Friday 22 July 2016

The Merman's Children, Epilogue, pp. 257-258

Ban Pavle Subitj dies in 1312 and is succeeded by his son, Mladen, who fails to reconquer Zadar or to curb Hrvatskan feuds. Kachitji pirates rove the Dalmatian coast while the Neipitji try to depose the Subitji and Frankapani. Venice conquers Shibenik, Trogir, Split and Nin.

Father Tomislav preaches:

"'He forgave a poor little shadow and raised her to Heaven...'" (p. 258)

Tomislav is still in denial about his daughter, Nada. She was not raised up to Heaven but haunted the forest as an insubstantial vilja. However, Tomislav then goes on to postulate universalism, the ultimate salvation of all:

that Satan may repent after Armaggedon;
that all that ever was will be resurrected.

In James Blish's The Day After Judgment, Satan becomes God after Armaggedon.

I think that Christian premises entail universalist conclusions. If an omnipotent creator creates from nothing my character and environment, then He creates all the interactions between that character and that environment and these interactions include my actions. Thus, He can predetermine my actions so that those actions eventually lead to my acceptance of salvation. This is not to argue that God's foreknowledge (more accurately, His transtemporal knowledge) predetermines my actions. It is to argue that His creation of my character and environment determines my actions. A child can have free will in relation to his parents if they let him do what he wants but he cannot have free will in relation to his omnipotent creator Who causes him to want what he wants and Who could have caused him to want, and therefore to do, something else.

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