When certain individuals begin expressing what they are thinking, as they sort out their beliefs concerning specific matters that may not be agreeably clear, well, several things begin to happen ....

Individuals congregate, sometimes forming congregations ...or denominations.

In Mathematics, the number on the bottom of a fraction is the denominator ...which is what divides. And with people, a fraction of the people may believe one thing, and a fraction of the people may believe another thing.

That which is misunderstood is often too eager to be built upon.

And within this new foundation ...the things misunderstood are not really suddenly understood.  They are just more or less accepted by those whom they accept, and whom they accept as knowing individuals.  Some times things get resolved ...and sometimes not.  Sometimes things are built upon that which was misunderstood, and it can go unchallenged until someone who doesn't understand it decides to challenge it.

The problem in that scenario is that the new foundation was built upon the specified beliefs of confident and convincing people ...not on the foundation of the Bible.  And many of the misunderstandings that could have met with sound discussions based on the Bible ...were instead divided simply by semantics. 

My point is not for you to wonder what group or denomination I am speaking of ...but, rather let's just look at how easily we can error, and often way too eager to do so. 

Why is this??

Well, we should be eager and enthusiastic to grow and explore. But, let's explore within the vast awe-inspiring pages of the Bible.

Some people believe we have no choice.

And along with conversations along this line, we have words & phrases such as:

• Free will ...
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• Predestination ...
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• Determinism ...
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• Predeterminism ...
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• The 'elect' ...
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• Foreordained ...
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• Double predestination (whether destined for salvation, or the less than desirable alternative) ...

Some people believe we have no choice, or no free will. Predestination, to me, does not exclude choice.  The absence of choice may work well in drama ...and for those like Sophocles, or Seneca, in writing the entanglement of Oedipus.  

Or perhaps you prefer Hamlet or Macbeth ...and the style within those dramas created by Shakespeare.  

On a more recent note, there is the idea of the Stepford Wives.

With that stretch, does it also encourage those on the fringe to think they had a chip implanted in their head at birth ...and they therefore would have no choice.

But, I prefer the comforting truth of the Bible.  

The Second Book of Peter, Chapter 3, verse 9, describes God's desire "not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance."

The First Book of Timothy, Chapter 2, verse 4, similarly describes God ..."who desires all to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth."

This does not seem exclusive to me ...and it does seem to align with how some people explain predestination.

Let's not get hung up on semantics in trying to rationalize the beliefs of those who tried to interpret the beliefs of others.  Let's go back always to the Bible.