” My usual example of the phenomenon on this forum is the never-ending debate over predestination v. free will,....”
That’s an excellent example of what I am talking about. In the theology of the Greek Fathers, there is no conflict at all between free will as an element of our natures as being created in the image of God and what scripture says about what the West calls predestination. Creating a mutual exclusivity as between the two is the result of all sorts of influences, all human I might add. Aristotelian logic is one of them. On the one hand, we attempt to apply human logic to explain, without actually fully understanding, divine purpose while on the other we use that same logic to deny that we are created in the image of God by denying free will. Conversely we can accept, logically, that as beings created in the image of God we ipso facto have free will and at the same time exclude the possibility of election at some point as the subject of divine foreknowledge.
Because I eschew all the doctrines and traditions of men across the board, I can and do simplify such matters to this: a thing is true because God says it.
And the corollary is that if something does not make sense to me, it is my carnal failing alone. Thus, I "hit the knees" begging forgiveness for my pride and listen quietly and patiently as the Spirit leads me whereever He wants me to go.
Even if coming at it from a bit of an angle, I can agree with the first part, and I fully agree with the second part. Is it accepted Orthodoxy, then, that election by Divine foreknowledge is not correct? That surprises me, as I do not remember having heard of another explanation of the verses that discuss election and predestination.