Free Will and Predestination

This book is about a word that has probably caused more disagreement andcontention in the churches of Jesus Christ than has any other word in ourlong history. The word is predestination. This book is also about the free will ofman and the question of how man can be free if God has previously determinedhis fate. For centuries, the usual arguments that Christian people have madeabout these two issues have been exclusively from one side or the other, withlittle consideration for the opposite point of view. Seldom have they ever beenconsidered together with any design to see how they might both exist with anyvalidity. Although there have been some attempts in recent times to initiate dialogthat might bring the two sides together, more often than not the conclusions tothese efforts have been to acknowledge that both views are in the Bible, but onlyone can be understood at a time. The other is simply left alone as a mystery andignored, resulting in more disagreements and even divisions. So here in these pages we will consider them together. The objective reader mayfi nd here some plausible arguments and some fresh insights into what the twowords predestination and salvation truly mean. So we ask, is anything inthis life absolutely certain? Is life, here and hereafter, a big gamble to see how itwill all turn out? The Bible has the answer to both questions.