Will of God
The will of God, divine will, or God's plan refers to the concept of a God having a plan for humanity. Ascribing a volition or a plan to a God generally implies a personal God (God regarded as a person with mind, emotions, will).[1]
Interpretations
Christianity
Leslie Weatherhead says that the will of God falls into three distinct categories; intentional, circumstantial, and ultimate. God intends for people to follow his guidelines and do the right thing; God set the laws of physics and chemistry into play, and those circumstances will sometimes cause difficulties. That does not mean we should not struggle against circumstances to create God's ultimate will, a peaceful world dominated by love and compassion.[2]
Deism
As for Deism, it has been explained:
In general, the deists believed reason to be an innate faculty of all people. Reason, the very image of God in which all humans are created, makes possible knowledge of the will of God. By the exercise of reason, people possess the possibility of adopting a natural religion, that is, a religion grounded in the nature of the universe. At creation, God established this rational order, but although the prime and necessary cause of this order, God had become increasingly remote. The world, nevertheless, continued to function according to the laws that God had established at creation, laws that operate without the need of divine intervention.[3]
Islam
In Islam, submission and surrender are terms referring to the acceptance of God's will.
Sikhism
Hukam is a Punjabi word derived from the Arabic hukm, meaning "command" or "order." The whole of the Universe is subject to the hukam of God and nothing happens that is not the will of God.
It is by the command of God that we are born and we die. In the Sikh scriptures, the founder of the religion, Guru Nanak says:
O Nanak, by the Hukam of God's Command, we come and go in reincarnation. ((20))
— Japji Sahib Stanza 20
See also
- Destiny
- Deus vult, a Latin expression meaning "God wills it", canonically expressed at the outset of the First Crusade.
- Divine law, any law that, according to religious belief, comes directly from the will of God, in contrast to man-made law.
- "God willing" is an English expression often used to indicate that the speaker hopes that his or her actions are those that are willed by God, or that it is in accordance with God's will that some desired event will come to pass, or that some negative event will not come to pass.
- God's Plan (disambiguation)
- Karma
- Luisa Piccarreta
- Plan of salvation, in general Christian concept.
- Plan of salvation (Latter Day Saints) is the view of God's plan as described by the Latter Day Saint movement.
- Predestination
- Providentialism is a belief that God's will is evident in all occurrences. It can further be described as a belief that the power of God (or Providence) is so complete that humans cannot equal fully understand it.
- Will (philosophy)
References
- ↑
Compare:
Howell, James C. (2009). The Will of God: Answering the Hard Questions. Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press. p. 18. ISBN 9781611640021. Retrieved 2018-06-25.
[...] we can explore the will of God having banished the bad idea that God is capricious, or a stern rule enforcer. God is personal [...].
Packer, James I. (1993). "1". Knowing God. InterVarsity Press. p. 21. ISBN 9780830816507.[...] knowing God involves, first, listening to God's Word and receiving it as the Holy Spirit interprets it, in application to oneself; second, noting God's nature and character, as his Word and works reveal it; third, accepting his invitations and doing what he commands; fourth, recognizing and rejoicing in the love that he has shown in thus approaching you and drawing you into this divine fellowship." .
- ↑ Leslie D. Weatherhead, The Will of God, Abington Press, Nashville, 1990. ISBN 0-687-45601-0
- ↑ William Baird, History of New Testament Research: From Deism to Tübingen, page 39, 1992.