etc. etc. etc...

To be honest, it's the way we use the word "control."

As a follower and firm believer in God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit I believe God is definitely (and) ultimately in control of the future and the destiny's of those who believe and those who do not. But the "choice" to believe is still left to the individual. And every Christian should fully agree with this statement because it is the basis of our faith in Christ and what He has done for us. And to seriously disagree with this fact would mean that God "does" choose who accepts Him and who doesn't. (Now I hope I am explaining this thought clearly enough.)

We know the decision to make it to heaven or end up in hell is truly ours to make. Take the two thieves on their crosses on either side of Jesus at their crucifixion. One decided to believe, accept, and confess not only his own guilt, but that the man beside him was also Jesus the Christ, the Lamb and Son of God. The other chose not to believe, admit or confess that Jesus is Lord. These two men and their individual decisions are representative of all of humanity. Jesus died for both men, (or for all humanity to be exact) but only one accepted and made the independent choice to follow Him to Paradise.

My point is this, within God's will for all of humanity there is a [plan A] and a [plan B] (referred to by some as His "perfect will" or His "permissible will".) [Plan A] is what God likes and plans for our lives but then there's [plan B] which is what He allows to happen in our lives by the choices we make.

Just ask Adam and Eve! And don't only ask them about their "fall" as it's called, or better put, their decision to "jump" into the sin of disobedience but ask them what it's like to have one of their sons beat their other son to death and then lie about it. To rephrase it, ask them if they think God seriously wanted Cain to brutally murder Abel in a jealous fit of rage and then act as if Abel deserved it or had it coming. You see it may not always seem fair or right but sometimes good people get hurt by bad people who make selfishly bad decisions.

Now I know and believe that God is all-powerful, all-knowing and all-present at all times (and in all of time) so He knows the decisions we are going to make before we even make them. Because listen, He knows every decision we've ever made, every choice we make now and He already knows the outcome of every one we will make in the future because He is already there! This is why the well known scripture points out that Jesus is "the Lamb that was slain before the creation of the world." He was, is and is to come. You see God exists outside of time. So God is still at the beginning of creation, He is here as you are reading this blog, and He is already present at the end of time as we understand it. Which does mean that He is in ultimate control, and yet (allows) us to choose our own destiny's.

Hope it makes sense...Shalom