Election and Predestination

vs

Free Will and Man's Responsibility

An Illustration of how God Reveals and Man Responds

to God's offer of Salvation

The Birthday Party

One day, a man was having a birthday party

He thought very carefully about who he should invite

He decided to invite everybody that loved him

He sent people to deliver the invitations

The invitations were designed so that they could not be lost

but they could be rejected or thrown away if the person did not want to come

Some people said "no thanks" and rejected the invitation

Others received the invitation but later on found that there was something else they had to do instead and threw it away

The people who really wanted to go accepted the invitation and kept it

Some of the people who rejected the invitation tried to persuade them not to go

Some people who did not have invitations tried to go to the party

But only those who had invitations were let in.

Explanation

People can choose whether to accept or reject the invitation

Only those that loved the host accepted the invitation

Some received it but later threw it away because they had other things they preferred to do

Not everybody is offered invitations initially

God keeps inviting people until his house is full

The Holy Spirit is our invitation

If He is living in our heart, we will be saved

If we receive Him, once he has been revealed to us, he will live in our heart

We cannot lose him, but we can ask Him to leave

Nothing can snatch us out of His hand

Just as with the host, God says "you did not choose Me, but I chose you"

This does not mean that we have no choice about salvation,

but that we could not choose to come to Him if He didn't choose to invite us first

In this example, the host took the initiative and sent people out to deliver the invitations

For us to come to God, He must first open our eyes and ear and give us understanding

The invitation must first be extended before we can decide to take it

Nobody can come to God unless God reveals Himself to them first

Once God reveals Himself to us, it is up to us to receive his Spirit, love Him, obey Him and remain faithful to Him

God chooses us and predestines us according to His foreknowledge

If we did not have a choice about obeying God then God would be responsible for everything we do

Adam was not programmed to fall, he had a choice

God does not force Himself upon us

God is glorified and Satan is put to shame when we choose to repent and turn back to Him (God)

God opens our eyes, enables us to come to Him and gives us the strength to stand firm; but the choice is ours

God predestines us to be conformed to the Image of His son Jesus Christ according to His foreknowledge