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Kathy said:
I do not think we can fully understand certain mysteries (this being one)... I feel like throwing up my hands on this one. Don’t we respond in some way? Don’t we have ears? Is it a work to listen and use our intellect to process our ideas, become convicted of the need for repentance, etc? I also believe that this is by Grace. I think these will have to be rhetorical questions... or you will be here a while.
Kathy,

1) God did NOT "predestinate creation"! <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/nope.gif" alt="" /> He predestinated people unto salvation in Christ. God "foreordained" all things. But "predestination" belongs to the realm of soteriology (salvation). It may seem like all this is like splitting hairs, but it is definitely not. Biblical truth, all of God's truth is important, although some of those truths are more pressing and dependent upon the situation where they are to be applied. <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

2) There are definitely "mysteries" in the Bible which cannot be comprehended in full by anyone this side of glory and perhaps they never will be. The Infinite cannot be fully comprehended by the infant mind of a created being. The fact is, we can comprehend what God has revealed for the simple fact that it was God's purpose that we do know his revealed will and that He sent the Holy Spirit to guide believers into ALL truth. So, we are capable of knowing many things and we are even required to do so. In the matter of predestination, we cannot comprehend the secret will of God, e.g., who exactly God has decreed unto salvation with 100% certainty. But we can know that He has predestinated a remnant out of Adam's fallen race to be reconciled to Him through faith in Christ. There is no "mystery" to that. <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

For more on the biblical doctrine of predestination, see here: The Doctrine of Predestination.

In His grace,

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simul iustus et peccator

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