Can a person die before his appointed time to die?
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Asked May 28 2014
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Arthur Boyd
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Vin Smith
Not possible... Surprising God by cashing in your own chips? Can't happen--He knows who will take their own lives. He knows everything about you, from BEFORE you were formed in the womb, throughout all of your existence--including your future existence in Heaven--or should you choose--perdition! However, the complete answer is quite complicated. If you live your life in the best way humanly possible, then your "string" will not play out prematurely. You will live as long as God engineered you to live. If you live recklessly... Disregard health laws... Disregard other aspects of God's law, then you will not maximize yourself... You will die too soon--but that possibility will be known to God. Thus, living recklessly, you will die at a time you basically appoint yourself--though drug using shortened lives, heavy smokers, unhealthy practices compounded on unhealthy practices probably will not give you the exact time of your death--unless you linger with a terminal illness that could have been prevented by living properly. Doctors are often very good at telling you how long you will last--when you have abused your body terribly. But any of these possibilities would be completely known to God... In fact, He knows everything--absolutely everything--about you! He knows if you follow his laws, you will live as long as your DNA will allow. And God knows when that will be. If you live inappropriately, disregard God's truth, you will greatly cut down your lifespan. But God still knows when you will die--and in this latter scenario--how far short you will have crafted your life to be from what He made possible for you. In fact, living a tragically uncontrolled life--like that of an illicit drug user is actually suicide--on the installment plan! Now, let's look at the Bible... "You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous - how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me!" (Psalm 139:13-18) NLT
Paul Bayne
Man has a sovereignly appointed time to die. No man can cut this short or lengthen it. God is sovereign period. Man only has a "free will" when it lines up with God's path. God has written the story of every human being and all we have the power to do is walk it. When we die we die because God stopped the heart beat. We cannot change this. Jesus Himself was very clear on this when He said no man can add one day to his life through his own efforts. The opposite is also true that no man can shorten his life through any effort. The Bible also tells us we all have a day and time where we will run out of time. If this isn't true, then God is not sovereign. If God is God, and He is onmipotent, omniscient and omnipresent then He is in control and has the power. We are His vessels and He decides what to do with us. Using Ecc. 7.17 to justify man being able to cut his life short doesn't fly either. We are told in various places that the wicked's days will be cut short but the ones who obey God's commands will enjoy a long life. Now who is in control here? Man or God? Of course God is, and He is in control of shortening someone's life or lengthening it. So in light of this, He is still appointing a certain time for someone to die. This doesn't give us the license to go out and be foolish, but it makes us accountable to be obedient to God, and in doing so, He will honor us with a long life.
Seth Freeman
I tend to think that not everyone actually has some specific set date in which God has foreordained that they will die on. I think more along the lines as God as an omniscient being necessarily possesses perfect foreknowledge, and therefore as nothing is a surprise to Him, He knows the day, the hour, the minute that I will die. But I don't think that God necessarily decided for me before I was born that I would die in a car crash in three weeks (though He may have if my death brings Him glory in some way).
Andrew Osakue
Yes it is possible to die before ones time. If it were not so, the bible will not mention it in Eccl. 7:17 " Be not overly wicked, neither be a fool. Why should you die before your time?" Pro 10:27 also says; The fear of The Lord prolongs life, but the years of the wicked will be short. In the same vein, Job 22:16 says; They were snatched away before their time, their foundation was washed away. Therefore, the same way a man can die before his time, so also can a man's life be prolonged according to the bible in Pro 9:11. Also Ps 55:23 says " Even some will not live out half their days. Therefore without any equivocation, man can die before his appointed time depending on his obedience to God and also how he lives his life. A man who suddenly jumps to his death from a sky scrapper might have decided to end it all before his appointed time on earth. If dying before ones time was not possible, the bible would not have mentioned it in so many scriptures. Be that as it may, I believe the all knowing God knows about it all knowing the end from the beginning. Other scriptures to also look at are, Job 15:31 and Ezekiel 13:18-19.
Tony Flores
Yes, a person can die before his appointed time. God knows his appointed time and He knows when the person will die even though it is not his time. God gave us a free Will to make choices. God is there at the appointed time and He is there at the non-appointed time. If it is God's Will either way, your death will happen. He can also change the time (example: Lazarus) or (the young girl that He said was asleep). There is nothing that Jesus Christ cannot do. Jesus said "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?".
Whitney Eskew
I believe I can die before my time due to recklessness. I have free will. The fact that God already knows what happens to me is due to the difference between God's omniscience and my seemingly sequential passage through time. Everything has already played out and I just haven't caught up yet. I have "potential destinies" and I can take an optimal path available to me, as well as lesser ones, all along the way. My perfect path would glorify the divine at every turn, but it's easy to get sidetracked onto a seemingly infinite number of options that give little if any service to life. The choice is up to me in every moment. The more I "die" to my own childlike desires and experience the passion and fulfillment that comes with willingly serving the Lord in the way unique to who I am, the more meaningful and wonderful life becomes. Please seek your callings. Remember the story of the talents. Don't ignore the responsibility to develop the gifts that Nature has given you and please don't live recklessly.
SAndra Hill
The apostles and Jesus of course, notwithstanding, the Bible to me, is clear on how are appointed times are meant to be: "Old and full of days". Abraham - Gen 25:8, Isaac-Gen 35-29, David - 1 Chron 23:1, Jehoida- 2Chron 24:15, Job- Job 42:17.... If scripture is true (which it is), then the decisions we make during our lifetime affect the length of those days, both spiritually and physically. It's appointed for man to die once and God knows when that will be. AND if He appoints a date for us according to Ecc 7:17, by our own decision we may die before that time.
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