Do you choose God or does He choose us?

Answer 1

(Full extracts are given to get the verses in context).

God chose people, often from the bottom of the heap (unlike man, who would choose from among the best) :-

1Co 1:22 For Jews ask for signs, Greeks seek after wisdom,

1Co 1:23 but we preach Christ crucified; a stumbling block to Jews, and foolishness to Greeks,

1Co 1:24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.

1Co 1:25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

1Co 1:26 For you see your calling, brothers, that not many are wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, and not many noble;

1Co 1:27 but God chose the foolish things of the worldthat he might put to shame those who are wise. God chose the weak things of the world, that he might put to shame the things that are strong;

1Co 1:28 and God chose the lowly things of the world, and the things that are despised, and the things that are not, that he might bring to nothing the things that are:

1Co 1:29 that no flesh should boast before God.

God chose who He wanted from before anything was created

Eph 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ;

Eph 1:4 even as he [Christ] chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and without blemish before him in love;

Eph 1:5 having predestined us for adoption as children through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his desire,

Eph 1:6 to the praise of the glory of his grace, by which he freely bestowed favor on us in the Beloved,

Eph 1:7 in whom we have our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,

Eph 1:8 which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence,

Eph 1:9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he purposed in him

Eph 1:10 to an administration of the fullness of the times, to sum up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens, and the things on the earth, in him;

Eph 1:11 in whom also we were assigned an inheritance, having been foreordained according to the purpose of him who works all things after the counsel of his will;

Eph 1:12 to the end that we should be to the praise of his glory, we who had before hoped in Christ:

Eph 1:13 in whom you also, having heard the word of the truth, the Good News of your salvation,--in whom, having also believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,

Eph 1:14 who is a pledge of our inheritance, to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of his glory.

God does everything, from calling right through to glorification:-

Rom 8:28 We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.

Rom 8:29 For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

Rom 8:30 Whom he predestined, those he also called. Whom he called, those he also justified. Whom he justified, those he also glorified.

It is all God's work - we have no input at all - otherwise it would be our 'work' , and the Christian election, predestination, calling, justification and glorification is all done by God. The only thing a person can do is to run away from God, but if God has already chosen him He will bring him back one way or another. The only thing a man can do is to accept God because to God the outcome has already occurred. This is a paradox that will never be solved because there is a will on both sides. We like to think that we have chosen God ourselves from our own free will with no coercion from God at all, but actually God chose us and we chose to choose God after being chosen from eternity past .

If you have a belief system then your religious text should tell you, whatever that text is.

If you have no religious beliefs then the question is moot.

Answer 2

That would depend on your viewpoint and your textual interpretation. While The Bible suggests 'free will'...i.e. you can choose to believe in god and follow god, the Bible also mentions 'predestination'...and states that your fate and your choices are already known by god.

A 'free will' choice would be better than a 'predestination' because it certainly wouldn't be loving for god to decide beforehand where you fate lies. However, a 'free will' god also has problems. "Free Will' cannot exist if the punishment for not exercizing the 'correct' free will decision results in hell, eternal torture, etc. If your only choices are to believe in god or suffer damnation, then the choice isn't one you can freely make. For example: You can choose to stop your car, or you can choose to keep driving and run into the oncoming train. Clearly everyone with any sense would stop the car....that is not technically a choice because there is no alternative choice....except to die a horrible death.

The definition of free will does not require that the consequences of those decisions are pleasant. Using a simplistic definition for Free Will found on line : "The power of making free choices that are unconstrained by external circumstances or by an agency such as fate or divine will." Stating that is not technically a choice based off the premise that decisions that involve negative outcomes aren't choices of Free Will is simply ridiculous. People have and will continue to commit suicide (Some of which will do so by driving into trains). We also have prisons full of people who have exercised their right to Free Will. The God described in the bible is omnipotent meaning he does have knowledge of the future. However, all references to predestination that I could find in the Bible are contingent on the acceptance, or choice to believe, in Jesus Christ. Just because God maybe aware of the choices that you are going to make does not mean that he violates the gift of free will by interfering with those choices. What is directly important to this argument is that the God described in the Bible offers a choice of free will without intercession. The consequences of those choices are irrelevant to the question at hand.

People have argued about this for millennia, we aren't going to all agree because this is now on some question and answer website. Because we can never claim to know exactly what God is or isn't doing this question cannot be proven one way or the other.

Answer 3

God chooses you.

God calls people it is up to people to respond.

Rom 8:30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

1Co 1:9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Eph 4:1 I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called,

1Pe 5:10 But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.

Answer 4

If you're a Calvinist, the former. If you're not, then probably the latter.

Maybe that needs a bit more explanation.

John Calvin believed, among other things, that God decides (before they're even born ... this is important) who will and who won't receive salvation. If God chose you to be saved, then you're saved, and nothing you can do can change that. If God didn't choose you to be saved, then you're damned, and again nothing you can do can change that.

Non-Calvinists generally look at this notion and see all kinds of problems in it, the most notable being "well, if nothing I do matters, I might as well do whatever the hell I want." Calvinists counter that the Elect will choose to act in accordance with God's will anyway.

Answer 5

God has everything predestined. It is his will of your life but it is =your job to follow his will and seek his will, then you will find who he has in store for you.