T
tabsie3210
Guest
God is the Sovreign Lord of Everything. He has ultimate power over all of creation, including time. Everything follows His plan. He has arranged all things to happen in their time.
God is so wonderful and loves human beings so much, He willingly will suspend certain things from happening to allow us to have free will!
Let’s say that I’m about to go to a bank at the same time that someone is about to rob it. God has the ability to have absolute control over every aspect of every moment. However, out of love for all of us, He doesn’t force the criminal to throw his gun away and turn around, like a robot. So long as the man’s actions do not directly interfere with God’s absolute will and the perfection of His plan, He will let the man choose what path to take. And both paths are completely open to the robber! God knows Exactly what will happen in either case - if the robber stops before the robbery, or if he goes through with it. Likewise, I am free to act when I’m inside the situation if the robbery does comence. And God is with us both, ready instantaneously to help in some way if we call upon Him.
The robber is free to ask for God’s help and run away before anything bad happens, or to shoot me. I may die, but I am free to ask for God’s help, and though I may die, if I choose God, I am embraced by His grace and mercy, and I have the comfort of knowing that justice will be served perfectly, NOT blind vengence, but true justice that weighs the consequences and actions of all parties involved.
But, if I’m supposed to live for some other purpose, God has the absolute power and authority to stop me from dying. Or He may act to stop the robber before the robbery is committed.
God has absolute power. And because He is totally Soverign over everything, He can choose to allow us free will anyway! All paths are open to us completely!
Jesus once said (and I’m paraphrasing here), “If the miracles that I have performed were done in Sodom, they would have all converted right then and there, and attoned for their sins. But it will be easier for them on the Judgement day than for you.” He was talking to a bunch of people who were blowing him off.
That boggles my mind - if God’s plan had allowed for it, there was a chance that Jesus would have been born in the time of Sodom, and the future of what would have happened to them was known to Jesus!
So, I have no problem with pre-ordination and free will co-existing. God is absolutely in charge of everything. Only someone who is completely in charge can choose to withhold direct action to allow His people to act as they want to. It’s wonderful! We’re not puppets, and yet no matter what, everything can and always will be compeltely in God’s control!
We have to remember, though, that when bad things happen to other people, God is completely fair and just. We can’t sit around saying, “Well, if there’s a God, why doesn’t He heal this little girl’s cancer, instead of letting her die slowly?” We have to say, “What is it, Lord, that I can do to ease her pain and suffering while she is here?” Because if we fail to act when we are capable, we’ll still be held accountable. We have the freedom to act or not to act, but we have to remember that with that freedom comes responsibility. Just because we don’t have to put money in the collection plate, doesn’t mean that we get away scott free if someone who’s hungry doesn’t eat because we were saving up for a new PS3.
Finally, bad things must happen because we’re living under the shadow of the Curse. God allowed us the freedom to fall away from Him. But that means we have to pay for our sins with death. And death isn’t pleasant. Still, ultimately, God wants to be merciful. A police officer who is shot to death in the line of duty goes to the grave knowing that God does not want his pain, and that God will ultimately give him perfect justice.
And God carries all our pain on His back in the form of the Crucifixion. Everything bad that happens to us, every pain and every hurt, every death and every fear, He felt. He got inside our pain by becoming part of it. Everything bad that happens to us is united to the Cross. An uncaring God would not put Himself in the position to suffer every blow that all human beings on Earth suffer.
I had to get that off my chest. Feel free to disagree with me. I’m just happy because despite our screw-ups, the universe continues to work, and that’s because God hasn’t given up on it yet, and I’m happy that God loves us enough to let us screw up if we so desire to. And I know for a fact there are times when I’ve jumped head-first into sin and been happy to do so. I am sad that I do stupid things, but I’m happy that God loves me enough not to turn me into Pinocchio.
My two-cent philosophy.
With much love,
Tabsie
God is so wonderful and loves human beings so much, He willingly will suspend certain things from happening to allow us to have free will!
Let’s say that I’m about to go to a bank at the same time that someone is about to rob it. God has the ability to have absolute control over every aspect of every moment. However, out of love for all of us, He doesn’t force the criminal to throw his gun away and turn around, like a robot. So long as the man’s actions do not directly interfere with God’s absolute will and the perfection of His plan, He will let the man choose what path to take. And both paths are completely open to the robber! God knows Exactly what will happen in either case - if the robber stops before the robbery, or if he goes through with it. Likewise, I am free to act when I’m inside the situation if the robbery does comence. And God is with us both, ready instantaneously to help in some way if we call upon Him.
The robber is free to ask for God’s help and run away before anything bad happens, or to shoot me. I may die, but I am free to ask for God’s help, and though I may die, if I choose God, I am embraced by His grace and mercy, and I have the comfort of knowing that justice will be served perfectly, NOT blind vengence, but true justice that weighs the consequences and actions of all parties involved.
But, if I’m supposed to live for some other purpose, God has the absolute power and authority to stop me from dying. Or He may act to stop the robber before the robbery is committed.
God has absolute power. And because He is totally Soverign over everything, He can choose to allow us free will anyway! All paths are open to us completely!
Jesus once said (and I’m paraphrasing here), “If the miracles that I have performed were done in Sodom, they would have all converted right then and there, and attoned for their sins. But it will be easier for them on the Judgement day than for you.” He was talking to a bunch of people who were blowing him off.
That boggles my mind - if God’s plan had allowed for it, there was a chance that Jesus would have been born in the time of Sodom, and the future of what would have happened to them was known to Jesus!
So, I have no problem with pre-ordination and free will co-existing. God is absolutely in charge of everything. Only someone who is completely in charge can choose to withhold direct action to allow His people to act as they want to. It’s wonderful! We’re not puppets, and yet no matter what, everything can and always will be compeltely in God’s control!
We have to remember, though, that when bad things happen to other people, God is completely fair and just. We can’t sit around saying, “Well, if there’s a God, why doesn’t He heal this little girl’s cancer, instead of letting her die slowly?” We have to say, “What is it, Lord, that I can do to ease her pain and suffering while she is here?” Because if we fail to act when we are capable, we’ll still be held accountable. We have the freedom to act or not to act, but we have to remember that with that freedom comes responsibility. Just because we don’t have to put money in the collection plate, doesn’t mean that we get away scott free if someone who’s hungry doesn’t eat because we were saving up for a new PS3.
Finally, bad things must happen because we’re living under the shadow of the Curse. God allowed us the freedom to fall away from Him. But that means we have to pay for our sins with death. And death isn’t pleasant. Still, ultimately, God wants to be merciful. A police officer who is shot to death in the line of duty goes to the grave knowing that God does not want his pain, and that God will ultimately give him perfect justice.
And God carries all our pain on His back in the form of the Crucifixion. Everything bad that happens to us, every pain and every hurt, every death and every fear, He felt. He got inside our pain by becoming part of it. Everything bad that happens to us is united to the Cross. An uncaring God would not put Himself in the position to suffer every blow that all human beings on Earth suffer.
I had to get that off my chest. Feel free to disagree with me. I’m just happy because despite our screw-ups, the universe continues to work, and that’s because God hasn’t given up on it yet, and I’m happy that God loves us enough to let us screw up if we so desire to. And I know for a fact there are times when I’ve jumped head-first into sin and been happy to do so. I am sad that I do stupid things, but I’m happy that God loves me enough not to turn me into Pinocchio.
My two-cent philosophy.
With much love,
Tabsie