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There is something inherently incompatible with randomness and perfection, Mark. Creation and everything since then is described in the Bible as a deliberate and purposeful act of God. The beginning was not a random act simply foreknown to God, and it looks like the end isn't either. In both, God is actively participating, as he is in events that play themselves out in between. I don't see anything in the Bible described as random, but each event as purposefully leading one step closer to God's predestined end.

I have no problem with randomness, as long as there is no particular purpose implied in what happens. Neither foreknowledge nor predestination explain why God gets "angry," as he does throughout the Bible!? Why the frustration of Genesis 6:6, and God "regretting" having made man.

Predestination says that God creates a perfects storm to make sure things proceed on the right track. What you are saying is that God has to wait for a perfect storm rather than create it.

The verse in Isaiah says God "declared" the end from the beginning. So God doesn't just "know" what happens in life; He "declares" it all. He ordains all life according to His perfect purpose.

Jesus' own words say God so loved the world he gave his only son that whosoever believes in him would not perish but have eternal life.

Yes, aren't we fortunate God loves what He has created? And yet Christ says He doesn't pray for all the world but only for those whom God has given Him to redeem.

I agree there is a lot about God and life that will always remain a mystery to us in this life. But I don't think the comforting truth of predestination falls into category. I think God has revealed His control of His creation pretty explicitly. Thankfully.

"For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth" -- Romans 9:11

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"Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began" -- 2 Timothy 1:9

If you have a couple minutes here's an excellent understanding of predestination by Greg Bahnsen.

Do you own a dictionary?

But Scripture is Scripture, Mark. It's all God-breathed.