Yes, Matt. You're doing an excellent job. [b]DHfan wrote:[/b] [quote]yes, God chooses to save us but why dont we have a choice in the matter? Why does God "not want anyone to die, but for all to have eternal life" and yet he chooses that some people will go to Hell?[/quote] We don't have a choice in the matter because we as humans are innately and entirely corrupt. We already make the choice to hate and reject God, because it's our human nature to do so. Only by the intervention of the holy spirit are we capable of accepting Him. And to address the second part - God does NOT choose that anyone will go to Hell. We are all destined there from the start. God simply chooses to SAVE some of us. And on a parallel point, God does not 'make us' sin. Evil does not exist because of God. Evil exists because of the existence of creatures (us) who are imperfect - less than God. --- We do have free will. We have the ability to make our own choices. But the choices we make, we make because of who we are - and we are all humans. As humans, we are not capable of choosing God on our own. It's completely against our nature. It is by the grace of God that we are saved... his purposeful intervention - the Holy Spirit working in our hearts. As far as the topic of not being able to change our future... I'm a fatalist. I believe that everything that happens was going to happen from the creation of time. I suppose in many ways you could say I'm a strong believer in 'fate' or 'destiny'. But even though what we will ever say or do or decide was set from the beginning, it doesn't mean that it's not the result of our own choices. --- All in all, I've always found that this topic is among the most difficult for human minds to grasp. I am troubled to understand it myself. Let us be thankful that there is a conciousness greater than ours that governs the affairs of the universe.