Predestination IV

The self-proclaimed Christian *Free Will* crowd are obsessed with flattering God as *fair.*  But of course, it is their limited, self-centered black-and-white concept of fairness.  It is the whiny, childish cry of the toddler who sees his sibling have something he cannot have.  It's not fair, they cry as they stamp their feet.

If God does not grant the individual the *Free Will* to decide for himself or herself if he or she will *accept* or *receive* or *believe* or *have faith in* their idea of God's plan of salvation (sinner hears the gospel of Jesus and evaluates it and judges it as appropriate), then God is not fair.  God is not fair if He has predetermined who will be saved if this predestination is not based on human merit or foreseen faith, but on God's own will.

Here is the sinner's prayer of the self-proclaimed Christian *Free Willer:*

God, I thank thee that I am humble to recognize I am a sinner, and that only through the shed blood of Jesus can my sin be washed away.  Father, You showed me this, You offered me Your plan for my salvation, and in my humility and spirit of brokenness, I carefully considered the pros and cons of Your plan, and in my humble opinion I have judged it worthy of me.  Thank you, God, for not making me as the Calvinist, who haughtily refuses to acknowledge Your fairness to all men everywhere, and would arrogantly deny all men everywhere the chance to judge You and judge Your plan of salvation. Amen.

Here is what I as a predestinationist (PD) would ask of the *Free Willer* (FW):

PD: Has everybody who has ever lived had the same opportunity to hear the gospel of Jesus?

FW: No.

PD: Is that fair?

FW: Yes.

PD: It's an irrefutable fact Saul of Tarsus received a much more compelling presentation of the gospel of Jesus than Aleister Crowley received, is it not?

FW: Yes.

PD: Is that fair to Crowley?  

FW: Yes.

PD: Untold tens of millions, maybe hundreds of millions, a billion, lived and died without ever hearing the gospel, is that correct?

FW: Yes.

PD: So they had absolutely ZERO chance to be saved, is that correct?

FW: No.

PD: No?  Explain.

FW: Paul states in Romans 2 of those who are ignorant that God will render to every man according to his deeds: To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life.

PD: So the ignorant are judged on their own merits, Jesus didn't need to die on the cross, we could just be judged on our own merits and be saved?

FW: No.  This is just a plan until the gospel has been preached to the entire world, then there is no other path to salvation but through Christ.

PD: Does that seem like a plan devised by the Supreme Wisdom of the Universe, or just some theologian trying to argue in advance for God's fairness against the question of the fate of those who never hear the gospel?

FW: It seems like a plan devised by the Supreme Wisdom.

PD: Let me summarize what we have learned so far: people who do not hear the gospel are judged on their own merit, people who hear the gospel are only judged on their response to the gospel, and to the people who hear or read the gospel, some received a more convincing presentation.  Is this an accurate summary?

FW: Yes.

PD: What would be a fairer system: the system we just summarized, or a system in which every human being who has ever lived is thrown into a Lotto machine and God selects some number of whoever comes out of the machine to be saved?

FW: It is a much fairer system for people who do not hear the gospel to be judged on their own merit, and for people who hear the gospel to only be judged on their response to the gospel, and to the people who hear or read the gospel, that some of them receive a more convincing presentation.

PD: Thank you for contributing to our understanding of God's Plan of Salvation.

FW: You're welcome.