re: United Methodist Church special session this week

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So some people are simply predestined to Hell?

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That seems to be the gist of what Paul is saying in Romans 9. God raised up Pharaoh for the very purpose of inflicting him and his kingdom with plagues and then destroying him. Paul even says God hardened Pharoah's heart, which hearkens back to Exodus when Moses says that God hardened his heart so that he wouldn't obey the word of the Lord and let the people of Israel leave. Why? Because God used the miracles performed in releasing the people from Egypt over and over again as a reminder that He is the Lord and that the people should worship Him instead of false gods. Those events in Egypt were orchestrated by God to show His glory to His people.

Even the next section starting in verse 19 anticipates the next question that comes from such a revelation: if God creates a person just to destroy him and even hardens his heart (prevents him from believing the truth and acting on it), then how in the world can God find fault with that person and judge him? You know that's the correct interpretation of that previous passage because it causes the reader to ask that very question.

Paul responds by saying that we shouldn't question God's motives (because He's God and He can do as He pleases) and then goes on to say that God actually creates some people for the purpose of destroying them so that His mercy towards His elect will be magnified. If we all deserve God's wrath and we see that even our neighbor was created to be destroyed, we should feel gratitude that God chose us to be saved from that same destruction, though we too deserve to be destroyed. The point is to make us grateful to God for saving us instead of destroying us, which He has every right to do.