For the longest time I celebrated the idea that I am one of God’s elect, God’s chosen people. I relished in the fact that through Christ’s sacrifice I have been set apart. To be sure, I still do, but now there is an even greater burden on my heart.
Peter in the book of 1 Peter addresses his letter to “the elect” or “God’s chosen” which is a very interesting term. Interesting / frustrating beyond all reason. These are the terms Calvanists use to say that God chose to save some “the elect” and not others “the non-elect” for lack of a better phrase. On the surface this seems to be a HUGE contradiction. Basically these two statements seem contradictory (1) God is loving (John 3:16-17, Romans 6:23) (2) God chooses some people to be saved and not others (Romans 9). Much to the frustration of the people reading this my goal in this blog is to not tell you how these are not contradictory statements. It is really to challenge you to figure it out.
I believe the bible is true. I believe the bible does not contradict itself. I believe God is loving. I see scriptural evidence for predestination. If these things are true give me your reasoning. If they are false, give me your reasoning. But I must put this out there. You can tell me all you want about how you “feel” about it, but I challenge you to look past your feelings on the issue and go to what scripture says about the issue.
In life emotion is rarely the most stable guide to truth, it is a tool to use, but in the end truth is truth regardless of how we feel about it. So what say you? Is predestination scriptural? If so, does it negate God’s love? If not, what are the implications of predestination on our day to day life?
so many questions, so little time…
Bryce
Update: Truthfully this topic, pre-destination, has always been a struggle for me. I have wrestled with it for years attempting to reconcile the God of love with a God that chooses. I have however come to some conclusions that are more than satisfactory to me. Though, I’m not sure that they would be satisfactory to anyone else.
- First off I look to Job 38 – 42 from which I come to realize that there are so many things that I trust God to handle rightly every day, why should I doubt Him in this?
- Also, I look to Isaiah 55:8-9 and remind myself some things are just beyond my understanding. I don’t see this as a religious copout but a fact of life for everyone in several areas of our lives.
- Finally, I look to the Old Testament. In the Old Testament God chose Israel. They were His chosen people. I look at that, I read that and I’m okay with that. Fast forward to modern times I don’t like it so much. What’s the difference? The difference is when it comes down to it my feelings often get in the way of what I’m willing to believe. It’s easy to accept God choosing one group of people thousands of years ago, it’s much harder when they are friends, neighbors and relatives that I see daily.
You might think from reading this that I have decided predestination is right. You’d be wrong. Predestination may be right, it may be wrong, it may be some weird hybrid of free will and predestination. I do not know. I don’t even particularly care. What I know is I have come to a place where I am willing to accept God for who He is not who I want Him to be. It took a lot of wrestling to get to that place but I’m glad I did.
