Jumpstarter 7 of 10

Direct Answer Bercot implies that if salvation outcomes were fixed in an “arbitrary” way, many common prayers and efforts—pleading for repentance, urging someone to “choose,” acting as if decisions matter—would seem inconsistent; our actual praying often assumes real human response.

Support from Transcript:

• Bercot says many evangelicals claim predestination, yet “their prayers and actions show they really don’t.”
• He frames the tension: Scripture says “choose life” (Deut. 30:19) yet also “it does not depend on man’s desire or effort” (Rom. 9:16).
• Early Christian Scriptures cited include open invitations: “whoever believes” (John 3:16) and “whoever desires” (Rev. 22:17).
• Bercot defines Luther’s “arbitrary” predestination as not based on “even prayers of the recipient,” which would seem to undercut prayers aimed at someone’s salvation.
• Origen emphasizes accountability: people are “the cause of our own ruin or our own salvation,” implying choices and exhortations matter.