Ah yes . . . the age old debate of predestination and/vs. free will has struck yet again, in yet another religion class where I find myself on the side of the minority. But no worries, because this time I had at least four additional defenders on the side of right and reason to believe that the professor might have secretly harbored agreement as well!
I never seem to tire of defending this position because I truly believe it is what the Bible preaches. That position is that man, in his total depravity of sin, has no ability to attend to or “accept” salvation; and that God, as soveriegn Lord and Creator, has elected some for salvation and some for condemnation according to His own perfect and just will and that in the fullness of His will he regenerates the hearts of His elect, drawing them unto a saving faith and belief in Him, hence salvation (undeserved, unmerited and unaccompanied by any work of man). This makes the process of salvation completely initiated AND fulfilled by God. This does NOT mean that God makes an offer and man accepts or refuses. It means that God bestows His sovereign grace on whom He will through the person and work of Christ Jesus and that He hardens whom He will, allowing them to remain in sin unto damnation for His purpose and glory.
Many “half-predestinationist” argue that though God did indeed predestine whom He would save, He leaves it up to them to “accept” Him when the time comes. This portrays not only a weak and un-sovereign God, but a Creator who is dependent upon His creatures for the fulfillment of HIS providence. That just doesn’t seem right . . . We are ALL sinful and ALL deserve condemnation (yeah, that’s right, we ALL deserve to go to hell, so think about that the next time you say that to someone). It is completely just that we receive our “comeuppins’ ” for the sins we committed even from our very conception. And yet, God, in the sovereignty of His will, chose, for HIS glory, to have MERCY on some. Not unjust mercy, for He sent His own Son to take upon Himself the punishment that we deserve. To me this displays not the work of a controlling God, but of an omniscient, ominpresent, omnipotent, loving, gracious and perfect God! What could be more holy and just than to punish the deserving sinner? What could be more loving than to save the undeserving sinner by taking the punishment for HIMSELF?
It is clear that I could go on forever . . . if you’re really curious, I will. 🙂 Or if you need Biblical justification, that’s given easily enough. Or you could just read the Westminster Confession of Faith–that’s more succinct than I will ever be.
Yeah, I’m dogmatic. I’d hazard a guess to say that God’s pretty dogmatic to when it comes right down to it. 
hiddenart
Preach It, girlfriend!!
EvilGeniusPhilosopher
I find myself often defending this noble doctrine of the Scriptures myself….though I’ve given up “debating” on message boards…it’s too depressing.
I guess sin is becoming so unpopular that even evangelicals are avoiding it. “What? We’re damned sinners? How meanspirited!” Makes me glad I’m a “Compassionate Calvinists“
Anonymous
I think the problem a lot of people have with that “everybody deserves hell” point is not that it’s untrue; rather, they are concerned about the mindset. Because, consider America. Churches are everywhere, and people have plenty opportunity to hear about salvation. But there are many ages in Christianity where whole groups of people could not possibly have heard about Jesus. There are many groups like that today. So essentially, they are born with no chance of salvation. From that point, you have to scratch your head and wonder what Peter means when he says that God desires all people to be saved. You have to wonder how we, in opulent Western culture leading cushy lives, will end up in heaven; whereas people living in hell-on-earth cultures where they live in ignorance of Christ are doomed to eternal suffering. I mean, I’ve brought this up before, and the general response I get is a reitterization of the same point you just made. And they thumb their nose at the point as an “appeal to pity.” Which, it is an appeal to pity. But so is Christ’s message. I feel like it’s a legitimate concern, and I am a little more concerned with proving that God doesn’t equal a cosmic jerk than he is sovereign. I mean, it’s hard to not view him as a cosmic jerk. He makes a deal with Satan to wreck Job’s (a righteous man) life? He tells the Israelites to go into Canaan and to kill everybody, including the women; and if the women are pregnant, cut open their wombs and dash the babies on the rocks. And then Jesus tells us to turn the other cheek? I mean, there are ways to reconcile those scriptures and would take a long time to show people. But the Bible truly is deep and open to a lot of interpretation. So I guess to sum up everything in this extremely long comment is (though I understand you’re just saying to be funny), the issue deserves more scrutiny than an assumption that you are on the side of “right.”
Jupiter18
i had forgotten how eloquently you write. nice to see something of your again. (i always loved\envied your passion for writing..dearest sister). love u. pd
p.s. sorry about that mishap on the phone this afternoon.
p.s.s. our mother is a dork…somebody needs to tell her the NOBODY says “girlfriend” anymore..i don’t think she knows. ;D