I just wanted to share what I posted on another Christian board in my attempt to explain (mostly to skeptical Catholics)the true nature of grace and predestination - what do you guys think, is it Biblically & Doctirnally Sound?

A case for Grace & Predesintation by AJC-

1) For me the clincher is that it is not plausible that every single person who has walked the face of the earth throughout the history of the world has had the knowledge and opportunity to make a choice to accept or reject Jesus - I would say there are whole non-Christian religions/cultures that do not have at their disposal the means of saving grace (not even talking about any kind of internal call, I'm speaking of the external call). You have the Muslims - God may very well pluck some individuals from that group and provide the means for salvation - but this idea that they all have a choice to make is borderline propostorous.

2) God has numbered all the hairs on our heads and we all agree he has foreknowledge of the future. And God has permitted all things to take place and transpire according to His infalliable will - it is easy to conclude that His foreknowledge is, in fact, a series of permissable events that unfold according to His will. So if GOd is the origin and governor of all things and there are no ACCIDENTS but all things are foreknown by God and made permissable or are included that they may take place - isn't salvation part of a fixed process in which God knew if we would respond to his Word (of course we only respond because God prepares our wills-see #5) and allowed it to go down as He foresaw it would (God set up the circumstances that enabled His own to be drawn to Him). If GOd is omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient - this is the best case scenario for free will!

3) So-called universal passages put in perspective - and understanding that in His Word God is communicating what we must do, how we must follow and how we are accountable regardless of our ability - He is within his rights to hold us to pre-fall standards of keeping the law perfectly. When we realize that in word, thought and deed we cannot obey God as we should (human depravity) we flea to Jesus, our Lord and Savior, for mediation! God also communicates His promises to the elect! Also we have His 'decree' - in which His justice against sin is satisfied and His 'desire' - in which the fact that He is benelovent and takes no pleasure in the perdition of the wicked is revealed.

4) The passages that highlight GOd's sovereignty: His purpose, counsel & will made known before the foundation of the world - included in that is the Foreordination of the death and resurrection of His Only Begotton Son. The passages that speak of our depravity and dead state due to our sins and trespasses. Other notable key words found in scriptures: Predestination, election, draw, adoption, inheritance, etc.

5) If we are spiritually dead due to our fallen natures we do not possess the ability to do anything that is spiritually good - we need the light switch turned on, our spiritual eyes opened, the truth revealed, and to be given a new heart before we are able to make a True, Lasting choice to accept God's gift of grace in which the Holy SPirit fills us and we are lifted out of our dead states into a life of service and repentance to God!

6) Based on my research of NewAdvent.com the concept of Negative
Reprobation is Biblical while Positive Reprobation is faulty and makes God the author of sin.

Last edited by AJC; Mon Oct 23, 2006 10:01 AM.
The mercy of God is necessary not only when a person repents, but even to lead him to repent, Augustine