Bob Hill
TOL Subscriber
RobE, wrote
Because Hilston, and apparently RobE, believe God knows everything that will happen, it cannot be any different than what God allegedly knows.
If that were true, then everything that is done can only be what God knew it would be. If a person cannot see that is predestination, I don’t know what else he could call it.
Instead we see that this idea is corporate election and predestination. It has one major flaw which the Scriptures do not seem to support. God’s foreknowledge would be the basis of His election and predestination. Since God would foreknow everything as though it were in the present, and His election and predestination were based on His foreknowledge, and since He knew everything that would happen, then God’s predestination had to be individual just as His knowledge was.
I had problems with this predestination. At this time of my life, my theology influenced my attitudes on prayer. If God knew everything, and He did. And if God predestinated everything, and He did that too. Then everything that I prayed was foreknown and predestinated. If I didn’t pray, that was predestinated too. I ended up having a lousy prayer life. The only reason I prayed, I argued, was because God commanded it in His word. However, there was no zest in my prayer life. I sensed this was wrong but didn’t know what to do about it. I realized that Christ was zealous in prayer, and Paul was zealous in prayer. Therefore, I suspected, something was wrong with my prayer life.
During this troublesome period, my wife and I visited her parents in Illinois. Her father had a large library of theological books. I was browsing through his books and found one titled, [How Can God Answer Prayer?] I began reading it immediately. It changed my life. He had four answers based on four different suppositions. The one which disrupted my preconceived ideas undermined the immutability of God with Scripture I had never read. I found that there was a vast amount of Scripture which showed that God changed His mind – even repented. Since that time, I have studied this issue for thousands of hours. That’s why I disagree with your predestination.
In Christ,
Bob Hill
Godrulz,
I'll point out the problem right here in this quote.....
....open theist's don't understand the word I highlighted in the above paragraph.
How does Hilston's theodicy make God responsible for anything?
Rob
Because Hilston, and apparently RobE, believe God knows everything that will happen, it cannot be any different than what God allegedly knows.
If that were true, then everything that is done can only be what God knew it would be. If a person cannot see that is predestination, I don’t know what else he could call it.
Instead we see that this idea is corporate election and predestination. It has one major flaw which the Scriptures do not seem to support. God’s foreknowledge would be the basis of His election and predestination. Since God would foreknow everything as though it were in the present, and His election and predestination were based on His foreknowledge, and since He knew everything that would happen, then God’s predestination had to be individual just as His knowledge was.
I had problems with this predestination. At this time of my life, my theology influenced my attitudes on prayer. If God knew everything, and He did. And if God predestinated everything, and He did that too. Then everything that I prayed was foreknown and predestinated. If I didn’t pray, that was predestinated too. I ended up having a lousy prayer life. The only reason I prayed, I argued, was because God commanded it in His word. However, there was no zest in my prayer life. I sensed this was wrong but didn’t know what to do about it. I realized that Christ was zealous in prayer, and Paul was zealous in prayer. Therefore, I suspected, something was wrong with my prayer life.
During this troublesome period, my wife and I visited her parents in Illinois. Her father had a large library of theological books. I was browsing through his books and found one titled, [How Can God Answer Prayer?] I began reading it immediately. It changed my life. He had four answers based on four different suppositions. The one which disrupted my preconceived ideas undermined the immutability of God with Scripture I had never read. I found that there was a vast amount of Scripture which showed that God changed His mind – even repented. Since that time, I have studied this issue for thousands of hours. That’s why I disagree with your predestination.
In Christ,
Bob Hill