Are some people destined for hell?
As someone worshiping God in the Arminian theological tradition, I thnk not. I don't believe in predestination, but, there are scripture readings in Romans that allude to it, presenting the idea that some people are put on earth specifically to reject God and present occasions for God to demonstrate His power, wrath, and mercy.
Romans 9:17-24
17 For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
18 Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
19 Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
20 Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?
22 What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:
23 And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,
24 Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?
In all His works God shows his sovereignty, granting covenant relationships, turning His face from chosen peoples, granting new covenants, always preserving a remnant of righteous ones: selection and election.
Romans 9:25-30
25 As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved.
26 And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God.
27 Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved:
28 For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.
29 And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha.
30 What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith.
Hi Mike,
I'm of neither of the major positions but before I was saved I knew I would never accept a capricious god and that is the god of the Five Point Hyper Calvinists. No, I am a member of a small group of Christ Followers that cannot ignore any scripture nor passage of scripture. The ones I aware of call themselves Biblicists and it is there I stand.
The scriptures that teach Predestination are clear and I will never deny them. In like manor, the scriptures teaching Free Will must never be denied presenting a conundrum that must be reconciled because all of scripture is, absolutely true because three times in the scriptures God has promised to protect and to keep His Word to us true and we do serve The Mighty God wherefore nothing can escape Him. The easiest to recall of the three promises is the one, often argued to protect the Revelation Of Jesus, the Christ in it's last chapter when God promises the worst of curses to the man that will add to or subtract from His Holy Words.
The first instance, it has been a long, long, time, I recall being in Leviticus or possibly Numbers. The other has long ago escaped my feeble mind but a good Chain Reference should uncover it, easily enough.
The rule I have stood fast on is of the study of Hermeneutics and is oft touted by tis grumpy old fossil; No passage, single scripture nor any collection of scriptures can ever be fully understood without the light of all scripture shinning, directly on it/them. So it is then that the answer is discovered in the reading of the Whole of scripture read in prayerful submission and led by the Holy Spirit.
What I found:
...1. God is love!
...2. Free Will is a demonstrable, love that word, fact and is taught in the scriptures.
...3. Predestination is a truth taught in the scriptures.
With about three months, devoted to the issue, I read from study guides from both Major Perspectives and I prayed, discussed with anyone that would discuss the issue and I meditate on what I was reading in the scriptures for hundreds of miles as I drove my Diesel across th highways. In the end I was and I am settled that God is, indeed, love, precluding Him being capricious or, God has never created any being for the sole purpose of Eternal Torment!
In instance after instance, both in the Old Testament and the New, we find folks exercising their God given free will to get themselves into trouble and of God getting them out of their own mess. I was thinking o Moses but David is better, I believe. King David is known by God as a man after God's own heart and he was faithful to never strike back at that, full of himself fool, Saul and then he turns around, looking at that lovely naked as a new born baby, Bathsheba and commits himself and her to the sin of Adultery and he murdered her husband to hide his sin. And in spite of his sin, God restored him in spite of the abusive use of his free will.
Oh my! How does Predestination fit into that? WE know from the teachings from the pulpit, from our time in Sunday School Lessons and from our personal studies that God wrote the Book of Life before He created the first star of the Heavens or the Earth we live on. God is Omnipotent and Omnipresent meaning that there is nothing God cannot do and there is no place, in the Spirit Realm God cannot go.
Just from the account of David we know that God constantly watches over us, so now begin putting things together. God wrote the Book of Life that included Bill and Mike before the scoundrels were even born and in spite their free will and look at Bill, chasing women, guzzling booze and directing people into the motels until his forty-fifth year. But God is not constrained by the Time/Space Continuum He created for man, He is free to be here and everywhere else, right now, right this moment.
At the same instant, because God is not constrained by time nor by location, He is, again, right no, here, in Russia, in Chili, in the Future and in the past. God has already seen what we are yet to do and thus the misunderstanding of Predestination. God knew because He is limitless and before He even wrote the Book of Life... or was He?
Scripture references, with the advent of Google, are easily found by searching the point and adding "+Bible" to the search. It has been a long time since I preached this sermon but if you do, expect lively discussion on the matters and nature of God to follow.
