The problem many people have when they are looking at Romans 8:29 is that they fail to take into account what kinds of words they are dealing with. When the Bible says that God foreknew and that God predestined, the words "foreknew" and "predestine" are verbs. It is God who is doing the action, and we are the one's that God foreknows.

God doesn't look down through time and see what choices that we make. God foreknows the elect. I am going to use an example from Dr. White to explain how this all fits together. Dr. White shared this story on the "Dividing Line" show:

In a seminary class a professor wrote three statements on the board.

- God saves all people

- God saves no one

- God saves some people

The God who created the universe has three key characteristics; God is gracious, God is free to do whatever God wants, and God is a God of justice. Now which of these three is God free? If God saves everyone, that satisfies God's grace, but not His justice and God isn't free to do what God wants. It has an element of being obligated to do something.

If God saves no one, God is just but that choice doesn't reflect the grace of God, nor does it allow God the freedom to choose anyone.

The third choice is the best one because it reflects God's justice (some do go to hell), God's grace (many are saved), and God is free to choose.

One criticism of Calvinists is that it says God is the author of sin, and that is not true. All human beings are born with a sin problem. We are dead in our sins (Ephesians 2:1) until God reaches down and opens our hearts. A great example of this is Lydia in Acts 16.

One key word that is important is the word "many". Isaiah 53:11-12 says that the savior would die for the "many". I believe that there will be more people in heaven than in hell. The simple fact is that God is not obligated to save anyone, but God does it because he loves human beings and grace means we are saved even though we don't deserve it.