Take Two

I’m going to try to re-explain my thoughts on predestination. My views have changed, and have changed so much that I deleted the earlier post “predewhatanation?” I now believe in predestination. The word is used several times in the Bible, mostly in the New Testament. I do not believe it to the extent that the street preacher did, and I’ll explain why. The street preacher I got in a fight with believed God goes through all the people and decides who can be saved and who can’t. God makes people who go to Heaven and He makes people who go to Hell. I didn’t buy it at all. God would not do such a thing as to make people who will only die. If that was the case why did He send down His son so that “all the nations” may one day believe? Here’s what I believe. I believe before time began even God knew He was going to make us and therefore desired that we may spend eternal life with Him. There it is. God wants us in Heaven, He predestined us to go. Each and every day in some small way God gives us a chance to believe in Him, it’s up to us though to choose our path. People go to Heaven because they snatched at the chance they got; people go to hell not because God wants them to, but because they chose to. Imagine a friend of yours has a party and invites you. They are in control of who is going, it is their desire for you to come, but you can either say yes or no, that I believe is where free will comes in. God wants us in Heaven and He maps out our lives and gives us chances to believe in Him. If I hadn’t become a Christian my whole life (or even family) would have been different, but it was God’s plan for me to become a Christian, and it was God’s plan to get my family where it is. I guess that’s what predestination looks like. I want people to remember that this is a person’s understanding, in no way is this to be taken as the absolute truth. The best understanding of God or His doctrines is like looking out of foggy glasses, we get the idea, but never will we understand all the details.