Alright. That's the freewill side. Now the predestination side. There are a multitude of verses dealing with God's Sovereignty relative to Election or Predestination. The ones I have been thinking about recently Ephesians
2 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
So you can see we WERE clearly dead. Jesus affirms this by saying "let the dead bury their dead". We have been saved by Grace through faith, AND EVEN THE FAITH is NOT from us, but a gift from God.
I can just stop there, but of course there are a whole host of other passages that clearly state that God chose us.
So what to think? We clearly may choose Jesus. But it's just as clear, maybe clearer, that God chose us.
I just don't think we need to even be concerned with this answer. THERE IS NO WAY WE CAN DEFINITIVELY ANSWER IT ANYWAY! God will explain it to us when He comes for us.
I'm not saying it shouldn't be discussed, but when that discussion breaks down to hurting each other, what have we gained?
We believe in the One True King!! Let's love each other and spread the Gospel in that love.