Dear Friends,
As we enter the time in which we are all back in the fall routine, I would like to take this time to address some of those questions of faith that you may have. Please take time to send me those questions so that I can answer them here in the upcoming columns.
The first question that I would like to address is the concept of predestination. Predestination is the doctrine that God in His sovereignty chooses certain individuals to be saved. This was made a prominent theme with the writings of John Calvin, the father of Presbyterianism. In his foundational work, the Institutes of Christian Religion, Calvin argued that God exerts His will over every area of His creation. He argued that since God has willed some to be saved, God also willed some to be damned. His quote from the Institutes to acknowledge this is, “nothing happens but what God has knowingly and willingly decreed.” In essence, Calvin has given all the responsibility for choosing salvation on God.
