To purposefully have foreknowledge does not mean one cause what the person or persons do.
I don't know if you mis-spoke there, or what. Are you supposing someone is saying that God purposed to have foreknowledge? We are saying that the word, "foreknowledge", when speaking of God "foreknowing" a fact, implies purpose--implies cause.
Purposefully is to be determined to have and foreknowledge is be aware of the events before they actually take place when it comes to what man will do. Knowing the beginning from the end.
Purposely aware with foreknowledge is also God's plan for salvation that will not be altered, nor was it.
Nothing will be altered. There is no need for a plan B, with God.
Humans have a tendency to look at a picture and view it in different ways. To read sentences and come to different understandings.
Of course, and that, usually because of different worldviews and related assumptions.
You mentioned Strong's concordance I understand something totally different than what you do.
Strong's Greek: 4268. πρόγνωσις (prognósis) -- Foreknowledge
Strong's Greek: 4268. πρόγνωσις (prognósis) -- Foreknowledge
When Strong's concordance says Nothing in ***salvation history*** happens by chance, God has already planned salvation and that is through the birth, death, and resurrection of Christ - His plans using his prophets his plans with his apostles. Even his plans when he directly intervened with the descendants of Abraham who were to become a blessing to All Nations through the Lord Jesus.
Would be helpful for you to make your point if you were to show where Strong's ends, and your remarks begin. Did Strong's say all that? Or did you rewrite what he said? I don't know what is what there.
Anyhow, you seem to want to get across the notion, (whether via Strong's having the same notion or not, I don't know), that God only purposed the larger theme and end, and the general use of Christ's life and death, the apostles and prophets and such things as interventions.
Going off of what you said at first about "viewing it in different ways", the worldview that assumes absolute validity to this life, as if it was its own reality apart from God's sustaining its existence (in every particular that exists), is to deny what and who God is. There is no reality in any large sense, NOR IN ANY DETAIL, apart from what God has caused. He is the cause of very reality.
And nothing I am saying, lest you go there, implies that we don't actually cause--indeed we do. Most (if not all) effects are also causes of further effects. Therefore, it is all, in every detail, effects of God having caused all things.
What does the Lord knowing us before we were born - you seem to miss that part in Strong's concordance where it states "" God set His redemptive plan in motion and lovingly fix his regards upon his people BEFORE THEIR EXISTENCE IN TIME."
Thanks for the quote marks. Yes, how does that seem to you that I missed something? If Strong's comments intended, as I suppose, to add definition to the notion that God's foreknowledge is not like ours, were stated as, "lovingly fix his regards upon his people...", in your opinion of what he said as though only in a general way intending goodwill to particular ones God saw as though only through "the corridors of time", you have God reacting to our goodwill, instead of being the cause of it. Do we really have some good in and of ourselves? God is the only source of good.
1 Corinthians 4:7
"
For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?"
People are people and they will always have their own views.
I use Strong's and I am a Old Christian, well seasoned, and heard just about all views from Christians to atheist.
Yet you illogically--self-contradictorily, actually--would say that God causes/caused your ability to choose uncaused. That, or causation by mere chance--which is equally self-contradictory-- is what is implied by the notion that God merely and only plans general long-term great things, and provides a way by which we can choose to cooperate in them. There really is no middle ground there, but it has become habitual for humans to think there is, anyway. We demand, insist on, self-determinism, but we 'humbly' call it "limited autonomy". But John 1:3 says that all things were made by him. That is not just objects. That is facts. All facts.
I asked
Chat GPT-4o mini, "John 1:3 says all things were made by him. Does that mean just objects, or all facts."
In John 1:3, the phrase "all things were made by him" is generally interpreted to mean that everything in existence—both physical objects and abstract concepts, including facts, truths, and principles—originates from the divine (in this case, referring to Christ).
Breakdown of the Interpretation
1. Physical Objects:
- This includes all tangible creations—nature, human beings, and the universe itself.
2. Abstract Concepts:
- This encompasses ideas, truths, and moral principles. The verse suggests that everything that exists, whether seen or unseen, is part of creation and underlies the framework of reality.
Contextual Understanding
The broader context of the passage emphasizes the divinity of Christ and His role as the Creator. Thus, it's reasonable to conclude that the phrase extends beyond mere objects to include all aspects of existence, including truths and facts. This theological interpretation reflects the belief that God is the ultimate source of all reality.
