Greetings ladies and gentleman, this is my first post on the site and I can imagine this is a topic that you've debated frequently, if not endlessly! However, I never really thought that I needed to confront it (as a Catholic) though you may deem it foolish on my part to find difficulty in substituting 'foreknowledge' with 'predestination'.

Though the Calvinistic notion of predestination is a most sickeningly, monstrous doctrine, the position to which the Catholic Church holds is just as egregious and is just as worthy of examination as the Calvinistic variation.

While in the Catholic understanding, God does not actively prescript or impose on certain persons the inevitability of damnation, it holds that God holds 'probable knowledge' of a person's action in their future and therefore circumstances are provided to the 'elect' to aid them in their salvific journey. I cannot debate the logic of this on other sites (such as Catholic Answers) due to the proclivity of members there to post Scripture and the teaching authorities of the various Councils as counter-arguments, if not outright refutation of my attempts to come to an understanding using logic solely.

Therefore, I would like to read your arguments, from my irreligious and religious friends alike on this matter, and from there I will inform my own opinion.

Thank you so much for bearing with my rambling and I look most forward to your arguments!