Is there any scripture what so ever in the biblical text that says "God elects people individually to be his before the foundation of the world?"
First, I believe that you have to understand what that means.....
"the founding of the world" is not the creation of the planet. God did not foreordain some to live and some to die...or even some to go to heaven and some to go to hell, before they were even born....that is an horrendous thought! Very unjust.
The
"founding of the world" is an expression that uses two Greek words..."
katabolē" which means ...
- a throwing or laying down
- the injection or depositing of the virile semen in the womb
- of the seed of plants and animals
- a founding (laying down a foundation)
And "
kosmos" which means....
"an apt and harmonious arrangement or constitution, order, government.....
- the inhabitants of the earth, men, the human family
- the ungodly multitude; the whole mass of men alienated from God, and therefore hostile to the cause of Christ
- world affairs, the aggregate of things earthly."
So it is speaking about the creation of the human race that descended from Adam and his wife, not the actual planet. This means that God never pre-arranged who was saved and who wasn't. Before Adam and his wife had children, God foreordained a group of his choosing so that he could reverse what had taken place in Eden, but he did not foreordain the individuals who would make up that group. That only happened during their lifetime. That group would rule with Christ in the kingdom that all the OT men of faith looked forward to. (Hebrews 11 enumerates them)
God allowed the human race to use their God-given free will to take them where it would....and then He responded to their activities accordingly, as the Bible relates. When they did good things, he blessed them, and when they did bad things, he punished them. Only after the nation of Israel was formed were they subject to God's written laws, because they entered into a covenant with God of their own free will and were then accountable for their actions.
There is Reformed Theology / Calvinistic 5 points, or tulip whatever. - In Which promotes that God does select bobby Joe, but not bobby Joes wife to be elected. (I disregard Reformed Theology / Calvinism (even though John was a very smart individual - lawyer by trade).
'Election' is something that comes from God and He chooses an individual to become a ‘king and a priest’ to rule with his son in heaven. Looking at this from man’s perspective raises some emotional issues because of the way humans see his activities. Is there any way that the God who is the epitome of justice and love could ever behave in an unjust way? Would he rip loved ones away from their families? Not without the power of God’s spirit softening the separation, which in death was going to happen anyway. The Bible states only two ways to end a marriage....adultery or death.
So “Bobby Joe and his wife” would be separated by death, just as we all are even now. Since there was to be no resurrection until Christ’s return, all would “sleep” in death until that time. (Ecclesiastes 9:5, 10; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17)
Since it is God who chooses the ones who will rule redeemed mankind, how can we as ignorant, earth-bound humans possibly know what God knows, or can do what God can do? Who can point fingers at God and accuse him of anything?
When the flood in Noah’s day was brought on an ungodly world, many reading the account stumble over the fact that the children died with their wicked parents. How could God do that? Well......can we imagine what Noah and his family might have done with perhaps hundreds, of not thousands of orphans?
God holds the parents responsible for their children’s upbringing, and the environment in which these children were raised was abominable. They would have seen and heard their parents ridiculing Noah and his family and living a life that was “normal” for them, but abhorrent to Noah and his God.
Children learn what they live, and will often follow the same path as their parents.....Noah was the only person on earth at that time who found favor in God’s eyes. He received his assignment before he had children, whom he managed to raise despite the prevailing environment. His three sons even managed to find wives who helped in the preparation of the ark. So only eight people out of all those alive on earth at that time, survived.
We are living in the last days of our own world and Jesus said we would see similar circumstances to those of Noah. (Matthew 24:37-39) Look at the world and see that Christ is about to judge this world as it sinks further and further into moral depravity and spiritual decay....this horrible world system needs to go and God is keen to bring us back to the paradise in which we began our existence. (Revelation 21:2-4)
Would like to know what your thoughts are on this?
Sorry for the long post but if you know me , you will understand that details are important....
