened to you. God had to give you a sign basically. However, not all people going to heaven had been given a sign so you had to live your life as if you were part of the elect. So, if you had been given a sign making you part of the "elect" it was your RESPONSIBILITY to be the moral leader of the community. For most people, they didn't know if they were elected or not, so they lived according to the Bible out of fear of being turned away when they got to heaven.
Hope this helps!
So would the "elect" also be called the "visible saints", or was that just another name for the Puritans?
And predestination was the doctrine that John Calvin came up with, right? And is that also the basis for Calvinism?
(Thanks in advance for answering my questions!)
Yes. They relied on God to give them a sign that they were elected. Those that had received some sort of divine revelation were called "visible saints" because the community knew they were elect and therefore had to live extremely rigorous moral and religious lives. As for the rest of the community who had not received a sign, it didn't necessarily mean that they weren't elect, just that God had chosen not to reveal his plans to them. Hope this helps! :)
THANK YOU!! that helped A LOT !!