What Does The Bible Say?

Question - What does the bible say about God planning my life before I was even here?

Answer - What you are asking about is something called predestination. John Calvin taught and believed that God has predetermined everything that will and has happened. The phrase “what is to be will be: encapsulates the Calvinistic view that God has eternally predestined all events, including the salvation or damnation of individuals. This doctrine, referred to as double predestination, says that God has chosen some for eternal election and others for eternal death. They cannot change it, no matter how much they wish to do so. Calvin believed that who is saved and lost was decided before creation and is unchangeable. He rejected free will in the sense of being able to choose salvation on their own. God’s grace has already done this or has not done this. Calvinists (those who follow Calvinistic teachings, such as certain Baptists) grapple with the tension between God’s sovereignty and human accountability. Calvin admitted that free will got in the way of his teachings and he continued to struggle with that most of his life.

Biblical predestination differs significantly from what Calvin and his followers believed. God has predetermined that He would save all who will come to Him in humble submission to His will. This is found in Ephesians 1:3-6 and Ephesians 1:11-12. Salvation “in Christ” vs. 3, In Him vs 4; in Him vs 11, In Christ vs 12. In Eph. 1:4, we see that God chose us in HIM (Christ). I get into Christ by being baptized into Him (Gal. 3:26,27) as my faith moves me to do the works of God. It is wholly our decision to serve and submit to His will or not. When I submit to Him through faith, repentance, confession and immersion in water for remission of my sins, His blood is applied in my life to forgive me of my sins (1 John 1:7).

The predestination of Calvinism involves the unconditional election of particular individuals to be saved and others to be lost. Biblical predestination involves an elect group (those the Lord adds to His church). All who will submit to God’s will in obedience to His precepts can be added to the church (the saved). The Lord adds to the church those who are being saved. They submit their will to Christ and serve the Lord voluntarily (not by being predestined to make such a decision). According to Calvinistic predestination, Christ did not die for all mankind so that all can be made free from sin- He only died for those He has decided to save and if you are not in that pre-chosen group, you are out of luck no matter how sincerely you wish to submit to Him and serve Him. If you are not pre-chosen you are pre-damned.

We can deal with other aspects and tenets of Calvinism in future articles.

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