Now I was reading about Malebranche's opinions on grace and learned that his book on the subject was condemned because of his assertion that God does not give grace to everyone. He was indeed wrong, because the Bible says that all are offered salvation:

John 17:2 says "Just as you gave him power over *all flesh*, so that you have given everything to him, that he might give them life in the Age."

Romans 11:32 says "God shut up everyone in obstinacy so that he might show mercy to everyone."

And 1 Corinthians 15:22 and Romans 15:18, "For just as in Adam all die, so also in the Anointed all will be given life" and "so, then, just as through one transgression came condemnation for all human beings, so also through one act of righteousness came a rectification of life for all humans beings".

This is a very tricky subject when trying to connect it to ideas of what predestination means and even what "God" means. If God is the all powerful complete reality perfect in way which is behind everything, then you would think that God can create a perfect "best of all possible worlds" in which everyone goes to Heaven. But don't we have free will?

What if we understand predestination as a compatibilism between liberty and the infallible determination of grace? Events would happen just as if God was doing them himself, even though we have free will.

Yet why would God not give everyone efficient grace? Why show partiality to some of his children over others in how he gives grace?

This "compatibalism" would, in fact, reverse the meaning of some religious texts, such as: "Which of you men, if you had one hundred sheep, and lost one of them, wouldn't leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one that was lost, until he found it? When he has found it, he carries it on his shoulders, rejoicing."

So it seems to me that, if people go to hell, the idea of God is only rescued if God doesn't know our choices ahead of us doing them.

Thoughts please from anyone interested in religious discussions.