quietthinker
Well-Known Member
I'd fundamentally go along with this.... its pretty basic.Lots of confusion about the elect and the predestined elect, and on and on... Its just such a bag of twisted wires lost in space somewhere.
The reason it sounds like a Rubik's cube is because of the way the scriptures are worded.....it just twists the idea, totally.
Its really simple tho... but it sounds complex because of the terminology.. But its not complex.
So, When trying to understand what it means to be "elect" or those who are "predestined" to be "conformed into the image of Christ.... is just a few questions needing to be addressed.
How does "elect" happen?....What is the START, what is the part that gets the ball rolling, and what is the end result?
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So let me give you a simple analogy. Let say you are at the Fair. And you want to ride the Roller Coster. So, you have a Ticket. And what does that ticket get you? What is the end result of that Ticket. = You get to RIDE.
So, lets insert this simple idea into. 'predestined elect".........
The RIDE, is what you are predestined to do, or to become.
The Elect is the person who is going to ride....what is predetermined to be a RIDE.
The Ticket is your FAITH that elects you to RIDE.
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So, lets look at it.
You are ELECTED by FAITH.
So what is the process ?
We are predestined,..this means that there is an end result that is to be finished in the FUTURE.....that occurs through Salvation... which is...to be fully conformed into the image of Christ, ....that God foreknew would happen, because He knew before all are born who would by faith be elected by their faith.. To be fully conformed into the image of Christ is what the "predestination" DOES.
How does that all sound if you simplify it? It means that there is an end result to being born again.....And the end result has a name...."predestined".... And what is that as an end result? We, the born again are conformed into the image of Christ. We the ELECT, elected by FAITH. are Predetermined by God to reach a final conforming that starts by the FATH that elects us to be conformed.
God does not elect...>He forgives. Faith Elects. God does not predestine you to be forgiven, but he.... according to foreknowledge, knows before we are born, who will be saved .
Salvation is a forgiveness and conforming GIFT. It exists as a 2000 yr old LIVING Redemption that begins and completes its purpose after the Blood Atonement is applied as a Gift = "Grace through Faith"... and this is how it ITSELF predestines you to be completed as fully conformed into the Image of Christ.
Faith ELECTS you to be conformed into the image of Christ, as that is what Salvation is predestined to do for everyone who is elected by FAITH.
Faith allows you to have access to the blood atonement that sets in motion what is pre-destined to occur to all who are born again, which is the conforming of us into the image of Christ.
Salvation sets into motion for each born again person.... something that is "predestined" to occur once you are born again.....and that is , to be conformed into the Image of Christ. And God foreknew this will happen to all who are born again, as its only the born again who are conformed.
Where the confusion comes in is when a bad theology teaches that.: God Knowing a thing before it happens is the same as God causing it to happen., which is to teach that "foreknowing, is = to cause".
God does not cause you to be elected, Yet He absolutely knows ALL who will be Elected by FAITH, before you are born.
'Men' have a way of straining at gnats and swallowing camels but that can only be if with their own wisdom they try to unpack God's mysteries.