Pre-destination - Did God choose us or did we choose Him first?

I fully agree with you that man, in his own ability can't save himself or desire God without God working in his heart. God is not willing that any should perish. Therefore, He gave His only begotten Son to pay for our sins. The third day He rose again to offer us free salvation through faith in Him. Man is not made a robot, and is able to make decisions for himself. And when he decides to trust Christ in his heart, he will be saved. But the moment he rejected Christ, then hell is waiting for him. It's a choice we can make! Thank you for your wonderful discussion.

I like this discussion I just wanted to respond to your question. Did God choose us or did we choose Him first? Christianity is God looking and reaching out to man, and not man seeking or trying to reach out to God. I believe this why many religions have hard time accepting the gospel because man does seek for God but rather God comes to seek for man this is so evident in the life of Adam. But let us look at what Jesus says according to this issue in John 15:16 He says this "You did not choose me but I choose you". So our Lord and Savior made it clear to us with plain words. God bless you all.

I too believe that God chose a people first to be saved through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ His Son, and then the Holy Spirit will work in the chosen people to bring them to salvation.
Ephesians 1: 4-5; 11 tell us this. " For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world...In love, he predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance to His pleasure and will..."
We can safely trust Him that his will and pleasure are good and we should be grateful because among all people, he chose us long even before we were born because He loves us. Since we know that God has chosen us from the very beginning, God would not let us go that easily. From the beginning he knows the end. We just have to believe that he always brings his purposes to pass, no matter how things might appear to us now. Thank you for letting me share.

I think that it is your choice. As it says in the Bible, God will separate all people to his right or left. He will say to those on his left Join me for salvation is yours. I was hungry and you gave me food. Thirsty you gave me drink. Naked and you clothed me. Imprisoned and you visited me. The people on the right will ask. Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you drink, naked and clothe you, or imprisoned and visit you. The Lord will say peace be with you, whenever you have done one of these acts to my lesser brothers, you hae done them for me. He will say to the left that they didn't do all of these. They will ask the same question and he will respond the same. So as you can see, we have the choice, I think, to feed others, give others drink, colthe others, and visit others. We choose to follow God.

we have our own choice its if we believe and follow the word of god we will be saved.

I believe that both are true actually. God chose us. Of that, we can be sure, because he says it himself in his Word, as someone quoted above. He chose us when he sent his son to die for our sins. He chose ALL of us. God does not want anyone to perish, but wants us ALL to dwell with him eternally!

The second part of the equation is our choice. We can either choose to love him or choose to turn our backs on him. Sinful hearts will turn from God, it is true, but sinful hearts also must realize at some point that they NEED God. God will turn the heart of any who earnestly want to find him. "Ask and it will be given to you, Seek and you will find, Knock and the door will be opened." When we choose to seek God, he reveals himself to us.

So, to make a long story short, I think both are true. I definitely do not believe in pre-destination the way the Puritans and other religion sects believe in it though. God will not let a limited amount of people into heaven. He opens his arms to any who seek him.