Predestination Unto Salvation

I trust this will be a valuble exchange of ideas. "To me it's clear the predestination is not taught in the Bible. For instance, why would the devil had tempted if he had already known what was going to happen. " The devil is not omniscient, as God is. He does not know who will believe in God and who will not, and so he is always present on earth trying to cause people to stumble by tempting them. He will attack Christian and non-christian alike, because his goal is to cause us to sin, and displease God. It must not be said, however, that the devil caused you to sin, because sin is the result of your sinful nature. The devil only plants seeds of rebelion, and tries to make it look more pleasing. "Why would God be mad at adam for taking the apple if he knew it would happen. " God did not originate sin. Sin can bo looked at as the absence of God, just as darkness is nothing in and of itself. Light is an energy, and darkness is the absence of that energy. God is righteousness, and sin is the absence or denial of that righteousness. When Adam ate the fruit, God knew he would, but God did not stop him. Why? because we have free will. I am not denying that man has free will in claiming predestination. I am saying we are predestined unto SALVATION. The belief that God predestines everything is HYPER Calvinism. If God dictataed that Adam would not take the fruit, then He would have created us as puppets doing His will. There would be no point in creating us. Adam chose to eat the fruit and God allowed it. God did not dictate Adam eating the fruit, but rather ALLOWED it. Therefore God had the right to be angry with Adam, because he chose his own selfish desires rather than God. Choosing unrighteousness was the first sin, and God allowed sin to enter as a concequence for our disobedience. We were at that piont dead in our transgressions. That is why God was mad at Adam. He chose to "glorify" himself rather than God. Why, though, can we choose sin, and not choose God? It is quite simple. After the fall we were (and are) completely and utterly dead in our transgressions this is made clear in Genesis 6:5, where God says that every intent of the thoughts of mans heart was only evil continually. It can be argued that this verse discribes only the men on earth before the flood, but it would be folly to claim moral superiority over those people, so I believe this is a valid argument. This verse is reinforced in Jeremiah. Jeremiah 13:23--- "Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? Then may you also do good who are accustomed to doing evil. " It is made plain, then, that after the fall we are utterly useless without God. It says that we are only evil continually. Our utter helplessness is also made clear in the new testament. Paul writes in Romans that there is none who seeks after God; which is what you calim man CAN do. Romans 3:10-12--- "As it is writen: There is no one righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one. " This makes it quite clear that even if we were able (I believe we are NOT able) to accept Christ on our own accord, we would not, because we are accustomed to doing evil. Our sinful nature makes any connection with God COMPLETELY impossible without Gods intervention. A question would arise, then, as to whether or not accepting Gods gift of salvation is a good work. The Bibe makes it clear that "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God", would accepting His gift be a good work? I think it would. Is it good to believe in God? Yes, of course. Is it good seek after and follow his ways? Yes, of course. Is it good to entrust God with your life, and give Him control of every aspect of it? Of course it is. It is, then, a good work to choose to do all of the above, and therefore it would be a good work to acceot God on your own accord. The Bibe makes it clear, though, that WE CAN DO NO GOOD WORKS WITHOUT THE HELP OF GOD. This would make accepting God on our own accord utterly impossible. You would aslo believe that Jesus died for all sins, and thus all of our sins would be forgiven and we could therefore approach God in our totally depraved state. Well, I don't believe Jesus died for all sins, but only for the sins of those He chose to save. How can I believe this? It is obvious. Unbelief is a sin. Denial of God is a sin. Romans 3:18 say that NOBODY fears God, and in not fearing Him, we have denied Him. This would make unbelief a sin. If God did infact die for the sins of all people, then He wuld have died for their unbelief, and everyone would go to heaven. Everyone will NOT go to heaven, so saying that Jesus did not die for all sins is the only logical conclusion. If Jesus did not die for the sins of all man, then who did He die for? He died for the elect. He died for all those THE FATHER GAVE HIM. In Mark Jesus Himself says that He did not come to forgive the sins of all men. Mark 4:10-12--- "But when He was alone, those around Him with the Twelve asked Him about the parable. And he said to them, 'To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to those who are outside, all things come in parables, so that 'Seeing they may see andnot perceive, And hearing they may hear and not understand; Lest they should turn, and their sins be forgiven them. '" Here it is coming from the mouth of Jesus that He did not come to save all men. Who then did He come to save? He came to save the elect. The Bible makes it clear that God CHOSE some people rather than others. John makes it clear that no one comes unless the Father draws him. John 6:44--- "No one can come to the Me unless the Father who sent draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. " God must draw us to Himself in order for us to be saved, and we are helpless until He does so. I will expound more in later arguments. Until then, I eagerly await my opponents reply. Thanks, Renzzy