Shorter Catechism: Question 20

Q. 20. Did God leave all mankind to die in sin and misery?

A. 20. From all eternity and merely because it pleased Him, God chose some to have everlasting life. These He freed from sin and misery by a covenant of grace and brought them to salvation by a redeemer. 

Sunday:

Romans 8:28-30

²⁸And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

²⁹For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

³⁰And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

These verses talk about God predesting, or choosing ahead of time, some to be His children. It says that God predestined or chose those whom He foreknew. This does not mean that God looked ahead into the future, saw who would believe in His Son, and chose those people to be His children. That is not what "foreknew" means. It does not mean that He knew what His people would do ahead of time; it means that He knew His people ahead of time.  Long before any of His people were born, God knew them, the way you know a good friend. He could know His people before they were born because He was the One who would create them. Of course, God knew His people would believe in His Son. But He did not chose them because they would believe; they would believe because He had chosen them.

-Training Hearts, Teaching Minds: Family Devotions Based on the Shorter Catechism

This is the end of the my meme of Shorter Catechism. Next week I will be starting back up with Omnibus I, and I hope to hear from all of you. Again my reasoning behind posting this for this week is because I believe that there are somethings that just cannot be argued, especially when the facts are based solely on scripture. These verses and many others that have been listed on my blog are so straightforward, there is no opinion about it. You know how you hear people say, "Well, that's how I see it". With these verses, the language is so particular that there is no room for opinion. And yes, it's hard to think that your next door neighbor whom you love may not be going heaven. But the best part about all of this is that you and I have no clue who God will or will not reveal Himself to. Therefore, we are called to spread the word to all ends of the world so that those who are called can be called through us (not by us).  I don't really know about any of you, but that's pretty exciting to me. Thanks for sticking with me up to now. Feel free to comment on anything and question everything. I love questions and if I don't know the answer I will find it.