Predestination is the dirty fourteen-letter word of modern evangelicalism. It is the that-which-must-not-be-named doctrine of the majority who despise it. It is ever only breathed in whispers by those who are convinced of its biblical foundation, lest they roil the placid waters of Lake Kumbaya. It doesn’t need to be this way. We can have a lucid conversation on the matter without a donnybrook breaking out in the church parlor. Perhaps much of the consternation over the concept that God elects a people unto Himself prior even to creating the dust that the first person is formed from comes down to a fundamental misunderstanding of the term.

So often I hear a froth-mouthed opponent of the doctrine say (between spurts of saliva) something like this:

If God predestinates our salvation then nothing we do matters. We’re all just muppets churning out episode after episode of the only show on TV, written, produced, and directed by the Great Jim Henson in the Sky.

I want to address this particular view that so many hold against predestination/election. I believe the concept these people hold conflates two entirely different ideas into one messy hodge-podge pot of stew.

Let’s first talk about the philosophical concept of fatalism. Fatalism is adhered to by various flavors of pagans, false religions, and Christian cults alike. It is at heart a heathen worldview. Most atheists would hold no discernible disagreements with it. It hurts my heart that many well-meaning Christians also hold fatalistic notions.

Fatalism teaches that God, the universe, or materialistic forces of nature, drive a person to a foreordained conclusion with no coinciding input from the object of fate – at least no input that makes a difference in their final destination. It is an irresistible force that is as unbreakable as a Hulk Hogan headlock (a back-in-the-day Hulkster just to be clear).

As applied to the Christian doctrine of election it paints a picture of a God who randomly chooses a person to receive salvation who, despite his best efforts to tell God to take a hike, will nonetheless be taking a hike with God through the heavenly high country for all eternity – whether he likes it or not. See, this hypothetical fella, let’s call him Jimbo, may really hold a grudge against God because maybe he’s had a bad lot in life. Maybe he married wrong and lives on the roof of his house most days. And maybe he blames God for it all and has had no authentic liver shivers prompting him to holy service. In fatalism it doesn’t matter. His destiny is locked in.

Let’s say for the sake of argument Jimbo dies in defiance of the one true God. He awakens to find himself standing at the pearly gates with St. Peter peering at him curiously over his golden spectacles. Peter takes down his name, address, and phone number and scrutinizes the oversized tome placed before him. Eventually, a smile breaks out. “Good news!” he proclaims. “Your name is written down in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Welcome into heavenly glory, O elect of God!” Jimbo is dismayed. “I have no desire to be where God is! I can’t stand him! He has brought me nothing but misery all of my days. I’m out!” Jimbo turns on his heels and leaves the apostle standing aghast at the gates. Peter quickly snaps his fingers and a couple of burly cherubim appear out of nowhere and snatches Jimbo by the arms and begins dragging him to the yawning gates so eager to receive him. He violently struggles against his captors but it is all in vain. Kicking and screaming he is brought into the heavenly realm.

This is fatalism in a nutshell. It really didn’t matter how Jimbo lived his life. It was irrelevant what view toward God he held. His response to the gospel of Christ, whether positive or negative, didn’t factor into the equation at all. Jimbo won the celestial lottery and regardless of how he feels about it, the check’s in the mail, no strings attached. It’s like winning the Showcase Showdown on the Price is Right and the grand prize is a 1970 AMC Gremlin, complete with a shiny olive green coat of paint. Not exactly what Jimbo was hoping for.

Admittedly, this is an extreme example of fatalism applied in a Christian context, but I’m convinced there are Christians who think predestinarians believe this is how it works. And nothing could be further from the truth. No person goes kicking and screaming into eternal life against his will.

Not a single one.

Fatalism is a cold, clinical, and capricious take on one of Christianity’s most glorious truths. Thank goodness fatalism can’t exist in a universe with a transcendent sovereign God.

Why is that so?

Biblical predestination isn’t dualistic like philosophic fatalism. It doesn’t set the material world against the spiritual world. It combines the spiritual and material, resulting in glorious salvation for all of God’s precious chosen ones. See, in fatalism’s worldview, what is decreed in the spiritual realm is not necessarily indicative of what happens in the material world. Even if it did, it would be only coincidental. On the other hand, in predestination, the decrees of God in the spiritual world are causative of all that happens in the material world. See Scripture for details (Eph 1:11-12; Dan 4:34-35). As a point of clarification what I mean by spiritual world is the invisible but equally real reality that lies beyond all human senses.

Applied specifically to the doctrine of election, every person elected to everlasting life in the spiritual realm by God’s eternal decrees will, in the course of their lifetime, hear the gospel of Jesus Christ, come under conviction for their sin, and repent, putting all their faith in Jesus Christ to forgive, cleanse, and make them a new creation. All this happens in real-time in the material world. But it all has a spiritual foundation in the will and good pleasure of our Great God and Savior. After all, Yahweh is the God of the means as well as the ends. These two realities cannot be separated. We don’t live in a gnostic universe where the material world is set at odds with the spiritual world. God is Lord over all. His will is done in heaven as well as in the earth.

Faith in Christ is a gift – by God’s eternal decree. We exercise it freely and willingly because we have been given eyes to behold God’s brilliant glory. We can hear and obey His word because He has given us ears to hear and a heart to obey. These things are possible only through the new birth – granted to us by the Holy Spirit. The new birth is a euphemism for a new heart. The new heart changes how we feel about God. The old heart hates him. The new heart adores him. The old heart wishes him dead. The new heart worships him as He is. The new heart is given only to the elect, those chosen before time began. God decrees to save His beloved elect in the spiritual reality that undergirds material reality. His decree unfailingly manifests itself in material reality, in space and time on the stage of creation where all this redemptive drama plays out. God knows the ending of this play because he wrote it. And Christian, know this: He wrote you and me into His manuscript, His Divine Comedy, for your good and for His ultimate glory.

Rejoice!