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  1. TaylorSexton

    Is God Yahweh,Jehovah or LORD?

    These aren't choices; they are merely different rendering of the same word יְהוָה. This is God's revealed proper name in Scripture. However, because of Jewish superstition regarding the pronouncing of the divine name, the proper way to pronounce it has been, according to most, long lost...
  2. TaylorSexton

    Does God have free will?

    I will say at his point, @YouAreAwesome, that I have no intention of getting into any kind of argument. My days of that, as far as I can help it, are over. I know all to well where these conversations lead on these types of social media—nowhere good very fast. I would rather bow out now while...
  3. TaylorSexton

    Does God have free will?

    Time is measurable. Eternity by definition is not measurable. Time by definition cannot be eternal, because it would then not be time, because we could not measure it. To say that because God in Scripture comes down in the form of an angel that he therefore exists inside time is a non...
  4. TaylorSexton

    Does God have free will?

    The problem, though, is that Scripture in many places says God is eternal (e.g., Gen. 21:33; Isa. 26:4; Jer. 10:10; Rom. 16:26; 1 Tim. 1:16). "Eternal" is not merely a long duration, but an entirely different mode of existence altogether. Eternity by definition is not measurable. Furthermore...
  5. TaylorSexton

    Does God have free will?

    You ask very good questions and formulate very thoughtful analogies. I do not claim to be a philosopher, though, so these things are, at the moment, far above my pay grade. I would encourage you to keep pondering these things, and as soon as you find an answer, to please let me know! :) These...
  6. TaylorSexton

    Does God have free will?

    I would completely agree...if only we were not fallen. Our reason, I hope you would agree, is fallen, and thus imperfect. Sure, it leads us to right conclusions and truth a fair portion of the time, but certainly not all the time. If we would believe that our reason leads us to the truth all the...
  7. TaylorSexton

    Does God have free will?

    Nobody ever said that. On the contrary, God is himself logic, for he is a God of order. Rather, what we are saying that our finite minds, being corrupted, fallen, and broken, might not always be able to understand how God works everything out. After all, there is a realm of reality that we...
  8. TaylorSexton

    How to correctly read "He chose us in Him before the creation of the world"

    I know biblical Greek. Prepositional phrases by their very nature modify verbs (they are essentially "extended adverbs").[1] This sentence consists of a subject, a verb, a direct object, and two prepositional phrases: Subject: "He" (i.e., God) Verb: "chose" Direct Object: "us" Prepositional...
  9. TaylorSexton

    Does God have free will?

    With all respect to you, you have not read what I have posted correctly. Allow me to make a few comments: You are correct in saying that "God's choices precede his acts and that they aren't connected by necessity." However, you err when you conclude from that, therefore, "God transitions from a...
  10. TaylorSexton

    Does God have free will?

    The inward "acts" are, essentially, God's will and decree in whatever form they may take; his outward "acts" are his effecting his decrees and will. In classic Reformed theology, there is a distinction between the decree and the effecting of the decree. Berkhof explains it nicely: "The decrees...
  11. TaylorSexton

    Does God have free will?

    Here is a very helpful statement by the Puritan William Ames, written in his usual concise way. Every word is important: "God's freedom in outward acts is not only concomitant with them [i.e., his decree and counsel], as in the case of inward acts, but also precedes them in principle. What God...
  12. TaylorSexton

    Does God have free will?

    Only if one approaches God as a rationalist—namely, as one who expects God to conform to human reason. That's the fundamental difficulty with this whole question: The one asking it in reality is seeking to comprehend God's very nature and ways, both of which are "past finding out" (Rom. 11:33).
  13. TaylorSexton

    What does this verse mean? Was Paul a liar?

    No more than hyperbole, jest, satire, simile, metaphor, allegory, or any other figures of speech. Each of these literary and rhetorical devices has its proper place and context (which do not seem to be the concern of a few in this thread), and are perfectly within the realm of truth. There are...
  14. TaylorSexton

    Does God have free will?

    Well, first of all, it is altogether improper to speak of God's "future." Being outside of time, he does not have a proper future; he just is (cf. Gen 3:14). Secondly, if God knows anything about the future (including his own "future," which we will grant just for the sake of the argument), it...
  15. TaylorSexton

    The Errors of Inerrancy

    That's a little much.
  16. TaylorSexton

    What does this verse mean? Was Paul a liar?

    I understand, and that is what I figured. Even so, with such overwhelming agreement in this thread on a board that typically breeds nothing but division and strife, it is rather apparent what the answer is in this case. It just strikes me as odd that somebody would post a question when they have...
  17. TaylorSexton

    What does this verse mean? Was Paul a liar?

    Then I don't know what to say to you. You post a question, yet when people give you the answer that is virtually a consensus among commentators, you reject it. What else is there to do? You have already decided—even before asking the question, it seems—what the answer is not. Why continue this...
  18. TaylorSexton

    Interesting accumulation of text comparisons

    Well, there's a reason why this is self-published and must be accessed via Archive.org and similar websites. It's the same reason why students are not allowed to cite Wikipedia in research papers. In the end, who are we going to trust? The myriads of textual critics from all sorts of Christian...