Apologetics PREDESTINATION (II

There is evidence in the Holy Scriptures that when God calls or appoints someone to a ministry or task, He knows the person beforehand.

PREDESTINATION (II)

Rev. Luis M. Ortiz

When God created man, He created no automaton, no robot, no computer; but God created man “in his image,” with a spirit, a privileged mind, a brilliant intelligence, with free will.

And why are not all saved? Because not everyone believes! Jesus said, “He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God...” ( John 3:18-21).

And why do some believe and others do not? Simply because when God created man, He created no slave, no automaton, no robot, no computer; but God created man “in his image,” with a spirit, a privileged mind, a brilliant intelligence, with free will, that is, with the power and ability to analyze, reason, decide and act with reflection of choice.

forehand for a particular fate or purpose. Synonyms are: to choose, to predetermine, to appoint, to dedicate.

There are only five verses that mention “predestination” in the Bible, and they are all in the New Testament. Such are the verses which Saint Augustine and Calvin refer to for their theories on predestination.

Romans 8:28 reads: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” If God had no purpose, no one would be called; and nothing would work for anyone’s good, as there had been no person to call according to God’s purpose.

Romans 8:29 says: “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.”

Note that the first thing it says is “for whom he did foreknow.” There is evidence in the Holy Scriptures that when God calls or appoints someone to a ministry or task, He APOLOGETICS knows the person beforehand, even since they were in the womb of their mother.

Let’s see some cases: • The patriarch Job addressed to God and said: “Did not he that made me in the womb make him?” ( Job 31:15). • Psalmist David addressed to God and said: “But thou art he that took me out of the womb… I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother’s belly” (Psalm 22:9-10); “By thee have I been holden up from the womb: thou art he that took me out of my mother’s bowels…” (Psalm 71:6); “O lord, thou hast searched me, and known me… For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb” (Psalm 139:1, 13). • Prophet Isaiah, as God’s messenger, said to the people of Israel: “Yet now hear, O Jacob my servant; and Israel, whom I have chosen: Thus saith the Lord that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, which will help thee… Thus saith the Lord, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb…” (Isaiah 44:1-2, 24); “Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, which are borne by me from the belly, which are carried from the womb” (Isaiah 46:3); “… The Lord hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name… And now, saith the Lord that formed me from the womb to be his servant…” (Isaiah 49:1,5). • More than a hundred years before it happened, Prophet Isaiah, by divine inspiration, called by name the MediaPersian king that would seize the city of Babylon on a night of parties and orgies held by Belshazzar. The biblical prophecy stated: “Thus saith the Lord, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb… That saith to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be inhabited; and to the cities of Judah, Ye shall be built, and I will raise up the decayed places thereof… That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid” (Isaiah 44:24-28); “Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him… I will go before thee… That thou mayest know that I, the Lord, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel” (Isaiah 45:1-3). • Prophet Jeremiah said: “Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations” ( Jeremiah 1:4-5). • The angel of the Lord said to the priest Zachariah during a worship at the temple: “Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John… For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord… And he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb” (Luke 1:13-15).