God has chosen those who will in the end enter the Holy City according to His foreknowledge, similar to how he had chosen Jacob and David. Why God chose some people but not the others is based on His sovereignty and what He foreknew about us. God foreknew David would sin and would repent, all out of his free will. In effect, God has predestined our final destination without taking away our free will.
Only God knows who are the one He has chosen, those who have been chosen will be saved in the end, those who will not be saved have never obtained the salvation to start with, so no one will ever lose their salvation.
Does anyone know of any Bible verses that would speak against this view?
My belief is that people who are chosen by God will eventually repent and return to God even if they might have fallen away from the truth, like King David. Those who have fallen away from the truth and never repent are not the ones who are chosen by God, and have never obtained salvation to start with, therefore technically speaking, they have never lost their salvation.
Hello and good day,
With all due respect and love, you sound confused bordering between predestination or free will. From these two postings, you contradict yourself and flip flop, maybe without even knowing it. Although, I would say you lean more to predestination, especially with this second post I put above.
Christians can lose salvation verses:
#1 Hebrews 6:4-6 "for those once enlightened" this states they were in Christ but you find out they lost it.
#2 Mark 3:14-19 "twelve ordained"- includes Judas and Acts 1:25 "by transgression fell" tells you Judas was in good standing until he sinned. Judas could have had "Godly sorrow" and repented, but we all know that didn't happen.
#3 Philemon 1:24 and Colossians 4:14 Shows Demas in good standing as a Christian and shows a positive outlook. However you see here in 2 Timothy 4:10, Demas fell, turning back to the world.
#4 Galatians 5 This book is speaking to Christians and speaks of falling from grace in chapter 5. Therefore you must be left with the conclusion that even if you were saved before, you must remain faithful (Revelation 2:10 "faithful unto death").
#5 The seven churches in Revelation. In a vision to John, he is told to tell people in these local churches, what they are doing right and wrong, and to correct their error OR ELSE. Considering for example, Ephesus is no longer around today, they must have faced the consequences in not returning to "their first love". Christians can fall from grace if they do not remain faithful.
#6 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9 is a scary concept that if one doesn't know the gospel OR obey it, they are doomed. However, I am focusing on the obeying part (Matthew 7:21-23), if Christians are not following the gospel commands will, according to this scripture, suffer the consequences, therefore they are fallen from grace.
Predestination holds no weight to the scope of these verses:
#1 John 3:15-17 implies that ANYONE can have this opportunity to come to Christ, but they have to choose to do so. Free will. Yes God knows the outcome in advance, but leaves it to us to choose anyhow.
#2 The false doctrine of predestination has long argued that God has an established, set blue-print for people. Their destiny is merely to follow the script that God has written for their lives. Men and women have no choice but to follow this God written road map. And, they argue, that road map may be filled with many pitfalls. This doctrine makes God guilty of everything that happens in this earth – including all of the evil. There were even some Jewish Rabbis that argued for what they called the "Yetzer Hara" – "the evil inclination." This belief was that God designed us to have an inclination toward evil, therefore it is His plan that we do evil. Or at least He must accept it when we commit evil because of this evil inclination that He placed within us. James 1:12-16 refutes such ideas.
#3 You mentioned Jacob for example, being "chosen" however, you forgot to notice Enoch. Enoch please God through his choices in life (obedience to Gods will by a persons free choice) obviously enough that God took him one day and Enoch did not know death (Hebrews 11:5; Genesis 5:22-24). Clearly Enoch was not shown to be hand picked as predestination supposes. He "walked with God" by his choice of free will and it please God.
When it pertains to salvation of people, it is the persons choice to follow God or not, even though God knows the outcome before hand (2 Peter 3:9).
#4 Speaking of 2 Peter 3:9, it implies directly that God waits as long as he can for a person to come to Him. God doesn't wish for ANYONE to perish and wait for people to come to their senses and obey. This verse too, shows free will.
#5 Hebrews 11:6 implies anyone that wishes to come to salvation. "He that cometh" is not hand picked people before time began. It states that anyone who chooses to believe in Jesus, as Lord and Savior, and obey His gospel will be saved. The only "hand picking" here is that IF you are a Christian, obeying Gods will, you are saved. IF not, you are not saved.
#6 Mark 16:15-16 not only states to preach to everyone, but also tells you that "he", meaning anyone, that believes and is baptized will be saved. Use me for example: If I chose to believe in Christ Jesus and get baptized, then by my free will that God allows us to have, I chose to do so and be saved. The very meaning of the words in context here shows free will, "He that believeth".
There are just so many examples that I could be here all day and then some.
In response to one of your statements though, a Christian that has fallen from grace CAN, if they so CHOSE, return to grace through confession/repentance toward God. If they CHOSE not to repent, then they are still fallen from grace and in a doomed state (1 John 1:6-10).
The point is, we have free will that God allowed for us to have, even if He knows the end result. People who believe in predestination take power away from God. God is the 3 Omni's as I like to put it, even with free will that He gave us, He can still know the outcome of our choices. Predestination takes that power away from God.
Secondly, predestination is a hopeless doctrine. It doesn't allow hope for the world (John 3:16) and strips that promise away for those who are not chosen.
Thirdly, it calls God a liar, making His promises He gave to the world false.
And, although I could make a long list here, lastly, on top of making God a liar, it would state that He is the author of confusion (1 Corinthians 14:33) deceiving everyone with tricky words, giving false hope to the world.
Have a very wonderful weekend.