The problem of Either/Or: Free Will vs Predestiny

The problem of Either/Or: Free Will vs Predestiny.
Many people take one side of an issue.  
It's an either - or thing.  But what if there's another possibility?

No - not a third option,
but the possibility that "either" and "or" are both correct.

Sounds impossible, doesn't it?

Especially when people are so passionate (stubborn?) about the issue.

We're going to look at the issue of "predestiny" versus "free will" today.
I've written about "both" (pun intended) of them before -
The problem of predestiny.
The problem of free will.

For instance -

Calvinism - the Protestant theological system of John Calvin and his successors, which develops Luther's doctrine of justification by faith alone and emphasizes the grace of God and the doctrine of predestination.

Arminius taught that Calvinist predestination and unconditional election made God the author of evil. Instead, Arminius insisted, God's election was an election of believers and therefore was conditioned on faith. Furthermore, Arminius argued, God's exhaustive foreknowledge did not require a doctrine of determinism.  

Different Christian denominations are on either side of this debate.

Using the image at the top, that would put (for the sake of clarity) Calvinists in the "either" circle.  Arminians would therefore be in the right circle.  (Sorry - nothing intended for Arminians being in the one on the "right").

And there's this from a Catholic web site, which put them in neither camp -

Before you can truly understand the differences between the Catholic and Arminian understanding of salvation, you must understand the fact that Catholicism teaches predestination. Where we primarily differ from Calvinism is in our understanding of the relationship between the number of those who are justified and the number of those who are predestined. Calvinists believe that all of the justified are numbered among the predestined and hence only the predestined will be justified. And hence all of the justified will persevere, which is the Calvinist doctrine known as perseverance of the saints.

Catholics believe that all of the predestined will be justified, but not all of the justified are numbered among those who are predestined. That's because not all of the justified persevere to the end, as taught by Scripture (John 15:2, 6, 1 Timothy 1:19-20, Hebrews 6, 10:26-29). Since the Bible teaches that the predestined are assured glorification (Romans 8:29-30, John 10:28-29), then all those who lose, lose their justification and die in that state cannot be numbered among the predestined. They were truly justified but were not numbered among the predestined. This is what is taught by the Bible, taught by Saint Augustine, and taught by the Catholic Church for nearly 2000 years. This was also taught by Martin Luther.

In the image at the top, that puts them outside of both circles.

But notice - there is an area where the two circles overlap.  What if that's a true representation of this debate.

Just to set the record -
before beginning the research for this project, I believed in Free Will.  There are plenty of references in the Bible to show where this belief comes from.
As I've done more research, I've come to alter that belief - just a little bit.

The predestination camp has verses they point to as well.  So the question arises - who is "right"?

What if it's both?

What if some people are predestined to do certain things - and others (most of us) have the free will to choose to ignore God's calling to us?

What follow is an example of how to look at an issue in the Bible.  One that can be viewed in different ways.  One that's used as church doctrine.  In fact, opposing church doctrine.  As we've seen earlier in this series, both can be Biblically supported.  But both also have Biblical "problems" - cases where the doctrine appears to be contradicted by the Bible.  Whatever we end up with, our faith must lead us to a Biblical view of God.  So as you continue, examine the issues - look at how they are supported in the Bible.  Also look for places where they may contradict the Bible.  And don't forget about the possibility that there is no Biblical support at all, but that something comes from a denominational point of view.

Predestined?

What about Moses?

Ex 3:11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”