Conclusion

"Did He predestinate you to be saved because He knew you before hand, and knew you’d choose Him – or – did you choose Him BECAUSE He knew you before hand, and predestinated you to do that?" In this question, one is placing the final decision on salvation on God, and the other is placing it on man. [Rolfe, What Is Predestination?]

I hope you will now realize along with me that Election is not an either/or proposition, and God's sovereignty is in no way threatened or diminished by him requiring his elect to make moral decisions.  Man can be a "free" moral agent (within the limits of his depraved nature), and he is certainly charged with the decision and responsibility to live a righteous moral life whether he can or not.  At the same time, by virtue of who he is God has reserved for himself alone the ultimate control over every aspect of his creation--including you and your daily decisions.  So in the truest sense, although God chooses who he wants to save, those elected are still commanded to choose also--in fact, everyone is required to choose whether they are chosen (and thereby enabled) or not!  God assures all he has elected will choose correctly, and he will empower them to accomplish all he has set before them to do in accordance with his foreordained plan.  Those God elects not to enable are still accountable for what decisions they can make, the life they led, and the sins they committed.

The more I study Arminianism the more it looks like another "works" ploy to me.  It's no wonder, then, that they would conclude that they could loose their salvation if the slacked off a little bit; if my eternal destiny was resting squarely and entirely on my own shoulders I'd be pretty worried too!.  But as surely as night follows day, salvation which originates from the Holy Spirit breathing on those the Father has pre-selected, and those the Son has already completely atoned for will never be lost or stolen. No one (not even myself) can pluck me out of God's hands because I hear his voice.

...if I were to declare that man was so free to act that there was no control of God over his actions, I should be driven very near to atheism; and if, on the other hand, I should declare that God so over-rules all things that man is not free enough to be responsible, I should be driven at once into Antinomianism or fatalism. That God predestines, and yet that man is responsible, are two facts that few can see clearly. They are believed to be inconsistent and contradictory to each other. If, then, I find taught in one part of the Bible that everything is foreordained, that is true; and if I find, in another Scripture, that man is responsible for all his actions, that is true; and it is only my folly that leads me to imagine that these two truths can ever contradict each other [Spurgeon, A Defense of Calvinism].

References

Blue Letter Bible. Sovereignty of God, http://www.blueletterbible.org/faq/attributes.html#sov

Boettner, Loraine. Election, http://www.the-highway.com/election_Boettner.html

Boettner, Loraine. Objections Commonly Urged Against the Reformed Doctrine of Predestination, http://www.the-highway.com/objections1_Boettner.html

Calvin, John.  The Secret Providence of God; reprinted in Calvin’s Calvinism, p. 240

Engelsma, Rev. David J. THE ‘WORLD’ OF JOHN 3:16 DOES NOT MEAN ‘ALL MEN WITHOUT EXCEPTION’, http://www.the-highway.com/Jh3.16.html

Grace Valley Christian Center. http://www.dcn.davis.ca.us/~gvcc/theology_notes/Calvin_and_Arminius.html

Halsall, Paul. John Calvin: On Predestination, © June1998, http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/calvin-predest.html

Heidelberg Disputation, May 1518, http://www.augustana.edu/religion/lutherproject/HEIDELBU/Heidelbergdisputation.htm

MacLean M. A, Rev. William.  Another Gospel, by http://www.crta.org/calvinism/misc/arminian_another_gospel.html

McNeill, John T. Calvin, John, Encyclopedia Americana Online (Grolier, Inc., 2001), <http://ea.grolier.com> (Feb. 8, 1999)

Murray, John. Arminianism and Atonement, http://www.the-highway.com/arminianism.html

Owen, Dr. John. The Death of Death in the Death of Christ, http://www.the-highway.com/Jh3.16_Owen.html

Owen, Dr. John. For Whom Did Christ Die?, http://www.the-highway.com/Death_Owen.html

Packer, J. I. SOLA FIDE: THE REFORMED DOCTRINE OF JUSTIFICATION, http://www.the-highway.com/Justification_Packer.html

Pink, Arthur W.  Election, http://home.earthlink.net/~dddewber/pinkelec.htm

Pink, Arthur W.  God's Sovereignty and the Human Will, http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/9170/PINK2.HTM

Pink, Arthur W.  Reprobation, http://home.earthlink.net/~dddewber/pinkrepr.htm

Pink, Arthur W.  The Power of God, http://home.earthlink.net/~dddewber/pinkpowe.htm

Pink, Arthur W.  The Sovereignty of God, http://home.earthlink.net/~dddewber/pinksove.htm

Pratte, David E.  ELECTION AND PREDESTINATION: Conditional or Unconditional, © 1998, http://www.gospelway.com/salvation/predestination.htm

Reformed Network Library, http://reformednet.org/refnet/lib/lib-doc.htm#confessions

Rolfe, Carla  What Is Predestination?

Schaff, Phillip The Creeds of Christendom, Volume 3, Baker Books, Grand Rapids, MI: 1996.

Spurgeon, C. H. A Defense of Calvinism, http://www.crta.org/calvinism/index.html?mainframe=Spurgeon-Calvinism.html

Stinson, Vance.  What Does the Bible Say About Predestination and Election?  Has your ultimate destiny already been set?, © 1999 The Church of God, International, Tyler, Texas, http://www.cgi.org

Thirteen Epistles of St. Paul vol. 3 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1922-31

Thiersch,"CASSIANUS, Johannes," Philip Schaff, ed., A Religious Encyclopaedia or Dictionary of Biblical, Historical, Doctrinal, and Practical Theology, 3rd edn., Vol. 1. Toronto, New York & London: Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1894. p.413 http://www.earlychurch.org.uk/cassian.html

Vander Lugt, Dan.  Does the Bible really teach that people are predestined to go to either heaven or hell?, © 2002 RBC Ministries-Grand Rapids MI, 49555-0001, http://www.gospelcom.net/rbc/questions/print.php?catagory=bible&folder=predestine&file=predestined.xml

Vander Lugt, Dan. Is it Possible for me to Lose My Salvation?, © 2002 RBC Ministries-Grand Rapids MI, 49555-0001, http://www.gospelcom.net/rbc/questions/print.php?catagory=bible&folder=esecurity&file=losesal.xml

Warfield, Benjamin. Selected Shorter Writings of Benjamin B. Warfield, vol. 1, John E. Meeter, editor, © 1970 Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company

Election and Predestination, Christian Classics Ethereal Library at Calvin College. , http://www.ccel.org/c/calvin/calcom/calcom-VII.html

Election and Predestination of Believers, http://www.eschatology.com/predestination.html

John Calvin, Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia. Grolier, Inc., 2002. <http://gme.grolier.com> (January 2, 2002)

The Sixteenth Century: Antitrinitarians and Toleration, © 1997-1999 The First Unitarian Congregation of Ottawa, http://www.uuottawa.com/before-1600s.html

http://home.earthlink.net/~andrepar/compare.htm

http://www.fni.com/cim/briefing/election.html

http://www.fni.com/cim/briefing/security.html

Originally written 3/4/2002

Revised 4/22/2002

Revised 8/25/2002