ON PREDESTINATION
During my basic training in the South African Air Force, we were out on a field trip for about a week. It was bitterly cold and raining during the entire period. Shortly after we arrived in the field, the corporal in charge had our unit line up outside.
"You, you, and you," he shouted as he randomly picked several of us, "You go and dig latrines in the field. The rest of you, get inside your tents." So off we went to go and dig latrines in the cold and rain, while the rest of the unit went into their tents to get warm.
Now, many people think of God as someone a little like my old corporal. They see God as an unconcerned deity who sits on his throne in heaven, and he randomly assigns some to heaven and others to hell for no good reason. He says, as it were, "You, you and you, you go to hell! The rest of you go to heaven!"
This, of course, is a complete distortion of how God acts. But it is the view of so many, and therefore I need to address it.
Dr. James Montgomery Boice, former pastor of Tenth Presbyterian Church, says that "it is impossible to have election, the positive side of predestination, without reprobation, which is the negative side."
This has been recognized throughout church history. John Calvin, for example, summarized the thoughts of many when he wrote, "Election cannot stand except as set over against reprobation."
(From a sermon by Freddy Fritz, "God’s Judgment" 1/23/2009)