Predestination: Did I pick this topic, or did this topic choose me?

Perhaps one of the most controversial questions in regard to christianity is that of election. Election is an offset of the concept of predestination, or theological determinism. It is the idea that God exerts control over the way people make decisions. It is the lack of libertarian free will. Libertarian freedom is the ability to make a choice, but also the ability to have chosen another alternative given identical circumstances. Free will theists believe that God grants people libertarian free will. What theological determinists believe is much like a set of dominoes God has set up. Given certain antecedent conditions, events will unfold in a certain set way. God has set up the antecedent conditions and thus each person's actions are fixed.


Calvinists believe in 5 points. Please excuse my paraphrasing.

Total depravity- man is all bad

unconditional election- because man is totally depraved, God, because of His desire, chooses whom He will save through his mysterious plan.

Limited Atonement- because salvation is based on the desire and will of God, the atonement of sin is limited to only those God has elected.

Irresistible Grace- Those God elects must be saved. This doctrine is opposed to the idea that God's grace can be resisted, or that men can choose or resist the efficacious grace of God.

Perseverance of the saints- "once saved, always saved"

This debate has appeared again and again. Today, many that start as free-will theists have changed directions. "When you first become a believer, almost everyone is an Arminian, because you feel like you made a decision," said Laura Watkins, featured in a recent edition of Christianity Today magazine. Through developing a larger view of God's authority she has completely turned around. "I believe God is sovereign and has ordered things in a particular way," she explained. Just as "he's chosen those who are going to know him before the foundations of the earth."

One other facet of this debate is the concept of middle knowledge. This is a term for the knowledge of what all free creatures will do in any given situation.

The Southern Baptist Conference, the largest religious denomination in the country is beginning to see division over election, or reformed Theology. The current president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary is known as a proponent of reform Theology, but many others do not agree with his views, namely election.

Here are just some of the many questions that one could ask in regards to this issue:

1. Does God predetermine people's actions? What about their salvation, does God elect those that are saved?

2. One offset of calvinism is the idea of the prosperity gospel, does God want you to be rich?

3. If it is indeed God, and not the individual that makes the decision over salvation, what is the role of evangelism?

4. Does God have middle knowledge?

5. If God gives humans free will, how is he constrained to act upon that free will?

6. If God is ever present and active in our lives, does that not violate human freedom?