Calvinistic predestination is just the idea that everything that happens, including every choice that people make and everything they do, is determined by God, according to his sovereign will and plan -- as opposed to the opposing Arminian view of free will, that people have free will and are able to make choices on their own apart from God's influence.
Calvinism is usually delineated according to the acrostic TULIP: Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistible Grace, and Perseverance of the Saints (i.e. Eternal Security). The opposite view, Arminianism, consists of the five opposing viewpoints: Free Will, Conditional Election, Unlimited Atonement, Resistible Grace, and Conditional Security.
According to my understanding of scripture, Calvinism and Arminianism both get some things right and some things wrong: neither is in the truth.
Your approach is the correct one. Doctrines of men may at times be correct; and, just the same, they may at times be incorrect. Ultimately the authority rests in scripture.
