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C.M.H said:
I too struggle with the idea of election yet for an entirely different reason.. Foreknowledge if you look it up in the webster dictionary says...."to know beforehand"..

When we're talikng about salvation, "foreknowledge" cannot mean that God knows you will choose Him if given the opportunity. Here's what God would see if he looked down the corridor of time to see what you would do if left to yourself:

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Rom 3:11 no one understands; no one seeks for God.

If we look at a verse such as Romans 8:29 we are taught that God "foreknows" the individuals whom He predestines to salvation, not facts about them or their actions, (although that is true as well.)

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Rom 8:29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

In other words, God's "knowledge" of an "elect" individual is actually God's "love unto salvation." We have an example of this here:

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Mat 7:22 On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?'
Mat 7:23 And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.'

It certainly can't be said that Christ didn't know about these individuals, because surely He did. He didn't "know" them in the sense that He never "loved" them unto salvation. BTW, the words "foreknow" and "know" are cognates of the same Greek word. When it cames to salvation God's "foreknowledge" is God's love for His elect from before the foundation of the world.

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Eph 1:4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.

Jim

Jud 1:3 . . . contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.