In reviewing
Jeremiah's life, the reader should be cautious not to confuse the principle of
foreordination with the principle of predestination, for there is a broad
distinction between the two. A man may be foreordained--set apart or commanded
to do a certain work--yet he retains his agency in the matter; he has the
option as to whether or not he will perform the duty assigned to him. If a man
were predestined to do certain work, he would have no choice but to do that
work. Not having any choice, he would not incur the responsibility for his own
actions, nor could he control them; he would be controlled by the power that
predestined him. While Jeremiah was foreordained to be a prophet to the nations,
the scriptures do not say that he was predestined to fill the office of a
prophet. (The
Plan of Salvation [1978], p. 2)