Election is simply the idea that since God is omniscient He knows who will accept Him and who will not. It also goes along with the idea that those who accept Christ can never be taken away from God. I could provide the scriptures, but this is the basic principle. Here's one example for how some have phrased the theology.

http://www.gotquestions.org/unconditional-election.html

I also believe that Jesus died for every one's sins and that God has given us the freedom of choice to either repent, believe, and receive God's love and forgiveness, or to reject God's offer of the free gift of salvation. God does elect and choose us according to his foreknowledge of knowing what our choices will be before we even make them.

The debate of free will vs. predestination is, quite frankly, irrelevant and a waste of time. Both of those concepts require time. Free will means we change from one side to the other temporally, predestination has the very obvious prefix indicating "before." But God is not temporal, he's eternal, that is outside of time.
So he does not give us free will in the sense of he creates us and sits and waits until we choose one way or the other, that's nonsensical for God to "wait" for anything. But neither does he determine whether or not we are saved BEFORE anything. There is no past, no before, for God. There is only the present so to do something "before" something else doesn't make sense.

That said, both Free Will and Election are wonderful concepts to illustrate different things about the world. But they are not mutually exclusive, and they should not be read into more than one or two lines. Election simply means that God is omniscient and is responsible for our salvation: we cannot take credit for it. Free will means that it's possible to not be saved and it's possible to not do God's will, even though the offer is "on the table" so to speak.

I was with you until you started saying how to come to salvation...all one has to do to be saved is to believe Jesus died for our sins and was raised again and confess it...period...(see Romans 10:9)  election means God knows who will choose Him and who will not...but He cannot change it because He gave us free will to do so...(this concept gives people heart failure, that God cannot do something, but there are lots of things He cannot do)

@GodArt@xanga - Salvation is no mystery at all..go read Romans 10:9...it is a very simple thing...

@tialoca_talks@xanga - When I say salvation is mysterious, I mean that I've heard enough salvation stories to realize that it's not about praying a prayer, it's about God drawing you to Himself and transforming you into a new creation. I said a prayer when I was 6, but was a saved then? (By the way, there is no "say a prayer and get saved" passage in the Bible.) I don't know that I understood what I was praying, but I know that I am saved now, based on the good work that God has done in me. I can't pinpoint a specific time I was saved, and who knows, maybe I was saved when I was 6, but I really couldn't say for sure. 

@sugartomyhoney@xanga -  you're absolutely right that this is an emotional subject - and I hope no one will attack you for your belief in this issue -   we will all know the truth in time.

amberiasoasis - I had to laugh when I saw this post! 

I believe very strongly in election - the act whereby God chooses some to save, and some to leave in their sin.    Many people say "no fair - some people don't even have a chance then."   That may be true to some extent .......but you can't truly undestand election if you don't understand total depravity.   We are all deserving of eternal condemnation, there is NOTHING in us that God looks down and says "he/she is worthy of salvation."  No one could have faulted God if He destined everyone to hell.  So God in His mercy predestined/elected a chosen people to be saved.    He sent His Son to die for the sins ONLY of those who believe in Him.    Jesus' death was sufficient to cover the sins of the entire human race, but His death only does actually cover the sins of believers.

If you believe in total depravity (as I do) ,,,,,that man is completely unable to choose for God because of the curse of sin, then without God's help we are unable to choose for Him.   Without God reaching down to us and saying "I choose you to be my Child ....here is my Holy Spirit" there is no way we can do so.   By our human nature we all hate God and everything good.  But if we have been given faith (which is a gift only God can give) only then, can we respond to Jesus in faith and belief.   Without God FIRST loving us and choosing us for salvation there's no way we can.

If on the other hand man had some good left in him and was capable of choosing for God ......then why did Jesus need to die?  Wouldn't our own ability be good enough??

I obviously don't believe in free will.   Here's a quote from something called "The Belgic Confession" (google it if you want) ...."Therefore we reject all teaching contrary to this concerning the free will of man, since man is but a slave to sin and no one can receive anything except what is given him from heaven.  For who dares to boast that he of himself can do any good, when Christ says:  No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him?  Who will glory in his own will, when he understands that the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God?.........................and "Apart from Me you can do nothing."     (this is taken from John 8:34, John 3:27, John 6:44, Rom 8:7, and John 15:5)

I you understand what these verses are saying, then I have to believe also, that I cannot choose for God unless He wills me to do so.

And yet, the mystery is -  those who reject God - do this of their own accord because God cannot be blamed for that.   In our lives we have ability to choose for good or bad.     But that is different altogether from the divine act of election.

Ephesians 1:4,5 ----  "For He chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will -    and verse 11 "In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will...."

The belief in election/predestination is more than God looking into the future and seeing who would choose for him and who wouldn't.  Thankfully it doesn't DEPEND on us at all!  The very act of salvation itself is a gift freely given ...and if it depended on me I would be doomed because I cannot choose for Christ without Christ choosing me first.

