The Doctrine of Predestination“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”1 Probably, this verse from Genesis is one of the best known verses in the Bible apart from John 3:16 . It is a universal Christian belief that God created the world and all its inhabitants, making him omnipotent. By recognizing God's omnipotence, Christians also recognize that God is omniscient. Although Christians generally recognize God's omniscience, there is internal debate about how far this omniscience goes, particularly regarding the doctrine of predestination and election. According to A Handbook of Christian Theology, written by Arthur A. Cohen and Marvin Halverson, predestination is defined as “a Christian theological doctrine commonly developed on the basis of the Old Testament conception of a chosen people and the teaching…that God continues to redeem his people by choosing individuals to receive the gift of faith in Christ." Christian leaders, Calvanism, named after John Calvin, a French theologian who lived during the Protestant Reformation and was an incredibly influential pastor, and Arminianism, named after Jacobus Arminius, which was the Latinized name of the Dutch theologian Jakob Hermanszoon who also lived during the Protestant Reformation. time of the Protestant Reformation.3 These two men were extremely influential in forming two of the major Christian views of the doctrine of predestination. Overall, Calvin's view leaned more towards the idea that the salvation of human beings is ultimately decided by God... in the middle of the paper... he would ultimately reject Him. I believe that Christ's death covered all sins and all people and that it is our choice, ultimately, to choose or reject this gift. I agree with the point made by Peter Laitres in his article that “believers need to spend much more time on the Word of God, rather than reading and following men and books ABOUT the Word of God.”21 Ultimately, we are imperfect beings with limited understanding. I constantly remind myself that God is totally outside of my understanding. It is outside of time, outside of genre, outside of anything we can understand. Predestination is something I feel we will not fully understand until we come face to face with God and until that happens, we should just focus on loving God and loving others instead of creating petty rivalry over certain doctrines agreed upon as non-essential for salvation..