Predestination: A matter of pride?

The subject of predestination in Christianity is certainly a touchy one. In a few words, predestination is the idea that God chose the people he would save even before the creation of the world. Often, this is a philosophy that's attributed to John Calvin, also known as Calvinism or Irrefutable Grace. More specifically, this philosophy believes that it is God who chooses men, not men who choose God. For previous posts on this, you can click here or here.

I can understand how predestination looks to someone (Christian or not) who doesn't believe in it. From the perspective of man, it comes across as an extremely prideful claim.

"God chose you? Really? What makes you so special? How are you possibly more deserving of salvation than me or the next guy?"

Not only that, but predestination can become an excuse for shutting people out. A Calvinist could simply say, "If you don't believe in Christ, that's not my problem. God simply didn't want you."

However, the true heart behind predestination is an utterly humble approach at God and man. Any genuine believer will say that man is nothing and God is everything. Most Christians understand that we are saved not by our works but by our faith in God. So regular logic will say that you must first have faith and then you can believe in God and then you will be saved. But from the predestination perspective, a Christian will say, "I'm not even good enough to have faith on my own! God granted me that faith!"

In other words, not only does God grant salvation, but he also grants the means of that salvation. A sinner is a man in the ocean without even a life jacket. It's God who throws over the rescue tube and pulls us in. He does everything. We do nothing to earn a chance at rescue.

In Ephisians 2:1 we discover that we are "dead in transgression and sins." Dead. Not at the doorstep of death. Not nearly dead. Not on our last breath. Dead.

To visualize what that means, think back to the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead in the Gospel of John (Chapter 11).

Lazarus has been dead for four days when Christ arrives to Judea. By this point, his body had already begun decomposing. We know this because Martha, Lazarus' sister, tells Jesus they could already smell the body (11:38).

It is Christ who calls out Lazarus to come out. It is Christ who regenerates his life. Lazarus was dead. He had no way of asking Christ to come restore his life. There was nothing he could do to gain Christ's favor.

The same is true in our salvation from sin.

Now, yes, there are certainly moments where Jesus acknowledges people's either lack (Matt. 6:30) or greatness in faith (Matt. 15:28), but remember Jesus is also the one who said, "I have come to call not the righteous but the sinners" (Matt. 9:13 -- this was in reference to Jesus eating with tax collectors, but again it demonstrates God's choosing) and "no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father" (John 6:65).

This idea is extremely explicit throughout the Bible, beginning from the Old Testament to the New.

On the flip side of the coin, if we must have faith first in order to earn salvation, this alludes to the idea that certain individuals have an inner goodness already that others don't. In other words, if I have faith (which points me to Christ) and you don't (pointing you away from Christ) it means that I already have some kind of spiritual makeup that makes me better than you. How does that happen?

There's nothing in the Bible that can support that idea. Rather, the Bible always explicitly calls out man as "vile and corrupt", "evil" and the "enemy of God" (by continuing to remain attached to the ways of the world).

Now, as I've stated in my earlier posts, I do think that this question is much more complex than a few thoughts and reflections can present it. There are verses that call people to "seek" God or express praise for people who have faith. I would definitely encourage anyone to bring up these passages to help flesh out this discussion. I'm just expressing where I stand on the issue of predestination given the overall bulk and context of salvation.

Matt has already brought up good points in the past. Hopefully we can keep that going.