Does everyone have the potential to be saved?.  Absolutely not.  Only those whom God has chosen will be saved.  And like @sugartomyhoney@xanga - said it is a mystery that we won't fully understand, but there is comfort in this belief for believers.  

I am unashamedly a Calvinist and so before anyone decides to tear me down and attack me, I suggest that you become well versed in the 5 points of Calvinism,  Total depravity, Unconditional election, Limited atonement, Irresistable grace, and Perseverance of the Saints.   (this is commonly known as the acronymn TULIP)   You can go here:  http://www.apuritansmind.com/TULIP/TULIP.htm for more information.

Thanks amberiaoasis for this incredibly intriguing topic!  (of course you know you may have opened up a whole can of worms!)  

I believe in pre-destination and it is quite evident that the Messiah came only for His chosen people.

But, I don't think the Creator really cares if you believe predestination or election, as long as you believe in Him and keep His commands, you are saved.

This would fall under the category of "Pick Your Battles".

@GodArt@xanga - hahahaha...no, there is no "say a prayer" scripture...but Romans 10:9 is what the prayers of salvation that people say are based upon...you do have to confess with your mouth...@sugartomyhoney@xanga - Romans 9:11-13 states the purpose of God is according to election...@Pass_the_Aura@xanga -  "Hell is an eternal monument to the dignity of human free will."  hahahahaah...amen...hahahahah  "It's much more better (ethically) to believe that God would save everyone but couldn't then to believe that God could save everyone but wouldn't."  God gave us free will...He cannot lie, so what we choose here stands...that ain't ethics, that is the truth...  
 

I believe we take the scripture, many times, based on what church we grow up and the doctrines that drive that church.  I know I did for many years.

That being said, I believe salvation is for all mankind, and that Christ saved us all.  I get amused at christians who believe God leads us to repentance, but that he cannot lead an unbeliever to look at a scripture, say, in a hotel room, that doesn't prescribe repentance right away.

Too many people have come to God because of His goodness, and not because they were confronted with a mandate to change their lives.  I also believe that God wants us to be free of sin, not because it separates us from heaven, but because it separates us from Him.

Notice I didn't say 'Him from us", because we already know that NOTHING can separate us from the love of God.  I think many Christians just pass that one up.  It's hard for them to move past the sin issue, as if sin is just a marker for hell.

The psalmist wrote that if he made his bed in hell, God would be there with him.  This readily negates the idea that hell is not only a fiery place, but a place where God is not.  And the Hebrew backs this up.

I know to some this will be spurrious, but having grown up in a pentecostal background, I still was able to question the body of scriptures used to prop up the idea that God was exclusive and not inclusive in His thoughts to mankind.

I think we will be surprised who is in heaven, and for the record, if God says that hell won't separate us from Him, and He is a flaming fire, then as real as hell is, it is more likely that we are all going through it now, as a refining fire.  And it is very real.  Just ask a rape victim, or a person with a cleft lip.  Dying to oneself is very real.

Can you honestly look at a molested person, innocent of anything and everything, and say he or she is going to hell if they don't say a prayer? 

If our earthly fathers know how to give and love, how much more our Heavenly Father?  He created us in our imperfections, in our tendencies that life thrust upon us and that He allowed, and then He is to strike us from His presence without fully revealing the magnificence of who He is?  That's not even scriptural. 

I know the next comments may trot out the over-tried and true-by your point of view verses that elaborate on hell and sin, but God is a practical God.  There are too many variables, too many life situations where the name of Jesus is and thoughts of repentance, or the need to repent, are far from the mind when death comes to call us away.

Can I just say that I am completely shocked (but in a good way) regarding how NICE people have been in these comments.  I was TOTALLY expecting to find WWIII here, but everyone has been so civil, and on a topic that REALLY gets people riled up!  I'm amazed!

Yeah this is a tough discussion to have on a blog.

I think it's important to note that this discussion was going on in Jesus' day, and we have no record of Him directly addressing it. Jews believed that salvation was based solely on the actions of each individual.  However, there was a lot of debate as to whether God predetermined blessings and hardships.

The Essenes believe everything was predestined by God, while the Sadducees didn't believe that God interfered in anything on earth.  The Pharisees were somewhere in the middle (they believed that man is predestined in the material world, but is free in his spiritual life), which is probably why people on both sides quote Paul to support their view.

@ThePathToYourDestiny@xanga - 

Ah, some variety!

Would you consider yourself similar or a type of universalist or no?

As for the original question: I've always preferred free will in some form or another over predestination or fatalism. This is one of the reasons I never liked Augustine much (that and he has one of the most negative views of mankind amongst theologians and philosophers).

It is important to note though that a lack of belief in free will and a belief that everything was predestined played a major role in Martin Luther coming up with his reformation ideas of not by works but by faith. I'll expound on this if anyone wants.