I work in a mostly christian inviroment, but I am the only "Calvinist." I am quick to point, that indeed I am not Calvinistic, but reformed, thus averting questions on following a man. But how, they want to know, can I justify free will (or human responsibility), with predestination. This can lead to interesting discussions. A lot of people don't get it when I tell them that we are free, and we predestinated. Period.
In thinking about it, I have determined that we are like ships. The law is like a map of the globe, while redemtion is like a rudder. Before the work of redemtion, we are ships with neither maps or rudders. These ships are free, they can hoist sail, or float in the tide, but they cannot know where they are going, nor could they easily persue a course, and they will often beach on a dry, lonely shore. Enter the law, a map, and redemption, a rudder. Now a ship can know where it should be, where it should be going, and it can do something to get there. In this is true freedom. The ship can make voyages, and port for replenishing. It is free to go north, south, east, or west, and to avoid rocky shores. The law, the placement of land and water in the map, is death to a ship with no rudder or redemtion, but it is life and grace to those who have been saved.
