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Jacob Arminius (the free will guy) and John Calvin (the
predestination guy)
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At the age of twenty-four I penned a little reflection on this topic that, sixteen years later, thousands of more pages read and hundreds of more hours thought, I pretty much come to the same conclusion. So, here is what I will call “freedestination”:
Did I choose God?
Or did God chose me?
Did God choose me because I chose him?
Or did I choose God because he chose me?
Did God enable me to choose?
Or did I have the ability to choose on my own?
Did God choose me to choose him?
Or did I choose for God to choose me?
Can everyone choose? (Limiting God to respond to our choice).
Or can only the elect choose? (Limiting us to not really choose at all, but only to act upon the choice of God).
Are we free when we are in Christ? Yes…
No, in Christ we are slaves.
But were we not slaves to the world? Yes…
No, in the world we were free.
Free to be a slave to it that is.
Now in Christ we are a slave to be free in him.
Slaves are free and the free are slaves.
If I am a slave I do not choose, but my master chooses for me.
But my master chooses that I be free to choose.
In freedom I choose to be a slave – giving my right to choose over to my master.
In slavery my master sets me free - giving the right to choose to me!
I choose to allow him to choose to allow me to choose.
How can it be that God has chosen the elect before the foundation of the world so that whoever chooses him should not die but have everlasting life?
He is God – that’s how.
His paths are beyond tracing out. Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counsellor? (Romans 11:33-34).
Discuss: What theological issue do you continue to wrestle with?
How does Grace align with the Law? Growing up, I always thought the Calvinists clung to the Old Testament desperately, while the Armenians played ventriloquism with Grace as presented and articulated through the Son of God in the New Testament.
ReplyDeleteAs sure as you can go to 711 for a free slurpy for one day next week you can appropriate the costly grace articulated by Bonhoeffer. Not just on July 11, once a year, but every waking moment from now until eternity.
That is one brain freeze worth celebrating.
Some times we are known or remembered by the wounds we caused, sometimes we are known or remembered by the bridges we built and another times we are known or remembered by “that” stupid thing we did.
ReplyDeleteMost of the time is not about the message we send, but it is how that message was received and interpreted.
There are many -in between lines- truths, which go unnoticed, Shannon L. Alder said “The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn't being said. The art of reading between the lines is a life long quest of the wise.”
Whether we are thinkers or not, our human limitations bind us to the partial understanding of a whole subject.
There are times when we don’t even understand ourselves!
(I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. Romans 7:15)
Is there a mystery greater than that of God and man? We harbor
a God given insatiable thirst for knowledge. Even that, speaks of God’s mysterious mercy
it is as if He has extended an eternal invitation
“You are welcome
to attend the revelations
of myself to you.
Come and know Me!
There are all contained in my Word, the bible
and for some of them you might have to wait a long time, do not give up:”
Love God.
Is prayer a dialog? If it is then why are we always talking and seldom listening?
As “mature” Christians know, prayer is not a “to do list” for God, or the equivalent of a 911 call, God Help me! Although sometimes that is all we got and that is all He needs to hear to spring into action.
Is prayer the backbone of our relationship with God? For some of us action- people, it is difficult to be still and pray .I like to think that prayer is four dimensional, love/ pray/hear/do. Some times we mix up the order a little…
The list of my brain freeze is long, but just yesterday I was talking to my daughter about one of the items in the list; REWARDS! I know is absolutely biblical, but verses like 1 Corinthians 3:11-15 puzzle me! “If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.”
I don’t mean to be trivial about this, but I do not like crowns and what can be better than heaven? Or what can make us more complete in heaven? I, know, I am wrong, but I have a difficult time with this. Heaven is enough reward, life with God is enough reward, good works after salvation are put before us by God and the desire to do them is also put in our hearts by God, so what reward can I possible deserve? And this is not a humility thing, it is a sincere query.
Alicia