Predetermination: are our lives already planned out for us?

If God already knows what we're going to do then surely we have no choice.

In his letter to the church at Ephesus Paul says

4 Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. 5 God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.
[Eph 1:4-5]

9 God has now revealed to us his mysterious plan regarding Christ, a plan to fulfill his own good pleasure. 10 And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth. 11 Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.
[Eph 1.9-11]

Notice he says God "decided in advance" and "chose us in advance", so God does know beforehand.

Well, tonight we looked more closely at what predestination means. How did we do it? By playing Twister of course.

Q. Does God know what's going to come up next on the spinner?
A. Yes he does.
Q. Does he know where we'll move our hands and feet to?
A. Of course.
Q. Does that mean we have no choice in the matter?
A. No.

Ah. So, he knows beforehand what we're going to do, but we can still choose? That's deep.

You see, God is omniscient (which means all-knowing). He knows everything that's is going to happen, and everything that could possibly happen. It's difficult for us to understand really because we aren't all-knowing. It's one of those things that we have to take in faith: we have to trust.

So, what does it all mean for us? Well, two things really.

1. We can feel safe in the knowledge that God knows what will happen in the future, and that he's already told us it's all going to work out well (if you're up for a deep and meaningful read, look at Revelation - it's right at the back of the Bible).
2. We can be sure that what we do is completely our own choice - we have free will - and so we can choose to help God's plan along, or not. But if we know that his plan is going to come true, it makes sense to be on His side really.

As for Twister, it was probably educational, but it was certainly hilarious to watch...