Predestination

Predestination is a term of many meanings. It is the divine act of predetermining by which God eternally decrees that which She or He intends to bring to pass. In essence, people have no control over events because these things are controlled by God. The belief in predestination shows that individuals are subject to variations in endowment, fortune, and circumstances that are beyond their control. People therefore attribute these variations to the hand of God, who is omnipotent and controls all.

The belief in predestination has no monopoly in any religion or culture. Most religions of the world are of the opinion that, prior to creation, God had predestined the fate of men and women, whereas some other religions hold the opposite view that people determine their fate.

Not only is destiny a common feature in the conception of a person in most African cultures; it is also a fundamental part of the African traditional religion. It is believed that a person's destiny, whether by choice or imposition, predetermines for that person what he or she will be. It further determines a person's success, failure, personality, luck, and ill luck.

Among the Yoruba of Nigeria, for example, the belief in predestination is depicted in Ipin Ori—Ori's portion or lot. It is believed that anything that happens to a man or woman on Earth, or anything that a man or a woman does on Earth, has been predestined even before their having come into the world. People's portion is predestined by Olodumare—Almighty God. Predestination is expressed in the following ways among the Yoruba of Nigeria: Akunlegba—“that which is received while kneeling” or Akunleyan—“that which is chosen while kneeling,” Ayanmo—“that which is affixed,” Adamo—“that which is affixed at creation,” and Akomo—“that which is written and sealed.” The destiny is sealed and unalterable, whatever a person does achieve, or whatever happens is a fulfillment of destiny.

Among the Ibos of Nigeria, it is believed that each person has chi—a spiritual double given to him by God before coming into the world. This is an indication that humans have been predetermined, and what a man or a woman becomes is determined by his or her chi.

The Akan and Ga of Ghana believe that the almighty sent sunsun—human essence or the personality soul—into humans and assigned them their destiny. It is for this reason that the Akan say: “The destiny given by God cannot be avoided.” What this means is that what has been predestined by God cannot be altered.

From the aforesaid, it can be seen that different cultural groups believe that people have been predestined by God before coming into the world. However, the Urhobo of the Delta State of Nigeria take a different view from the others. They are of the opinion that humans predestine themselves before coming to life. In other words, what a person wishes to be in the world is determined by the individual.

According to those groups, given that whatever happens to people has been predestined by God, efforts should be made to alter an unfavorable destiny. The Urhobo too are said to pray to God to help change a bad destiny, which is said to have been chosen by the individual. In predestination, there is both a human and a divine hand at work.

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