The "T" matters because all have sinned and there are none that seek the face of the Lord.
If there are none that seek the face of the Lord, how do we find Him? The answer is a hard one - for me it was the most difficult of "TULIP".
If we, in our sin, do not have the ability to seek after God, then it must be God that seeks after us.
That is the "U" - unconditional election. Predestination.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved (Eph 1:3-6 ESV)
Logic tells us that if we are steeping in the "T", we cannot seek God. We are chosen in Christ.
Chosen.
Our election is not based on the good that we have done - it is unconditional upon our behavior.
It is the very idea of our salvation NOT being rooted in ourselves that points to the glory of God. Our salvation is not of ourselves, it is by grace; faith is the vehicle that God has chosen.
It is not of works. We are chosen.
Tony
So you are saying that if we are "elected", and we choose to reject God, He will drag us kicking and screaming into heaven?
Or is it by virtue of being "elected" that we will, in violation of our free will, follow God's will?
Or thirdly, if we are "elected" no matter how sinful our lives, we will ultimately reside in heaven with God?
I just don't get this whole predestination thing. It flies in the face of free will which is also God's gift. Having free will means having the ability to reject God's gift once offered.
Ellen
All I had to do was to look inside my own self and I understand what Scripture means when it says, " "None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God."
And when I ask myself (or others), "what makes me so smart (or spiritual or understanding or righteous or whatever) that I understood and I sought...and the person sitting next to me did not.
There is no other reason inside of ME that would make me seek God, other than that He caused it.
Ellen
Tony, I will address your three points one by one.
So you are saying that if we are “elected”, and we choose to reject God, He will drag us kicking and screaming into heaven?< ?i>
What you are asking about here is the "I", not the "U". Irresistible grace.
Or is it by virtue of being “elected” that we will, in violation of our free will, follow God’s will?
Exactly.
Westminster Confession, X.I.
I. All those whom God hath predestinated unto life, and those only, he is pleased, in his appointed and accepted time, effectually to call, by his Word and Spirit, out of that state of sin and death in which they are by nature, to grace and salvation by Jesus Christ: enlightening their minds, spiritually and savingly, to understand the things of God, taking away their heart of stone, and giving unto them an heart of flesh; renewing their wills, and by his almighty power determining them to that which is good; and effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ; yet so as they come most freely, being made willing by his grace.
Or thirdly, if we are “elected” no matter how sinful our lives, we will ultimately reside in heaven with God?
Westminster XIII
I. They who are effectually called and regenerated, having a new heart and a new spirit created in them, are further sanctified, really and personally, through the virtue of Christ's death and resurrection, by his Word and Spirit dwelling in them; the dominion of the whole body of sin is destroyed, and the several lusts thereof are more and more weakened and mortified, and they more and more quickened and strengthened, in all saving graces, to the practice of true holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.
II. This sanctification is throughout in the whole man, yet imperfect in this life: there abideth still some remnants of corruption in every part, whence ariseth a continual and irreconcilable war, the flesh lusting against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh.
III. In which war, although the remaining corruption for a time may much prevail, yet, through the continual supply of strength from the sanctifying Spirit of Christ, the regenerate part doth overcome: and so the saints grow in grace, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
(I don't buy into the entirety of Westminster; the only infallible rule of faith and conduct is Scripture. There are times that the framers of that document say it better than I)
Moonshadow
Predestination isn't the problem, per se. As Ellen says, rather, it's with "irresistible grace."
Catholics don't dogmatize predestination as precisely as other Christians. Described negatively - what it is not - leaves some leeway.
Here's some points.
Read this article on predestination.