Originally Posted by
HeadStrongBoy
Quoting dwashbur:
"But is this predestination just arbitrary? No. It's based on the fact that God knows who is going to come to him and who isn't. Humans have a choice: accept or reject. God knows what the choice will be, but we are still free and responsible to make that choice. It's hard to reconcile in the mind, because God is truly sovereign and we are truly responsible for our choice to accept or reject."
I know that the explanation you've offered is the one accepted by mainstrean christianity. But the fact remains that it's WRONG. One of the main points of confusion is that the concept of personal responsibility for living a moral life has become somehow entangled with God's total and complete autonomy when it comes to determining who has and who will become saved. The distinction needs to be made, and it needs to be maintained that no matter how morally or imorally a person may choose to live, that choice has nothing to do with how or why God chose the individuals that He chose to be saved.
I know there's more to be said, but that's my big point for now. If you want to find scriptural support or refutation for that point, we can do that next.