- Jul 9, 2002
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I hold to the view that predestination means that God foreknew who would choose Him, which is inevitable given His omniscience, thus those who are saved were predestined from the foundation of the world, since God always knew they would. Moreover, I do believe that it is by God's grace that we are saved, yet that grace is resistable... meaning that God extends grace enough for salvation to people who never receive it, thus remaining lost, while others receive the same grace and embrace it, and thus are saved.
When it comes to omnipotence and God's sovereignty, I believe that God does not need to expend the full measure of His power in every act that He does, otherwise He would have had to create infinitely wise and powerful humans instead of the finite and relatively weak people that He actually did create; so, because He can limit His power when He deems it is good for Him to do so, I see no reason to believe that He cannot similarly limit His sovereignty enough to permit man the ability to choose without God forcing their decisions upon them, all the while maintaining His absolute control over events by His foreknowledge, permitting those things which are in accord with His plan and purpose to happen, and by those instances where He chooses to directly intervene, preventing those things which would undermine His will, and setting in motion things which will accomplish His will.
Nevertheless, God did set this particular world into being at creation, as opposed to any number of potential other worlds He could have created, and so He chose this particular version of me to come into being... one that would sit at a computer musing about the mystery of His will instead of one that would be doing any number of other potential activities. In this way every decision I make is ultimately caused by God, predestined, and under His sovereign control, yet I had the ability to freely choose to sit at my computer and type out this post.
Your thoughts and comments are welcome, just remember what I say in my signature: "truth without love is not God's truth".
When it comes to omnipotence and God's sovereignty, I believe that God does not need to expend the full measure of His power in every act that He does, otherwise He would have had to create infinitely wise and powerful humans instead of the finite and relatively weak people that He actually did create; so, because He can limit His power when He deems it is good for Him to do so, I see no reason to believe that He cannot similarly limit His sovereignty enough to permit man the ability to choose without God forcing their decisions upon them, all the while maintaining His absolute control over events by His foreknowledge, permitting those things which are in accord with His plan and purpose to happen, and by those instances where He chooses to directly intervene, preventing those things which would undermine His will, and setting in motion things which will accomplish His will.
Nevertheless, God did set this particular world into being at creation, as opposed to any number of potential other worlds He could have created, and so He chose this particular version of me to come into being... one that would sit at a computer musing about the mystery of His will instead of one that would be doing any number of other potential activities. In this way every decision I make is ultimately caused by God, predestined, and under His sovereign control, yet I had the ability to freely choose to sit at my computer and type out this post.
Your thoughts and comments are welcome, just remember what I say in my signature: "truth without love is not God's truth".