Freewill and Predestination seem like different perspectives rather than opposing views or impossibly complex, contextually changing principles, which God governs our lives by. God either knew the cause and effect of everything he created, or he didn't. The bible says God is all knowing. Jesus disciples said, "now we know that you know all things." ¹ The Bible gives examples of the things God knows, like our entire life story, ² all the good things we will do, ³ the current number of hairs on our head, ⁴ the physical well being of all the sparrows in the world, ⁵ the amount of snow that will fall, ⁶ and how far the ocean's waves travel. ⁷ God also showed his knowledge by predicting years of famine and plenty, ⁸ or by predicting what would happen with major kingdoms, ⁹ future events, ¹⁰ and people. ¹¹

          Although I believe God knows and directs all things, the bible especially focuses on his knowing and determining our eternal destiny. The bible explains that we have to choose God, and that God is the one working in us to choose him. There are so many verses affirming this, that it's a little overwhelming to choose some. ¹² I think the clearest example of God choosing us independent of our choice or actions is in Romans chapter 9, where Paul talks about God choosing to love Jacob, but hating Esau, before they were born. Paul then talks about how God hardened pharaoh's heart for his own purposes. Paul makes it clear that no one can change what God pre-determined by saying, "So then he has mercy on whomever he chooses, and he hardens the heart of whomever he chooses. You will say to me then, "Why then does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?" But who indeed are you, a human being, to argue with God? Will what is molded say to the one who molds it, "Why have you made me like this?" Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one object for special use and another for ordinary use?" ¹³ Later Paul talks about Gods independent choosing, saying, "Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, as it is written, "God gave them a sluggish spirit, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day."" ¹⁴ God has ways of manipulating and guiding the desires and actions of both believers and unbelievers. ¹⁵

          So God chooses us independent of us, before we can do anything about it, but the Bible also says our choices truly determines our eternal destiny. God says: "though I say to the wicked, "You shall surely die," yet if they turn from their sin and do what is lawful and right… they shall surely live, they shall not die." ¹⁶ And again God says, "Everyone who believes in him (Jesus) will not perish, but have eternal life... But those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed." ¹⁷
         The Bible also describes how things would have been different, if our decisions and actions were different. ¹⁸ For example, Isaiah says, "Oh, that you had paid attention to my commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea." ¹⁹ So, if we would have chosen one way, things would have been different, but because of what we chose, things are as they are.
         God chooses our eternal destination independent of us, yet he says, what we choose determines where we go, and then he further says, if we would have made a different choice, we would have ended up with a different eternal outcome.
         As I read story after story in the bible about God pre-choosing us and giving us the responsibility to choose him, it becomes more and more apparent that God is not semi-directing us. As if God were blowing us towards heaven and Satan were blowing us towards hell, leaving us to choose, while being tossed around by truths, lies, pleasures, and pain.
         What I see is an all-knowing, ¹ all-powerful God, ²⁰ who created everything, ²¹ and now holds what he created together. ²² Like an infinitely powerful computer, he is unlimited in his ability to calculate all the rippling effects, every persons decisions will make, on everyone around them. ²¹ He exhibited his infinite knowledge by predicting things hundreds or thousands of years before they took place, or answering us before we finish speaking, etc. ²³ From God's perspective everything is planned, and nothing is random or meaningless. But I also see that what we think, say and do, is ultimately what determines our eternal destination. ²⁴
         God's pre-planning and our choice only makes sense, if we consider multiple perspectives. God knows who will choose what, and when. So from God's perspective everything is pre-destined, pre-decided and pre-guided. But from our perspective, we don't know the future, so all choices truly matter. God might be influencing us, but God said, what we choose is what matters. When God says our choices have consequences, he knows they really do, because God cannot lie. ²⁵ We cannot help but have free will. God gives us the ability to shape our desires, by the choices we make, but we can only act according to our present circumstances and understanding. We do what we desire, and in a circular cycle, our desires are determined by our circumstances and understanding. The bible says, "The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps." ²⁶ So we are the ones making choices, but God is directing those choices. God said he set things up for us to understand the truth, but we can still choose the pleasure of sin. ²⁷ God can always show more grace and give more chances to repent, but we are at his mercy, because he sets the limits of his grace. He chooses when we die, and if we haven't chosen him by then, we die in our sin. ²⁸
         Because our choices matter, it's important to know that he created certain principles that lead us to heaven or hell. For example sin makes us hard hearted and distant from him, but obedience draws us close to him. ²⁹ Our past may have set us up to reject his compelling graces, truths and warnings, like Pharaoh. But again from our perspective every choice really does matter. Today we can choose to obey and draw near to him, and if we continue doing this until we die, we will enter heaven. ³⁰ Or we can choose to disobey God and his warnings and harden our hearts towards the Holy Spirit. ³¹ And by disobeying him we can give the enemy a foothold, and deception and the pleasure of sin can drive us further and further into sin and lies, until we die with a hard heart and no faith. ³²
         God may have predetermined our fate, but he makes it clear that everything we do, and the choices we make, really do matter. Although we were born into a sinful world, with a wicked heart, God wanted to show his love and mercy to us, by taking the punishment of anyone who believes what Jesus did for us. ³³ But God warns us, that unless we start obeying what we believe, we will find our faith destroyed like the man who built his house on the sand. ³⁴ Even the apostle Paul said he walks out his faith with a healthy fear, so that he doesn't end up being cast away. ³⁵
         God knows and formulates what influences our choices, but we really do have to choose. It's his grace that saves us, but he tells us to continue following him, if we want to receive what he is giving us. ³⁶ In the end it's God who warns, guides, teaches, and in every way enables us to get to heaven. ³⁷ But from our perspective, we have to choose to listen and do what he shows us, if we want to get what he is promising us. ³⁴

