Predestination

Q: If we are predestined as God says in the Bible in Romans, what is the use of being a Christian?

A: This question is loaded with several questions, but I’ll try to keep it brief. I don’t believe in predestination as some do (we call these folks Calvinists because this thinking traces back to John Calvin), but let me answer it as they would. Calvinists would say those predestined to believe in and follow Christ (i.e. be a “Christian") couldn’t say, “so why be a Christian?” or they wouldn’t be predestined. They believe that if you are predestined you cannot, under your own free will, resist God’s grace. They would say it’s the same as saying “Roger is predestined to be a football player, so he said ‘what the heck’ and became a baseball player.” If he became a baseball player then he wasn’t predestined to be a football player.

Now I think what you’re really asking is why not go out and do whatever you want to do because either you were predestined or you weren’t. Why be moral, why praise God, why pray, why evangelize if people are either in or out prior to anything they decide themselves? Good questions, actually; but a Calvinist would say “because God commanded these things and you must not really be predestined if you don’t do what God commands.” They don’t mean be perfect, but commit yourself to God, serving, evangelizing, following God’s precepts, and asking for his forgiveness.

As I said, I am not a Calvinist. I don’t believe we are predestined in the sense that God said, “that one, that one, not those three, that one…” I think God foreknows what everyone will choose, but he doesn’t choose it for them. God sees time all at once; he sees the future like we see the past. Do you and I know it sleeted yesterday? Yes. Does that mean we made it sleet yesterday? No. It’s the same with God and the future. He allows our free will in choosing. The Romans passage you mention says that for those God foreknew (those he knew would choose him, but didn’t cause them to choose him) he predestined to become like his Son. It is the outcome that was predestined. It’s like a bus that is going to St. Louis. The destination is predestined, who gets on the bus is not…though God would know in advance who gets on the bus because he’s outside of time. But each person still decides for himself or herself.