2007-10-25 13:04:21 · 31 answers · asked by magjam 1 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
even if He has theres no way for you to know .. so if u dont try i guess it guarantees a vacation at the fire farm ..
2007-10-25 13:07:38 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
It is your choice. However you must consider this fact...
God is the Alpha and the Omega, omniscient, all-seeing all-knowing omnipotent God therefore he is not limited by "time" as humans see it.
As such, He ultimately can see into the future and knows exactly what choices people will make, and thus ultimately knows who will be His children and those who will reject him.
Does this mean that God "elects" and "predestines" people to go to either Heaven or Hell? I would say, in short, NO it does not. Just because God knows what people will do, does not alter their ability to choose. He knows what they will choose, yes, but in the end they are still the ones that chose their path in the first place.
The verse that many people Christians and non-Christians alike use to argue that God DOES "select" people to be Christians is this:
Romans 8:29-30
"For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified."
However if you look at it carefully it does NOT support what we consider to be "predestination". Also I think that predestination likely has a different meaning in this context than people envision it (probably a poor translation) Look at the wording: "For those God FOREKNEW......" God already knows what will happen, and as such - he designs men and women of God appropriately. So he does intervene in the lives of humans, but not so much as to alter their ability to choose. What he does is work specifically in the lives of Christians while he lets the non-Christians do as they please and continue sinning or come to Him if they choose. On rare occasions God will directly intervene in the lives of non-Christians but this generally happens only in a couple of extreme cases:
(1.) The person is exceedingly wicked and even our patient God cannot tolerate him any longer. You have to work pretty hard to manage this.
(2.) The person has no way to hear the Gospel any other way. In some obscure locations where there is hardly any civilization or outside visitors (ie missionaries) there is no way for them to come to a knowledge of God even if they wanted. In this case, direct intervention is required to give them a chance to become a Christian. This is very rare but does happen - visions, even direct angelic manifestations.
2007-10-25 13:30:33 · answer #2 · answered by Xan 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Greetings , the use of the word predestined seems to imply you have no choice in the matter. I come to know that God predestined eternal life for those that submitt to him and destruction (hell) for those that chose to follow satan. If he wanted us as humanity to just go to hell he would not have sent Jesus. Neither would he give us enmity to let or freedom of choice be willed for Him. He said to Israel, I have set before you life and death and blessings and cursings you chose. Then he let them know I rather you live. He is so misrepresented by satan and his agencies but this is why Jesus came proclaiming Him. John 3:16" He soooooooooooo loved the world he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life."
2007-10-29 08:17:35 · answer #3 · answered by princecurtis7 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Ya god has predestined wht are the choices a person can have and its our responsibility to select the right choice so that it leeds us to heaven.The people who go to hell were not predestined but have made wrong choices.so its in our hand whether we go to hell or heaven.
2007-10-25 22:34:43 · answer #4 · answered by shock wave 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
God is not willing that ANY should perish, but that ALL should come unto repentance....
God draws the sinner through the Holy Spirit, THEN we have a decision to make; WILL we ACCEPT His Gift of Eternal Life or NOT? It's a working of God, but a responsibility of man to decide as well......God is a JUST and Loving, Merciful God...when He calls you MUST respond. You don't get saved when YOU want to.....you get saved when God is working in your heart, and drawing you to Him.....
He DOES have ALL fore knowledge of who will accept/reject Him....do NOT confuse this with predestination to either Heaven or hell....
2007-10-25 14:59:01 · answer #5 · answered by lookn2cjc 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
i'm no longer a Calvinist yet i trust that God predestines human beings to Hell too. the reason God can do this and preserve justice and righteousness is because he owns all of it and has the right to. in case you examine Romans 3:8-18 you need to understand those verses are speaking about all persons. you spot, human beings have a tendency to seem at human beings as being both sturdy and undesirable, yet God in simple terms sees undesirable and impacts the sturdy in us, kept or no longer. Genesis 6 lays down some issues that ought to do with this: 3 Then the LORD stated, “My Spirit gained't deal with[a] human beings perpetually, for they're mortal[b] (corrupt) 5 The LORD said how large the wickedness of the human race had change into on earth, and that each and every inclination of the techniques of the human heart change into in simple terms evil each and every of the time. it really is us nevertheless. it really is in simple terms that God keen to commence over with human beings, and effect them into what we see now.
2016-10-23 00:09:50 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Luke 22.22
"And truly the Son of Man goeth as it was determined: [predestination] but woe unto that man by whom his is betrayed [moral responsibility and therefore freewill]"
The modern mind isn't content to live with that kind of conundrum, least of all if that mind belongs to an atheist.
2007-10-25 21:56:50 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Its your own choice, but He knows what it would be in advance. He wrote the programme, He knows what will be on the printout. Sometimes there is a bug. You go off the rails more than it was thought. Your name gets scratched out on the printout, so you don't get saved even though you were supposed to.
So your choice is actually very really yours
2007-10-26 01:50:39 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
If it's predestined, just sit back and enjoy some good old fashioned sinning.
2007-10-25 20:47:58 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
None of us have free will; if you think you have just decide not to sin anymore and see what happens. The truth is the moment we do something wrong we become slaves to sin and it has control of us. The only escape is for God to intervene; so the short answer is "yes" God does choose us.
The real question is why God chooses any of us rather than why God chooses some.
2007-10-25 22:35:34 · answer #10 · answered by Don 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Ephesians 1:4-6, "According as he HATH CHOSEN US IN HIM BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD, that we should be holy and without blame before him IN LOVE:
Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of HIS WILL, To the praise of the glory of his GRACE, wherein he HATH MADE US ACCEPTED IN THE BELOVED".
John 6:37, Jesus says, "ALL that the Father giveth me SHALL COME TO ME; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out".
Romans 1:20, Paul tells us that we are without excuse for not "clearly" seeing and understanding the invisible things of God, because He has shown them to us through the things He has created. Does a child choose it's natural parent? That is the created example for us to "CLEARLY" see the spiritual/invisible birth.
2007-10-27 10:01:34 · answer #11 · answered by TruthSeeker 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