Tried With Fire

This is the definition of predestine from an online dictionary: 1. To fix upon, decide, or decree in advance; foreordain. 2. Theology To foreordain or elect by divine will or decree.   For those whom He foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn of many brothers, and those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.  Romans 8:29-30 If the above definition is correct, and the verse is true (of course it has to be if the Word of God is inerrant and infallible), then is our being conformed to the image of the Son uncertain?  Is the outcome of our sanctification uncertain?  Is it dependent on the degree of our willingness or surrender or dependent upon God's decree? I think you know where I stand on this issue.  The outcome is certain because it is not dependent upon our performance or even our degree of surr...

Starting next week, the new Sunday school class will be a theological survey using Chosen by God by R.C. Sproul. In the beginning of the 2nd chapter, Predestination and the Sovereignty of God , he gives a modern dictionary definition of predestination. Out of curiosity I looked up the word in the 1828 Dictionary of the English Language by Noah Webster. 1828 definition: predestination (n) - The act of decreeing or foreordaining events; the decree of God by which he hath, from eternity, unchangeably appointed or determined whatever comes to pass. It is particularly used in theology to denote the preordination of men to everlasting happiness or misery. Predestination is part of the unchangeable plan of divine government; or in other words, the unchangeable purpose of an unchangeable God. Contrast the above definition with the one from the 1979 Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary. The second definition is the same as the one in the book. predestination (n) - 1. the act of predestinat...