"The Heart of the Church"

Very little else in the Christian Scriptures is as certain, sure, and repeated throughout as the doctrine of predestination. You do not have to understand it. You do not have to be able to immediately reconcile it with other doctrines you believe are "taught" in the Bible. You certainly do not have to like it. It is simply not possible, however, to read the Bible and miss the teaching of predestination-- both implicitly and explicitly, both by content and by the word itself, and both in the new and old testaments. The Bible contains the doctrine of predestination almost as surely as it contains the doctrine of the existence of God-- and more surely than the doctrine of the trinity (which no one "inside the pale" disputes). This is how Paul's letter to the Ephesians opens:

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth--in Him. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory. Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened: that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church. (Ephesians 1 NKJV)

People in the Church still manage to say things like, "I don't believe in predestination," and, "the God I believe in would never do something like that." I have been thinking about why someone would ever want to hold on to the Bible and still try (hopelessly) to maintain statements like these. May I suggest a failure on the part of our pastors? Surely this is the case (although not the only thing going on by any means). Many pastors do not preach on predestination. Many people do not study much on their own. Therefore: many people do not have informed beliefs about predestination, let alone right beliefs. It is time for a change in the consciousness of the Church in America concerning predestination. Well, there is that or slow spiritual death, I suppose.