We often talk about predestination in terms of believers being predestined to be with Jesus. If you believe in that, do you also believe that God predestined certain people to hell and what would be called “double predestination”. If you’re a Calvinist, you might say that we are all damned to hell because of our sin and that God in His mercy predestined some to heaven and passed over the rest. But in reality, since he could have predestined anyone he wanted to heaven, by passing over the rest, that would basically mean he predestined them to hell. Someone said “That’s what the Bible says. God predestined some to heaven and he predestined others to hell, into condemnation. For example, 2 Peter 2:3 “And in their greed (speaking of these false teachers) they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle and their destruction is not asleep.” Some would point to verses like this and say “their condemnation was written about long before” or point to verses like Proverbs 16:4 that “God works everything for his purpose, even the wicked for a day of disaster” that it’s all planned out in advance.
As I understand the scriptures, God does not predestined people to hell. He comes with the free offer of the gospel to every human being and that since Jesus has been crucified (John 12:32), he is drawing all people to himself. And that the many different ways that that the Bible expresses: Jesus dying for the world, Jesus dying for everyone, Jesus tasting death for everyone, Jesus being the propitiation not just for our sins but the sins of the whole world, God taking no pleasure in the death of the wicked but rather wanting that wicked person to repent and live. I believe God opens the door through the gospel that Jesus dies to make salvation possible for all and he infallibly secures the salvation of all who put their trust in him. When the Scriptures speak of the written condemnation, the connotation being written in advance, yes those who reject him, those who walk in wickedness, those who turn away, he has a fate already planned out for him, he has a destiny already planned out.
There are two categories: those who will be with him and his son forever and those who will be destroyed and separated from him forever. It’s all laid out, it’s all written out, that’s all predetermined. The question is: Will you respond to the gospel? If you respond to the gospel, you will find yourself to be those chosen in the Messiah from before the foundation of the world. We’d agree, Calvinist and Arminian alike, ultimately when we speak to someone we tell them “Decide, choose. You’re gonna have to give account to God but does he predestine them to hell, give them no choice? No.