Did I Choose To Write This?
Have you ever just sat down and read the whole book of Romans in the Bible? Man, that’s some serious reading. It constantly weaves in and out of the tension between God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility.
I heard a sermon on the radio just today of a preacher saying that Romans 9 is not about predestination but how God can use anyone he wants to spread the Gospel - not just the Jews. He focused in on verse 13 and said something to the effect of, “This verse is not about God loving and hating specific people but God choosing who He sees fit to do His will. Predestination is a lie!”
I had to laugh because “God choosing who He sees fit to do His will” sounds a lot like predestination to me. Also, when you read the WHOLE chapter, it’s pretty hard to miss the idea that Paul is getting across. You can’t “deal” with one verse and be done with it.
If you’ve ever had a conversation about predestination then you’ve heard the obligatory question of, “If we are predestined then doesn’t that mean we’re all robots?” Did you know that Paul asks and answers that question in Romans 9:19-24?
March 17th, 2006 at 9:25 am
David, you know one of my favorite sayings is “Make me a Robot!” If it means I Glorify Him more and I sin less, I am all over that! But if I am not chosen, then I would, from a human perspective, be purely living out exactly what my own nature would want: ultimate selfishness.
March 17th, 2006 at 10:12 am
*Darth Vader voice*
Must…choose…Christ…
March 17th, 2006 at 10:26 am
God is either God, or He is not.
If God is the giver of life, if God has numbered our days - thereby determining the time our lives shall end - then there is no other logical understanding of Scripture than God’s Sovereignty in all things, including justification/salvation of those that He has chosen - and the just condemnation of those that He has not.
By His grace and mercy alone, I count myself among the former - fully deserving nothing more than to be counted among the latter.
March 17th, 2006 at 11:55 am
Sorry for the long comment, but let’s face it: we’re not impressing God with our “dizzying intellect” and our staggering ability to make choices that surprise him…
MAN IN BLACK: All right: where is the poison? The battle of wits has begun. It ends when you decide and we both drink, and find out who is right and who is dead.
VIZZINI: But it’s so simple. All I have to do is divine from what I know of you. Are you the sort of man who would put the poison into his own goblet, or his enemy’s? Now, a clever man would put the poison into his own goblet, because he would know that only a great fool would reach for what he was given. I’m not a great fool, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you. But you must have known I was not a great fool; you would have counted on it, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me.
MAN IN BLACK: You’ve made your decision then?
VIZZINI: Not remotely. Because iocane comes from Australia, as everyone knows. And Australia is entirely peopled with criminals. And criminals are used to having people not trust them, as you are not trusted by me. So I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you.
MAN IN BLACK: Truly, you have a dizzying intellect.
VIZZINI: Wait till I get going! Where was I?
MAN IN BLACK: Australia.
VIZZINI: Yes — Australia, and you must have suspected I would have known the powder’s origin, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me.
MAN IN BLACK: You’re just stalling now.
VIZZINI: (cackling) You’d like to think that, wouldn’t you? You’ve beaten my giant, which means you’re exceptionally strong. So, you could have put the poison in your own goblet, trusting on your strength to save you. So I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you. But, you’ve also bested my Spaniard which means you must have studied. And in studying, you must have learned that man is mortal so you would have put the poison as far from yourself as possible, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me.
MAN IN BLACK: You’re trying to trick me into giving away something — it won’t work –
VIZZINI: (triumphant) It has worked — you’ve given everything away — I know where the poison is.
MAN IN BLACK: Then make your choice.
VIZZINI: I will. And I choose — what in the world can that be?
MAN IN BLACK: What? Where? I don’t see anything.
VIZZINI switches the goblets while the Man In Black has his head turned.
VIZZINI: Oh, well, I-I could have sworn I saw something. No matter. (He laughs.)
MAN IN BLACK: What’s so funny?
VIZZINI: I’ll tell you in a minute. First, let’s drink — me from my glass, and you from yours.
The Man In Black picks up the one in front of him. As they both start to drink, Vizzini hesitates a moment. Then, allowing the Man In Black to drink first, he swallows his wine.
MAN IN BLACK: You guessed wrong.
VIZZINI: (roaring with laughter) You only think I guessed wrong — that’s what’s so funny! I switched glasses when your back was turned. You fool. You fell victim to one of the classic blunders. The most famous is “Never get involved in a land war in Asia.” But only slightly less well known is this: “Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line.”
VIZZINI laughs and roars and cackles and whoops and is in all ways quite cheery until he falls over dead.
BUTTERCUP: Who are you?
MAN IN BLACK: I am no one to be trifled with, that is all you ever need know.
BUTTERCUP: To think — all that time it was your cup that was poisoned.
MAN IN BLACK: They were both poisoned. I spent the last few years building up an immunity to iocane powder.
March 28th, 2006 at 2:47 pm
Here’s an interesting article on a pro-arminian website that I read at lunch today.
In a real and honest attempt to avoid the illogical coexistence of freewill and sovreignty, he concludes God gave up His sovereignty in order to give humans free will. In the words of Eric Farr, “Welcome to the world of Open Theism!”
March 29th, 2006 at 6:00 pm
Sorry that site I linked to above is whacked. In an attempt to disprove predestination they go so far as to say the following in a different article.
In other words, God was able to take advantage of the big mess that man had made to provide salvation. Boy, He sure was lucky everything worked out the way it did. Not to mention including all the symbolism we find between the OT and the NT. Simply amazing.