LUTHERAN THEOLOGICAL REVIEW - Brock University

26 LUTHERAN THEOLOGICAL REVIEW XV
out that wickedness and disbelief are both caused by God and that man is
compelled to follow them.” 32
Averroes divides Muslims into two main groups regarding predestination.
One, the Muctazilites, affirm free will in man, and with it, personal
responsibility for sin and punishment for sin. The Jabarites, by contrast,
“hold that man is under compulsion in his acts”. 33 The Ashcarites take a
moderating view between the two extremes. Mohamed cites Jaroslav Pelikan
in observing the influence of Augustine on the development of double
predestination, and draws on Aquinas to support Averroes on this point. 34 He
says, “Both Averroes and Aquinas recognize that God is omnipotent, His
power is unlimited. There is no great difference in the way in which this
matter is discussed by both.” 35 Of course God is omnipotent. But the doctrine
of predestination, as Mohamed could not possibly understand (though
Aquinas should have), is drawn from the Second Article, not the First. If we
consider only the omnipotence of God, we can find only a fatalistic
determinism for human action, and the capricious decree of God behind
salvation and damnation. There can be no distinction between Law and
Gospel in Islamic thought, because the Qur’an contains only Law. In
arriving at these conclusions, Mohamed, like Calvin, confuses not only Law
and Gospel but conflates God’s foreknowledge with His predestination:
“Whatever happens in this world is under the providence of God; when God
knows all things then all things must happen.” 36 Of course there is Gospel in
Reformed theology because it is derived from the Bible. Nevertheless, the
parallels between Islam and Calvinism are remarkable.
We note that there is no practical value to false doctrine concerning
predestination. This is most certainly true in regard to Calvinism and
Arminianism. Both theologies on predestination produce doubt in the
believer. In Calvinism, the believer worries that perhaps God has predestined
him to damnation, and he will be lost no matter how sincere his faith or
active his church activity. In Arminianism, when difficulties arise in the
believer’s life, he falls into despair because he thinks his faith is not strong
enough, or that his decision for Christ wasn’t sincere enough or his
emotional conversion not tearful enough. Not only are these false doctrines
of no practical value, they are un-preachable. What Presbyterian minister
would ever get up in the pulpit and preach double predestination How could
he tell his people that some of them, no matter how active in church, may be
already damned by God’s immutable and arbitrary decree from eternity
32 Mohamed, 394.
33 Mohamed, 394.
34 Mohamed, 395-97.
35 Mohamed, 397.
36 Mohamed, 404.