Josh Howerton on Election & predestination
Affirmed, held alongside real human responsibility, treated as non-dividing
THE POSITION
Predestination is taught in Scripture; divine sovereignty and human responsibility are 'not enemies,' and a right grasp of it should strengthen rather than undermine evangelism. Compatibilism affirmed, open theism rejected. Treated as a second-tier issue.
WHY THERE IS NO QUOTATIONTwo sources of unequal strength. Eleven doctrinally dense episodes of the Live Free podcast — 989,088 characters of auto-caption transcript — carry all thirteen positions; Howerton hosts that show with Carlos Erazo and Paul Cunningham, captions do not label speakers, and those transcripts were not retained, so a claim is attributed to him personally only where the surrounding text made the speaker unmistakable, and no quotation from them can be reopened. Positions drawn from the show rather than from him by name are the show's. Against that, one solo sermon has been transcribed and retained with its video id and timestamps — 4 Ways to KILL the Spirit of Fear, 16 Aug 2026 — and the two positions it bears on now carry a quotation any reader can open at the second it was said. Eleven positions still carry none, which is the unrepaired half of this figure and not a principle: the remaining 164 sermons are unread. Automatic captioning mangles proper nouns and technical theological terms throughout; corrections are bracketed.
28 And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose. 29 For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified.
NOBODY ELSE HOLDS THIS
ABOUT THIS FIGURE
Senior pastor of Lakepointe Church, Dallas–Fort Worth, and host of the Live Free podcast. Researched from primary-source transcripts — see the Live Free Podcast folder.
Cite this page
"Josh Howerton on Election & predestination", Examined Doctrine, July 2026 edition, https://examineddoctrine.com/position/howerton/election (archived at https://examineddoctrine.com/editions/2026-07/position/howerton/election).