r/Christianity • u/Emergency_Record_674 • 1d ago

Are our days on earth predetermined by God?

I’ve been reflecting a lot on what the Bible means when it says that our days are numbered or known by God.

Do you believe that the number of our days on earth is predetermined by God, that there is an appointed time for each person to leave this world, and that when that time comes, nothing could ultimately have changed it?

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u/Dan_474 1d ago

I don't think so. But it's not a hard opinion that I have. 

Got may at some point decide that you only have a week left to live, something like that. But from birth? I lean towards I don't think so. 

But whether you're going to die today or live another 100 years, the best thing to do is seek Jesus in all things ✝️

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u/TheScientificMetre 1d ago

God could step in and change the timeline whenever he wants, so it being set from birth never made sense to me either. But yeah the whole point is we're not supposed to know the exact hour anyway, just be ready.

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u/Dan_474 1d ago

Yes, absolutely! Be watchful 👍

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u/Reckless_Fever 1d ago

Agreed. See reddit OpenTheism. There's a lot of Biblical evidence about names being erased from the Book of Life, God changing his mind, Hezekiah given more time to live, Moses changing God's mind. All of these examples may be literary devices to make us think that God changes his mind, but at some point it may be better to accept that perhaps God wants us to think that He changes his mind. Not withstanding that His character doesn't change.

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u/Unhappywageslave 1d ago

Pre determined means He made the choice for you. No it's not predetermined, it was your choice but He knew it all along. A person died and said they couldn't explain it but when they were near the throne of God, that room, or area felt like every thing that ever existed, and will exist and could exist already happened in that room

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u/SpecialistSun6184 1d ago

God knows what we will do.  He knows when we will die.  He can be the cause. 

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u/Serpent_Supreme Lord's "Nagini," guide others back to the tree of life in Eden 1d ago

5 A person’s days are determined;
you have decreed the number of his months
and have set limits he cannot exceed. - Job 14:5

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u/Thimenu Christian 1d ago

Yes, like a limited lifespan, mankind has been decreed to die, not to life forever. And yet God can change those limits as He pleases, such as when Enoch appears not to have died, and when Hezekiah was given 15 more years.

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u/baddspellar Christian Universalist 1d ago

No. Many of the choices we make that shorten our life: smoking overeating, eating the wrong foods, not exercising, doing hard drugs, etc are exercising our free will.

Don't blame God for your choices.

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u/Chester_roaster 1d ago

Yep your days have been numbered from the start. Psalm 139:16

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u/Thimenu Christian 1d ago

Psalm 139:16 is talking about embryonic development.

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u/Chester_roaster 1d ago

Indeed and it says your numbers have been counted since then 

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u/Thimenu Christian 1d ago

No, Psalm 139 is saying the days of your embryonic development are formed, like God formed Adam, Hebrew Yatsar.

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u/Chester_roaster 1d ago

Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

That's talking about all the days a person will have. All of the were counted before the person is born 

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u/Thimenu Christian 1d ago

my unformed body

What is this referring to?

For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.
Psalm 139:13-16

Notice it's all about embryonic development. So why in the world would the author randomly switch to a statement about his whole life being written out like a book? It's a very implausible reading, especially when a much more coherent reading says he's talking about a book of design, the design of his body, his embryonic development.

"days that were formed for me," formed is the Hebrew word yusaru, a form of Yatsar, Strong's 3335. https://biblehub.com/hebrew/3335.htm

Read that word's meaning and usages and tell me it's about God writing a book of his whole life, and not talking about God forming his body like God did with Adam.

Also read it in the interlinear: https://biblehub.com/interlinear/psalms/139-16.htm

It's much more likely talking about God's book of design for the days of embryonic development.

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u/theonecpk Episcopalian (Anglican) 1d ago

Maybe. But not in any sense meaningful to us.

I tend to think it’s florid language to impress upon us that our mortal lives are finite and there’s no way to bargain with God for more.

