The Bible Teaches Predestination And Salvation By Faith Alone

Thanks to my opponent for extending the arguments. I apologize for the delay. Since we both agree now that Predestination is in fact taught in the bible, we will be redirecting the focus of this resole to our positions on what predestination actaully is. As my opponent stated above, he believes that God predestines whom will choose him; or choose to accept his Grace. The issue that is immediately present, is that calling such a thing predestination is incredibly inaccurate. Lets examine the deffinition of Predestination, from the Greek word: Proorizo.Strongs - Predetermine: - Determine before, ordain, predestinateThayer's - To predetermine, decide beforehand; in the NT of God decreeing from eternity; to foreordain, appoint beforehandWebsters - Purposed or determined previouslySo, as we can see here, these are all things that are done priorto a choice made by man. Also, as it says in Ephesians 1, God predestined those from before creation. So, before anyone made any decisions. Now, my opponent will undoubtedly refer to foreknwledge. God predestined to save some whom he knew would choose to accept his Grace. But, this is not the case.Romans 91 Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God’s purpose in election might stand: 12 not by works but by him who calls—she was told, "The older will serve the younger." 13 Just as it is written: "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated." 14 What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! 15 For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." 16 It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. As we can see here in Romans, God witholds the right to choose whom he will save. Not only that, but it doesn't depend on the desires of man or their effort. This falls in line with what we see in Romans 3No one seeks God. No one does good, not even one. Accepting God, is good, and good is not done by man, therefore no one accepts God. Which means God chooses whom he will save, inspite of there not having sought for him.Grace, is unconditional, and undeserved. It makes no sense to say that there is a condition for the unconditional. I really do not want to continue repeating all of the scriptures that I posted earlier, but my opponent must address them if he plans on advancing his position.Also, if you take note to this that I said in the last post:In this debate, we must both consider the word of God to be infallible and harmonious. Since this is so, we cannot simply discredit predestination, at the cost of creating contradiction. If my opponent fails to reconcile these passages with his synergistic beliefs, we must conclude that his position is incorrect, and if I fail to do that same, I expect my opponent to be awarded the points. So far my opponent merely established a clear contradiction; especially in regards to sola fide. I will not address his arguments about sola scriptura, because this not what we are debating. In regards to James 2:24, my oppoent merely misunderstands my position. Firstly, there are different uses for the word justify.1) to restore to a state of reconciliation with God those who stand under the judgment of his law2) to demonstrate or vindicate.James 2 is a form of the latter. We demonstrate our faith in God to others, by our good works. The frit of our faith is good works. This does not mean a person is saved by their good works, but that a saved person will have good works. I believe we are saved by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone.