Reaching Our (Pre) Destination By Keith Hall

We have had some discussion lately, both in sermons and Sunday school lessons, regarding predestination. When I last taught a few weeks ago I stated that, while God had a predestined calling to and role for the church,that predestination on a personal level violates the essential tenet of freedom of choice or free will. God could have created us to worship and serve Him blindly with no choice in the matter but He did not do so primarily, I would assume, because worship,service, and love that are not freely given are not genuine and hold no true value. I believe sometimes we fail to make the distinction between God's omniscience and God's intentions regarding predestination. For example, God knows whether or not each one of us will choose to follow Jesus and inherit eternal life. It is also His intention that all would make the correct choice (not willing that even one should perish). Even so, that choice is still ours to make, and though millions will make a choice that will break His heart,He leaves that choice to us. We are not predestined to heaven or hell with no hope of deviating from a pre-chosen path. That would directly contradict an essential truth of our Christian belief. I hope to be able to continue adding blogs in the future. If anyone is actually reading and/or enjoying them (hopefully)please comment on the site or mention it to me at church. So far the only comment was from my own wife along with a couple of verbal mentions and I just want to know if they are reaching/helping/ministering to anyone or just hanging around in cyberspace feeling lonely.