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Anonymous asked: I want to ask about presdestination. Opinions on what this means seem to vary widely. What do you believe it means?

Thankfully I answered a similar question here just a few weeks ago. It should help answer where I stand on the issue but I’ll offer a few more thoughts in response to your question. And I’ll try to be brief because no one wants to read a novel on a blog.

“Predestination” or “election” in Scripture is first and foremost about the sovereignty of God. Predestination is a part of God’s overall plan in the world and therefore there is nothing arbitrary about predestination. Predestination reveals that God enables us and puts us on the track to becoming our whole, image-of-God selves. It means we were intentionally created and called for a purpose.

Predestining, or electing, or choosing, is the notion that God acts decisively to draw all of humanity to himself by pulling humans into participation in that plan.

Notice that:

a. It is a work of God. It is his volition, his choice, his act, his power. On our own accord we would not choose God and others but rather our own selfish ways.

b. God desires for all to know him and participate in being reconciled to our whole God-created selves. 

c. His predestining, or electing, is primarily about what is means to be the people of God in the midst of Creation and not a declaration about individual eternal destinies. 

In summary, predestination is New Testament language that speaks about the formation of the Church. It means, for us, that it is a work of God and not a work of our own power. This also means that it’s not something we can earn, control, mess up, or lose.

(for clarification, I was simply trying to speak to the narrower subject of “predestination” and not laying out a systematic view of salvation. See comments below.)