Romans 8:29-31

[29]For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.

[30]Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

[31]What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

Question 1 : What is Predestination?

Question 2: Did God predestine everybody?

Question 3: Can one who was predestine fail to fulfil his/her destiny?

Thank you!

Predestination, in Christianity, the doctrine that God has eternally chosen those whom he intends to save. In modern usage, predestination is distinct from both determinism and fatalism and is subject to the free decision of the human moral will, but the doctrine also teaches that salvation is entirely due to the eternal decree of God. In its fundamentals, the problem of predestination is as universal as religion itself, but the emphasis of the New Testament on the divine plan of salvation has made the issue especially prominent in Christian theology. Predestination has been especially associated with John Calvin and the Reformed tradition.

Christian doctrines of predestination may be considered explanations of the words of the Apostle Paul in Romans 8:29-30
“ For those whom he [God] foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified ”

Three types of predestination doctrine, with many variations, have developed. One notion (associated with semi-Pelagianism, some forms of nominalism, and Arminianism) makes foreknowledge the ground of predestination and teaches that God predestined to salvation those whose future faith and merits he foreknew.

At the opposite extreme is the notion of double predestination, commonly identified with Calvinism and especially associated with the Synod of Dort (1618–19) and appearing also in some of the writings of St. Augustine and Martin Luther and in the thought of the Jansenists. According to this notion, God has determined from eternity whom he will save and whom he will damn, regardless of their faith, love, or merit or lack thereof.

A third notion was set forth in other writings of Augustine and Luther, in the decrees of the second Council of Orange (529), and in the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas. It ascribes the salvation of humans to the unmerited grace of God and thus to predestination, but it attributes divine reprobation to human sin and guilt.


Pick your poison.
Links included in the article for further research.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/predestination

Ans 1. Predestination is the process where God programmes certain persons before their birth to undertake an assignment on Earth.

Ans 2. No. Predestination is the exception to the rule of freewill, so the predestined are only a handful compared to those who aren't.

Ans 3. No, because the predestined do not have the freewill to do whatever they choose but just that which God has appointed to them. And usually the purpose of their lives is attached to a plan or prophecy God had ordained, so God predestined them to accomplish their purpose before they depart.

Examples of predestined who I also call "children of prophecy" are, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Samson, John the baptist etc.

God bless.

Predestination is man's doctrine and does not entirely provide answers where it already exists as Jesus Christ told us of His Kingdom.

Jesus Christ told His disciples a parable about the Kingdom of Heaven where He, Jesus Christ, indeed suggests that those who are to be for God are already chosen before hand.

Matthew 13 vs 18-23
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24 . He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field,
25 . but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds[c] among the wheat and went away.
26 . So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also.
27 . And the servants[d] of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’
28 . He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’
29 . But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them.
30 . Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”

If you carefully read through the parable, you will surely find the answers to your questions instead. According to the story, the wheat(yield from the good seeds planted in the man's field) will not suffer loss. By having the reapers separate the mature weeds from the planted wheat, the wheat will be saved from destruction.

Before the end, Jesus Christ prayed a prayer to suggest that indeed those whom God had chosen for Himself will not be lost. He suggested that only the one that already belonged to the evil one(the weed) will be lost

John 17 vs 8-23
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8 . For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.
9 . I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.
10 . All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.
11 . And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.
12 . While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
13 . But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.

While the doctrine of predestination supposes that there are still those who are not predestined but are still planted in the field, that is not so, according to the word of Jesus Christ. Only those who have been planted(the good seeds) will be harvested. Wild seeds are considered to be weed and will be gathered and burnt, whereas the good seeds will be gathered and stored in the barn.