What ideas come to mind when you consider the word "predestination"?

Firstly, Scripture clearly tells us that "Salvation hath appeared to all men" "The Lord is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." The Predestination as mentioned in Scripture simply means that the Lord has predestined all believers to be conformed to the image of His own Son, The Lord Jesus Christ. I know that some erroneously think that this means that it is predestined that only some people will be saved but this is not the case at all. God Bless!

And what so if it is Calvinism? It should be pretty clear when the Bible talks about "chosen before the creation of the heavens and earth".

Total Depravity:

Sin has affected all parts of man. The heart, emotions, will, mind, and body are all affected by sin. We are completely sinful. We are not as sinful as we could be, but we are completely affected by sin.

The doctrine of Total Depravity is derived from scriptures that reveal human character: Man’s heart is evil (Mark 7:21-23) and sick Jer. 17:9). Man is a slave of sin (Rom. 6:20). He does not seek for God (Rom. 3:10-12). He cannot understand spiritual things (1 Cor. 2:14). He is at enmity with God (Eph. 2:15). And, is by nature a child of wrath (Eph. 2:3). The Calvinist asks the question, "In light of the scriptures that declare man’s true nature as being utterly lost and incapable, how is it possible for anyone to choose or desire God?" The answer is, "He cannot. Therefore God must predestine."

Calvinism also maintains that because of our fallen nature we are born again not by our own will but God’s will (John 1:12-13); God grants that we believe (Phil. 1:29); faith is the work of God (John 6:28-29); God appoints people to believe (Acts 13:48); and God predestines (Eph. 1:1-11; Rom. 8:29; 9:9-23).

Some who believe in predestination reason basically as follows: God is omniscient. He knows everything, even what is going to happen in the future. He knows what each person is going to do with his life, and he already knows the exact moment and manner of each person’s death. So, according to their thinking, when the time comes for an individual to make a decision, his choice cannot be other than the way God has foreseen and foreordained it; otherwise, God would not be all-knowing. Does this reasoning seem sound to you? Consider what its logical consequences would be.

If some force has already determined your future, then trying to take care of yourself is useless. Choosing to smoke or not to smoke would make no difference to your health or that of your children. Wearing a seat belt while riding in an automobile would have no effect on your safety. But this is faulty logic. Statistics show that people who take precautions suffer fewer fatal consequences. Carelessness can result in tragedy.

Consider another line of reasoning. If God chooses to foreknow everything, then even before he made Adam and Eve, he would have known that they would disobey him. But when God told Adam that he must not eat from “the tree of the knowledge of good and bad” or he would die, did God already know that Adam would eat from it? (Genesis 2:16, 17) When God told the first couple: “Be fruitful and become many and fill the earth and subdue it, and have in subjection the fish of the sea and the flying creatures of the heavens and every living creature that is moving upon the earth,” did he know that their wonderful prospect of life in a paradise was doomed to failure? Of course not.—Genesis 1:28.

Taken to its logical conclusion, the idea that God foreknows all decisions would mean that he is responsible for all that happens—including wars, injustices, and suffering. Is that possible? A clear answer is provided by what God says about himself.

“You Must Choose”

The Scriptures state that “God is love” and that he is “a lover of justice.” He has always urged his people: “Hate what is bad, and love what is good.” (1 John 4:8; Psalm 37:28; Amos 5:15) On numerous occasions he encouraged his loyal ones to choose a virtuous course. For example, when Jehovah concluded a covenant with the ancient nation of Israel, he said to them, through Moses: “I do take the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you today, that I have put life and death before you, the blessing and the malediction; and you must choose life in order that you may keep alive, you and your offspring.” (Deuteronomy 30:19) Did God establish ahead of time the choice that those individuals would make? Evidently not.

Joshua, a leader of God’s people in ancient times, exhorted his countrymen: “Choose for yourselves today whom you will serve . . . As for me and my household, we shall serve Jehovah.” (Joshua 24:15) Similarly, God’s prophet Jeremiah said: “Obey, please, the voice of Jehovah in what I am speaking to you, and it will go well with you, and your soul will continue to live.” (Jeremiah 38:20) Would a just and loving God encourage people to do right in the hope of receiving a reward if he knew that they were destined to fail? No. Such encouragement would be hypocritical.

So when good or bad things happen in your life, it is not because these events are inevitable. Very often, ‘unforeseen occurrences’ are simply the consequences of other people’s decisions—whether wise or unwise. (Ecclesiastes 9:11) No, your future is not planned out before you, and your own decisions determine what your everlasting future will be.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

▪ Did God decide ahead of time that Adam and Eve would sin?—Genesis 1:28; 2:16, 17.

▪ What qualities of God rule out predestination?—Psalm 37:28; 1 John 4:8.

▪ What responsibility do you have?—Joshua 24:15.

The sort of pedestination you are refering to is calvinism , which i don't think he believed himself , it is an interpretation of scripture that says that God has chosen an elect few to go to heaven , the rest are predestined for hell , wether they repent or not or they ask for the gift of eternal life or not , and they are still held guilty , scripture simply does not back that up [ thank God ]

Predestination: A calvinist is speaking. They believe some were chosen before birth to be saved. Some were not chosen.

Thus says The Lord YahuShua: Beloved, why have you not surrendered to Me? How is it you have not come to abide in Me fully?... Let go, beloved, let go. For I have defeated the world, and soon shall the adversary be made to kneel at your feet, even as he is made to kneel at Mine already. Behold, even all his works were put under My feet from the beginning, for I am Lord and Savior. For as The Father has put all things in subjection to The Son, so then shall he called lucifer and satan be put in subjection to you. For you are Mine, and I live in you.

