Hi Rondonom.
please take a look at the text of Romans 8:29ff. 'for those' in verse 29 are the same as 'those' in verse 30. The 'those' Paul is talking about are Christian's not Jesus.
I'm not even referring to free will here (what ever that means). As even those who are Arminian in their sotoriology, rightly understand Romans 8:29ff. The difference is that we just disagree on how it works out in a persons life (the calling etc).
But you miss verse 30, it says that whom he did predestinate, he also called.
Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30
Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
John 12:32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw
all men unto me. (NOT SOME)
2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward,
not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
So who did God call? ALL MEN, thus He predestinated all men to have a way toward repentance. Nothing else makes sense, God can't lie, God DESIRES that ALL MEN repent and Jesus said If I be lifted up (from death) I will draw ALL MEN unto me. So, God did not call some men and not others, that is the Calvinists Predestination theory, which is in error. God predestined a WAY TO SALVATION via Jesus' Blood, or else Paul and Jesus lied.
What it is, is Calvin, and OTHERS misunderstand Paul's words, written in Greek, translated into Latin, and then into English. You see, what I do, is I test the spirit AND I test the scriptures, if anything makes God a liar, then it has to be delved into further, then we can use logic to lose the irrational.
FOR INSTANCE..........Daniel 7:11 and Rev. 19:20 are at odds about the end of the Beast. So what gives? God does not give us TWO ENDINGS, one is MISUNDERSTOOD or misconstrued, and thus I needed to DIG IN, to find out why ! Thats what I do with end time stuff.
Daniel 7:11 I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the
horn spake: I beheld even till the
beast was slain, and his
body destroyed, and
given to the burning flame.
Revelation 19:20 And
the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image.
These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
So, which is it, was the Beast KILLED like Dan. 7:11 says, OR was the Beast cast ALIVE into the Lake of Fire? The answer seems contradictory, but it is not at all contradictory. You see, we are ETERNAL BEINGS, thus we never die as Spirit men, we SLEEP (Paul said in 1 Cor. 15) until the Lord calls us home. After the First Resurrection, the Wicked will be raised 1000 years later and Judged, the bible says this, BUT not the False Prophet and Anti-Christ they will be cast straight into hell. The bible also says it is appointed ONCE for men to die and then the Judgment. So, the Anti-Christ/Beast and False Prophet are no doubt Judged at the Rev. 20:4 judgment seat, then cast into hell, just after they have been killed, NEITHER ONE is allowed to SLEEP in the grave for the next 1000 years like all of the other wicked via the Second Resurrection. God has a special timing for just those two, even Satan is locked in the pit for 1000 years. So, the Beast is indeed killed, just like Danel was told in Dan. 7:11, and they are cast alive or WITHOUT SLEEPING they are cast straight into hell fire. This is the way you solve seeming contradictions. You start out on a journey, then you reason your way through.