- 73 - • Whoever fails must take the tests over again until he can pass them. Passing or failing are not predestined, but depend on your own merit or shortcomings. The Christian religions do not recognise this truth. They do not know that the Creator works like an architect who first draws the plans according to which a building is to be constructed. These plans do not give all the details of the interior construction of the building or of the materials to be used for that purpose, but only the outer contours. In a like way, God has laid out the major lines for the life structure of every individual, according to which life is fixed in outline, leaving each person free to decide upon the interior details. There are many references in the Bible to the fact that man’s fate is predestined. Ecclesiastes 9: 12: ‘Man does not even know the hour that has been set for him.’ Psalm 139: 16: ‘All the days of my life were set down in Thy book ere they ever took shape.’ And in the Book of Ecclesiastes, you read furthermore: Ecclesiastes 6: 10-12: ‘Everything that happens has been determined long ago, and from the beginning it is set what a person will experience, and no one can demand an explanation from Him Who is stronger than he. The subject is much talked about, but that is useless, for who knows what is good for a person in life?’ Psalm 31: 16: ‘My fate lies in Thy hands.’ The prophet Jeremiah utters the words: Jeremiah 10: 23: ‘Oh Lord, I know that man’s fate lies not in his own hands and that a person going through life may not direct his own steps.’ Deuteronomy 32: 35: Their doom is rushing upon them.’ Birth and death and the span of life that lies between them are predestined and beyond man’s control. No one, not even a physician, can therefore save a person’s life. Every person dies at the appointed moment. Ecclesiastes 8: 8: ‘No one has power over his day of death.’ Christ confirms this truth with the words: Matthew 6: 27: ‘Who is there among you with all his worries who can prolong his allotted time of life by a single span?’ The Lord said to Moses: Deuteronomy 31:14: ‘See, the time is near when you must die.’
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