When Calvinists say "But predestination!" (shorter, basic version)
[Finally, the much-shorter version - I said shorter, not short😉 - of my "But predestination!" series. The longer version - full of many more Calvinist comments, my Calvinist ex-pastor's sermons, and my replies to them - can be found by starting here . But in this simplified version, I'm simply sharing the basics. And I'll do a tiny version soon too, cutting out almost all quotes and memes. But, oh, they add so much that it's hard to cut them out. ] At the heart of Calvinism is predestination and God's sovereignty (among other things, like "total depravity"), which according to Calvinism essentially amounts to: "God preplans and controls everything, even sin and evil and all our decisions, and so He pre-picks who goes to heaven and who goes to hell. He causes the 'elect' to believe in Him and be saved, but He made sure the 'non-elect' have no chance or ability to believe and be saved because He predetermined they'd ...