Beloved, I see within you great love and sincere desire, yet how is it your trust and willingness to walk in Me remains lacking?... RUN, is what I say to you! Run to Me, beloved! Remain in My love! For the time has come for Me to tread upon the nations; yes, the time has indeed come for Me to gather and to destroy, to pour out judgment and to make an end. Therefore beloved, take My hand, for I am The Healer, your only escape, The Only Sanctuary... Come to Me, therefore, and do not hesitate! Run very quickly, beloved!

Again I say, the time has come! It is here!...

Therefore, you must let go of this world, you must lay down your pride,

And cast away all these foolish expectations, and believe!...

Beloved, ask of Me and you shall receive...

Seek, and you shall surely find...

For that which is finished, and written in My own blood,

Was accomplished even from the foundation of the world.

And of the Book, which was and is written, and is written still, even it too was known to Me from the beginning. Yet by no means is it finished or completed, until all is fulfilled. And of the Day, in where I shall do this, behold it has come! Therefore, do not draw back in fear, nor be swallowed up over much sorrow, doubt no longer... Rather stand up and rejoice, for I am come!

My people, give up and you will surely receive The Victory; stand no more on your own, rely no more on human power. For anything less than trust absolute is to deny the truth of who I am. For I tell you the truth, the time is coming and is already here, when I shall reveal My glory, and in you shall I come to dwell fully... Each in their due season, according to My will and your willingness to give up everything and follow Me.

I remember predestination being discussed during philosophy class. I think it meant that everything what happens it already decided in the beginning. So you dont have any part in deciding your destiny. I think it was something like that.

God knows your heart and I pray that He guides you.

Please know that the judgment day is coming and you still have time to prepare. God did not create you for no reason. You have a choice to go to hell or heaven.

Please use your head and choose wisely, decide now before your time is up.

Read Quraan, Know the facts.

Also Jesus is not coming back, at least not according to Quraan and common sense (though most Muslims and all christians believe he is coming back).

10:36 But most of them follow nothing but fancy: truly fancy can be of no avail against truth. Verily Allah is well aware of all that they do.

53:28 But they have no knowledge therein. They follow nothing but conjecture; and conjecture avails nothing against Truth.

47:14 Is then one who is on a clear (Path) from his Lord, no better than one to whom the evil of his conduct seems pleasing, and such as follow their own lusts?

My position is the traditionally Calvinistic position of unconditional predestination.

“Earth is a school for learning duality and understanding “opposites,” which helps you fast track your spiritual growth. Reincarnation and freewill are the tools for this spiritual growth. For every fantastic lifetime of love, joy, and happiness, there has been an equally strong and negative emotional experience of devastation, hardship, pain, and suffering.

There are no such things as hell, the devil or satan; these are false manmade beliefs, which were created for explaining the unloving attributes of pain, suffering, chaos, and destruction created by early civilizations (infant souls). As souls, each one of you has had many different lifetimes on Earth. Before each incarnational cycle, you decide what lessons you want to learn, the basic requirements for your life and the type of polarized experiences you want to explore on Earth.

Reincarnation helps you master your lessons in duality. You have killed and been killed by others; you have been male and female, including mother, father, son, uncle, grandmother etc. You have been a soldier, warrior, villain, farmer, and artist. You have experienced suffering, disease, illness, poverty, pain, joy, love, freedom, and fear. To learn from all the possible lessons of duality that has been possible on Earth, you have experienced every different human aspect available on the planet. Today, many souls have now come to the end of their study of duality. Many of you have nothing more left to learn on Earth.

The major purpose of reincarnation is learning and also clearing “uncompleted” life lessons from previous lifetimes. After you master your lessons, you do not need to repeat them again. The number of experiences or reincarnated lives is completely a matter of choice for each soul. Some souls may experience hundreds of incarnations while others may master the same lesson in five incarnations.

Before you incarnate from the spirit world, a group of spiritual advisors helps you decide the lessons you need to experience in this lifetime. Between incarnations, all souls return to the “Spirit World”. Your spiritual advisors are known as your “Council of Elders”. The Council review and refine your spiritual lessons for your incarnation. This is known as your “Incarnational Contract,” which serves the purpose for each incarnation. Your contract also includes the need to teach and/or learn from other individual/s or groups of souls, thus you establish mutual contracts with others.

Situations and events are created to bring souls together to learn these lessons. Once the soul contract is finalized, you then select the secondary aspects such as the time and place of your birth, your parents, siblings, sexuality, health status, pets etc and then you finally incarnate into the body during gestation to begin a new incarnation. When you are born, you have amnesia (known as the Veil of Forgetfulness). You start your new life without any recollection of previous incarnations or lessons you have to master in this lifetime.

Each spiritual being has a different spiritual path. There is no right or wrong. Every good and bad experience gets you one step closer to perfection. Compassion means that no person has the right to judge another person’s decisions, choices, and wrongdoings, because you do not know what the spiritual lessons and/or karma those souls are here to experience.

Your spiritual development is dependent on your ability to consciously evaluate each human experience, understand lessons, accept the consequences of your actions and overcome your weaknesses, until you perfect your lessons. Else you will have to repeat the same script in your next lifetime.”

http://cosmicawareness.org/Ascension-Study-Guide.p...