Saturday, January 17, 2009

Predestination, Hell, and the Things I Think About:

10:19 PM by Christi Bowman

I have, for about twelve years, been interested in the predestination conversation. Predestine means to "limit in advance" or "predetermine". In the conversations I have been a part of, predestination has always been intimately linked with salvation; thus saying that God may have created some for salvation and some not.

Predestination has always seemed, to me, to contradict another Biblical concept that says salvation is for all who believe; yet it has also seemed to coincide with other Biblical concepts like objects of wrath and God hardened hearts.

I have for a while now considered myself, if predestination be true, one of the lucky ones; as I can recall witnessing several times in my life the miraculous hand of God with such force that I have questioned yet another Biblical concept, free will. This was all very confusing to me until I stumbled upon Romans 8 without coming to the passage with an agenda.

28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. 29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

As I read my attention was called to the fact that this verse was not saying that anyone was predestined for salvation but predestined to be conformed to the image of Jesus; and with other verses like Matthew 20:16 quickly coming to mind

"For many be called; but few chosen"

it seemed to me like predestination was more about a higher calling than who gets into heaven and who does not.

I suppose it helps the smoothing out of my interpretation of concepts like predestination that I am more and more everyday coming to a very unorthodox interpretation of hell, but with verses like:

I Timothy 4:10 (NKJ) because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe.

Matthew 22:10 (NKJ) The kingdom of heaven is like...those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests.

2 Cor 5:19 (NKJ) that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

Ephesians 2:17-18 (NKJ) And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. 18 For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.

and passages like:

I Cor 15:20-28 (NKJ)
20 But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. 23 But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at His coming. 24 Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. 25 For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. 26 The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. 27 For "He has put all things under His feet." But when He says "all things are put under Him," it is evident that He who put all things under Him is excepted. 28 Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.

Romans 2:14-16 (MSG)
When outsiders who have never heard of God's law follow it more or less by instinct, they confirm its truth by their obedience. They show that God's law is not something alien, imposed on us from without, but woven into the very fabric of our creation. There is something deep within them that echoes God's yes and no, right and wrong. Their response to God's yes and no will become public knowledge on the day God makes his final decision about every man and woman. The Message from God that I proclaim through Jesus Christ takes into account all these differences.

I am beginning to wonder why when we read the first part of Romans 5:18

"Therefore, as through one man's offense judgment came to ALL men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man's righteous act the free gift came to ALL men, resulting in justification of life."

we preach that "all" speaks for everybody bar none, but in the second half of the same verse the word "all" is referencing only those who do things in the way and in the order we think they should be done (which seems to vary greatly from denomination to denomination.) Yet Romans 2 (above) says quite clearly that when outsiders follow the law of God by instinct that God, through Jesus will take into account all of those differences and their private response to God will become public knowledge.

It is not that I think that there is any other way into the Kingdom of heaven except through Jesus, it is only that I am beginning to think that how and when that takes place for some may be very different than anything the institutional church has imagined. It seems to me that there just might be an order (I Cor 15:22-23.)

For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. 23 But each one in his own order

and some people who thought they were going to get to participate in the things of heaven upon their arrival may just have to wait for a little longer than they had planned on the other side of eternity.

Matthew 21:31 Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.

Matthew 19:30 But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.

I have decided that I am going to have a very literal interpretation of Romans 14:11:

"As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God."

Since I have decided to take Romans 14:11 so literally, I am also going to have to take Romans 10:14 just as literally

"That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."

So as I was reading today in Ephesians 1

3 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, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.

The Spirit took me to Matthew 21:28

28But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to day in my vineyard.

and I was reminded of Isaiah 5:7

For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.

And I have come to the conclusion (at least for now) that those who are predestined are the "limited few" or the "predetermined ones" that will work in His vineyard...and His vineyard is people.

I welcome and encourage your thoughts as long as they are respectful and full of grace as you remember that we all know in part.

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