I didn't know anything about Tyndale's theology until I read the links that LAD posted here. But on
this page it lists the "crimes" for which the church prosecuted him:
First: He maintains that faith alone justifies.
Second: He maintains that to believe in the forgiveness of sins and to embrace the mercy offered in the Gospel, is enough for salvation.
Third: He avers that human traditions cannot bind the conscience, except
where their neglect might occasion scandal.
Fourth: He denies the freedom of the will.
Fifth: He denies that there is any purgatory.
Sixth: He affirms that neither the Virgin nor the Saints pray for us in their
own person.
Seventh: He asserts that neither the Virgin nor the Saints should be invoked by us.
Number 4 is about free will.
So I Googled "Tyndale predestination" and got about a thousand hits elaborating his doctrines. As far as I can tell, the view of these early Protestant reformers was: There is a heaven and there is a hell, and you are
assigned. Most people, naturally, are assigned to hell, reflecting the sinful nature of all men. But a few are chosen by God to constitute the "elect." The elect are given, as a free gift, the faith that alone "justifies" (i.e, gets you into heaven). As for the rest, it doesn't matter what you do, no matter how good or bad you try to live your life, too bad for you.
This sounds pretty unsophisticated and even cruel nowadays, but as I understand it, it was a reaction against the perceived position of the Catholicism of the day that the way to get into heaven is to follow the rituals of the Church.
Actually, according to what I have just been reading, the doctrine of predestination goes back to Saint Augustine. My favorite Saint. Someone once asked him, what is the chief joy of heaven? Is it living in eternal bliss in the immanent presence of God, or is it the pleasure of looking down into Hell and seeing the suffering of your enemies?
The good doctor reportedly replied, about 50-50.
Mathman
