Numbers 16:28-30 English Standard Version

28 And Moses said, “Hereby you shall know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, and that it has not been of my own accord. 29 If these men die as all men die, or if they are visited by the fate of all mankind, then the Lord has not sent me. 30 But if the Lord creates something new, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, then you shall know that these men have despised the Lord.”

Fatalism according to the Oxford dictionary is a belief system. That system says that all things are predetermined and therefore inevitable.

Because it is a belief system it is up to us to share in these beliefs or to choose not to share in them. There are only two choices in that scenario. In Numbers above there are more than two choices.

First choice is fatalism. The fate of those people were sealed and nothing could change fate, not even the will of God.

Second choice is that there are consequences for choices. Those who were about to be swallowed up by a great chasm and sent to Sheol were only suffering the consequences of their choices.

A third choice is fiction. It never happened.

This third choice, one of fiction, leaves us with mystery that can be explained to our own satisfaction or ignored because we choose not to get involved.

We are responsible for our own decisions. If we believe that our choices do not matter then we do not believe that choices have consequences. If we live our lives in that manner life itself will teach us that gravity works and we will fall if we jump off a cliff. Choosing to jump with the intention of falling says we believe in gravity. Life teaches us there are consequences for choices.

Some choose to believe that the odds are against them and their fate is sealed. Those choices are rebellion in the face of fatalism. This is why a class of people join groups of like minded fatalists that says, “Take it while you can.” Their choices have led them to the consequences of their choices.

If we knew with perfect understanding what the outcome for our choices would lead us, then we would be entering into the realm of foreknowledge. 

Is foreknowledge fatalism by another name?