Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: plaisted@cs.unc.edu (David Plaisted) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Predestination (again ... ) Message-ID: Date: 15 Nov 89 08:20:20 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Lines: 30 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu So far I have stayed out of the predestination discussion and usually only read about the first 5 - 10 lines of any posting about it. However, it does seem that one point has not been emphasized enough. The rationale for predestination is that nothing we do makes us worthy of salvation. The assumption is, that if you believe in free will, then you believe that something you do makes you in some degree worthy of salvation. I believe that this is false. All we can do is to submit to God. We can freely choose to submit or not to submit. However, there is no merit in submission. We are not saved because of anything good or bad that we do. Those who are saved are not any better people, in themselves, than those who are lost. The difference is that they submit to God's leading them to accept Him and believe in Him. Then they submit to the leading of the Holy Spirit to strive after righteousness, which leads to obedience. But, even when we obey, we are unworthy servants, and have only done our duty (Luke 17:10). The only righteousness we have is the righteousness of Christ, which we have accepted and which has been worked out in our characters. Jacob and Esau were alike sinful, as their early history shows. God chose Jacob, not because of anything good or evil that he did (Romans 9:11), but because the Lord saw that he could be led to submit and repent. Dave Plaisted plaisted@cs.unc.edu Let us know, let us press on to know the Lord. His going forth is sure as the dawn. He will come to us as the showers, as the spring rain that waters the earth.