Free Will vs. Predestination Essay

Thesis: Although many people have debated about weather predestination or free will, I believe that it is a combination of both. Body Paragraph 1: opposing views CD: Loraine Boettner says that â€Å"there is no consistent middle ground between calvanism and atheism† CM: free will is considered atheistic while predestination is considered Calvinistic CD: â€Å"It’s one thing to have a loved one that rejects God because of his own choice, but it is another to believe that person never had a chance because God never permitted or allowed them a chance. † Body paragraph 2: Free will. CD: â€Å"those who espouse predestination claim that if we have the free will to accept God’s salvation then we have to earn our way into heaven. Therefore we’re not saved by grace but by our own merit—we caused our own salvation, not God† CD: â€Å"free will teaches that when presented with the facts of God’s plan for salvation that every individual person has a choice to make to either accept or reject God’s gift of salvation. † CD: Ignatius of Antioch said that â€Å"If anyone is truly religious he is a man of God; but if he is irreligious, he is a man of the devil, made such, not by nature, but by choice. † CD: â€Å"If God thinks that this state of war in the universe a price worth paying for free will†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (48) CD: â€Å"Why did God make a creature of such rotten stuff that when it went wrong†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (49) Body paragraph 3: predestination CD: â€Å"remember, this repentance, this willing submission to humiliation and a kind of faith†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (57) CD: â€Å"In the early church, predestination was interpreted as God’s foreknowledge of people’s good works† CD: â€Å"predestination is doctrine witch teaches that God predetermined who would go to heaven and who would spend eternity in hell† CD: â€Å"‘Single’ predestination applies that word only to God’s gracious choice of those who will be saved, attributing reprobation to causes in the damned themselves. ‘Double’ predestination refers to God’s free choice to save some and God’s free choice to damn others† CD: â€Å"each person has absolutely no choice in accepting or rejecting salvation through Christ. † CD: Charles H. Spurgeon said that â€Å"nothing happens from divine determination and decree† Final/ conclusion paragraph CD: â€Å"some people think that they can imagine a creature which was free but had no possibility of going wrong†¦Ã¢â‚¬ 