With great joy I can now introduce to our CRN readers a brand-new blog that will soon be linked at Elm Avenue’s website.

Here’s a taste,

There has long been much debate over the Truth found in Scripture regarding the predestined salvation, or judgment, of those whom God elects. I find two common “understandings” of this doctrine.

1) There are many people who pacify both ideas by saying that “what predestination means is that God simply knows ahead of time who will ‘choose Him.” Thus, they would say they believe in both Free Will and Predestination 100%.
2) Most other people will simply counterpoint with the question “how can a loving God predestine someone to judgment and death?”

Today, we will look at #1.

I must draw the distinction—not a distinction–but the distinction between these two perspectives. I do not believe it theologically possible for there to simultaneously be 100% of either idea when it comes to free will and predestination (sovereign grace). They are, without any doubt, mutually exclusive. Our God is not a God of paradox. That is not looking at the whole text, there is much more to it than that. God did not simply get to read the whole plan of history like a script. He WROTE the script. He is not merely aware of the things to come, they are the things to come only because He ordained and allowed every one of them to be completed. Included in those events are the miraculous regenerations of men’s souls.