The (Not So) Gospel Good News of Predestination

Whenever I hear of a different religion or religious point of view, I like to do some research so I can gain a better understanding of what it is that the people believe.  Of course, without long term study, I cannot give any faith a fair enough shake.  What I do find interesting, and I believe this is a fair generalization, most people don't understand what it is that they claim to be a believer in or follower of.  So from asking enough questions to just gain information, you can find the answers begin to run a little thin.  But what I find more troubling than just surface knowledge is when people don't understand the implications of what they believe.

For example, many Mormons may not know that the Mormon faith believes in many gods (polytheism) and not the one true God of the universe.  They believe that if you do what you are called to do in the faith, that you can actually become a god and have your own universe to create.  This is not something that is normally announced during an invitation time or alter call, "if you want to diminish the God of the universe and the sacrifice of Jesus and elevate yourself to be a god as the serpent promised Eve in Genesis 3, come on down and join the church."  It is something that is introduced over time in little bites.

So what I am interested in for the sake of this post is the implications of the concept of Predestination that people who are considered Five Point or Hyper-Calvinists hold to.  I am NOT trying to pick a fight or contribute to disunity.  I am certainly not trying to demean anyone and hope if there are any comments, that they are based on the desire to see truth brought to light and God glorified.  God is sovereign and He can do what He wants to with us.  As I mentioned above, in a limited time I can only gather so much about the concept.  There are a lot smarter people than I who have spent a lot more time with this than myself.  So far, I see that the concept to be a gray area that is causing confusion and distress in the body; two things that the Bible clearly speaks against.  My point will always be: What is the character of God and how does the entirety of His word match with that character.  I know people have expressed that Predestination is a beautiful thing.  I think that they are missing the implications of what they are believing.

The (Not so) Gospel Good News of Predestination
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the universe.  God created the world and man.  And it was good.


God had predestined that evil would be brought into the world through the serpent, once a great and beautiful creation that God had determined needed to be damned to an eternal hell that God created only for the serpent and the other angels that God would cause to want to rebel against Himself.  God needed a way to bring  the evil that He created into the world so that He could have a way of eternally damning and separating His creation from Him.  The woman and Adam were compelled to take of and eat of the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  They had no choice.  If God had given them a choice, even though God would have been the one to have given the man and the woman the ability to choose, others would claim that God was not sovereign and then original Sin wouldn't have entered into the world.  If original sin didn't enter into the world, then God's sovereign plan from before time began to create and choose people to be forever damned into an eternal hell would not have taken place.  But since God is sovereign, Adam and Eve never had the free will to rebel against God's command and eat of the fruit.

Of course, the question would be, if Adam and Eve did NOT have free will to chose to accept the truth claim of God over the truth claim of the enemy, is it really sin?  Is it really rebellion if our actions are completely dictated by the Creator?  If you say that it is sin, and God is the one who pulled all the strings from His being sovereign, does that imply that God did the sinning or at the least that God created sin?  Does God tempt people and does God cause people to stumble and sin?

So, in Genesis 3, because of the fall of man, sin was made to enter into the world and all of creation was cursed.  But God had already made a way for His creation.  God spoke of the promise of the Seed, the coming of Jesus (God the Word in fleshly form as God the Son; fully God and fully man) who would come into the world to once and for all condemn all of those whom God had not chosen to be called His children.  Jesus would call to those whom the Father had given to Him and with His death on the cross, although able to redeem all of mankind and all of sin (past, present, and future) through this atonement, God chose that this mercy and justice would be conditional and limited to only those whom He was not condemning to an eternity in hell.


Jesus sent the disciples on the Great Commission, to go out into the world and be His witness to the condemnation that has befallen them.  For those whom God has chosen, they can become disciples, even if they didn't want to.  They can be forced by no act of their own will, love, and devotion to bring their praise and worship to the Father.  Since God loves a cheerful giver, then God will force certain people to cheerfully give.  The others who either do not give cheerfully, or do not give their full tithe, well, it is most probable that they are one of the condemned.  The witnesses will remind people that throughout their lives and their struggles, if they are not chosen, God is not their refuge.  God put the Spirit of the LORD on Him to leave the broken hearted unbound and to let the captive remain in captivity in this world and the one to come.


Here is the best part, no matter what you think you want or don't want, it doesn't matter.  It was predestined before time.  That confession, the repentance, the commitment, the surrender, it doesn't matter.  If you are not one of the elect, don't come to the cross, there just isn't room for you.