Side Note – Because God created everything, it seems apparent that God did create both the ability to do evil and the circumstances that would cause men and angels to do evil. But he said that, he did this in order to show his love and mercy to a greater degree, not because he likes or is evil. ³⁸ The bible says God hates evil, and he is himself good. ³⁹ It's like me making up a story with a hero and a villein, I don't have to like the villein in order to create him. In fact, I try to think of the things I hate most, when I create him. In like manner God doesn't have to be evil to think up or create evil. The bible says, "What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience the objects of wrath that are made for destruction; and what if he has done so in order to make known the riches of his glory for the objects of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory." ⁴⁰ In other words, God wanted to show his love and mercy to those undeserving, but he also wanted to show how much he hates evil, by destroying the wicked. As a result of Adam and Eve's evil, hardships have come into the earth, so that God says all creation groans. ⁴¹ I don't fully understand why there is such suffering, but God says, "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." ⁴² I'm left to believe what he said about things I don't understand, based on the proof he has given about his word being reliable.

① John 16:30 ② Jeremiah 1:5 ③ Ephesians 2:10 ④ Luke 12:7 ⑤ Luke 12:6 ⑥ Job 38:22 ⑦ Job 38:8–11 ⑧ Genesis 41:30 ⑨ Daniel 2:19–47 ⑩ Psalm 22:16 ⑪ Isaiah 7:14 ⑫ Romans 9:15-16 / Romans 8:29 / John 6:44 / John 6:37 / Psalm 65:4 / Jeremiah 1:5 / Isaiah 41:9 / Deuteronomy 7:6 / Isaiah 41:9 / Ephesians 1:4 / 2 Timothy 1:9 / Revelation 17:14 ⑬ Romans 9:18–21 ⑭ Romans 11:7–8 ⑮ Philippians 2:13 / 1 Kings 22:19-23 / 2 Kings 19:6-8 ⑯ Ezekiel 33:14–15, 18:30–32 ⑰ John 3:16–18 ⑱ Ezekiel 33:1-11 ⑲ Isaiah 48:18 ⑳ Job 42:2 ㉑ Jeremiah 32:17 ㉒ Colossians 1:17 / Hebrews 1:3 ㉓ Isaiah 65:24 ㉔ Deuteronomy 30:19 / Ezekiel 33:11 / Ezekiel 18:31-32 / John 3:16–18 ㉕ Deuteronomy 30:19 / Numbers 23:19 ㉖ Proverbs 16:9 / Proverbs 19:21 / Jeremiah 10:23 ㉗ Romans 1:20 / Hebrews 3:13 ㉘ John 3:16–18 / John 3:36 / Matthew 25:14–30 / Matthew 22:1–14 ㉙ Hebrews 3:13 / John 3:36 / James 4:8 / Matthew 25:14–30 ㉚ 2 Corinthians 6:2 / Colossians 1:23 / Hebrews 3:12-4:1 ㉛ Hebrews 3:13 / Ephesians 4:30 ㉜ Ephesians 4:27 / Hebrews 3:12-19 ㉝ Psalm 51:5 / Jeremiah 17:9 / Isaiah 53:5-6 / Romans 5:8 ㉞ Matthew 7:24–27 / Hebrews 3:12-4:1 ㉟ 1 Corinthians 9:27 / Philippians 2:12 ㊱ Ephesians 2:8-9 / Colossians 1:23 ㊲ Psalm 32:8 / Romans 8:30 / Philippians 1:6 ㊳ Romans 5:7-8 / Romans 11:32-33 ㊴ Mark 10:18 / Psalm 5:5 Psalm 11:5 ㊵ Romans 9:22–23 ㊶ Genesis 3:16–19 / Romans 5:12 / Romans 8:21-23 ㊷ Isaiah 55:9