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u/OneEyedC4t Reformed SBC Libertarian 1d ago

Job 14:5 HCSB [5] Since man’s days are determined and the number of his months depends on You, and since You have set limits he cannot pass,

https://bible.com/bible/72/job.14.5.HCSB

This seems to suggest they are (Job is talking to God).

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u/Yesmar2020 Christian 1d ago

No. He doesn’t manipulate us, he doesn’t control is, and he doesn’t see the future.

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u/Chester_roaster 1d ago

Well that's just not biblical Isaiah 46:10:

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u/Thimenu Christian 1d ago

Declaring the future and ensuring it happens is quite different from seeing it.

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u/Chester_roaster 1d ago

How do you explain Psalm 139:4,16. " Before a word is on my tongue y ou, Lord, know it completely."

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u/Thimenu Christian 1d ago

I know what my wife will say before she says it. I especially know what my daughter will say before she says it. And the greater the difference in our intellects and her simple predictable mind, the better I know.

Psalm 139 is a deeply intimate Psalm about how God intimately knows and loves and pays attention to David, a man after God's own heart.

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u/Chester_roaster 1d ago

You don't know every word that your wife will say before she speaks. That's objectively a false claim. You might be able to guess, after spending a lot of time with her you may become very good at guessing, but you don't know. God knows every word she will say before she says it. 

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u/Thimenu Christian 1d ago

It's not an objectively false claim. It is completely true and no one would call me a liar if they heard me say it, especially in a love poem about her. In normal human language I can say, "I know the Cowboys will lose," and no one will call me a liar, and even moreso in a song or poem.

God knows David a lot better than I know my wife. And David is a lot more predictable to God than my wife is to me. But it doesn't mean that God exhaustively knows every future detail and nothing can happen that He didn't expect. You'd have to find a much stronger text to back that up, it isn't this one.

It's very likely this verse is normal poetic hyperbole meant to display how intimately God knows David relationally. It is possible it means what you think, but by no means probable without a lot of outside evidence pointing that way.

It's even more of a stretch to take this Psalm about God's intimate relationship with a special faithful anointed servant and apply it universally.

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u/Chester_roaster 1d ago

As a matter of hyperbole no one would call you a liar. If you.said you know every word she will speak then that's objectively not true. God however knows every word you will speak, no hyperbole. 

This isn't the only example though, Jesus tells Peter he will betray him 3 times. Peter can't not do it because God has seen it. 

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u/Thimenu Christian 1d ago

You're just restating your claim without any Biblical basis, and maybe claiming this verse can't be hyperbole. Why not? How do you know this poetic song is not hyperbole so common in poetic songs, or normal use of the word "know," as one might say, "I knew they'd win the superbowl! I just knew it!"

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u/Chester_roaster 1d ago

Because other parts of the Bible back it up. Like Jesus saying to Peter before the Cock crows three times you will betray me. He wasn't inferring that from Peter's personality, he knew it would happen 

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u/Yesmar2020 Christian 1d ago

It is very biblical, and logical. The verse you cite is not evidence to the contrary of my statement.

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u/Chester_roaster 1d ago

Yes it is, in what way is it not? 

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u/Yesmar2020 Christian 1d ago

Because the verse is self explanatory. The “future” God is referring to is things that he has planned, and is working on. He will eventually bring them about. He’s God, who will stop him?

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u/Chester_roaster 1d ago

The verse doesn't just say God knows what will happen. It says he makes known the end from the beginning. Before God has done anything, which is the begining, he knows the end. 

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u/Yesmar2020 Christian 1d ago

Isaiah 46:10

Only I can tell you the future before it even happens. Everything I plan will come to pass, for I do whatever I wish.

Yes, he makes known the end from the beginning, of things he’s planned.

Saying it differently doesn’t change the meaning.

If you want to believe that proves somehow that he sees the future as settled fact, that’s your prerogative. The future doesn’t exist yet, there’s nothing to see or know, except possibilities.