SIMPLY IN CHOOSING! It there really is a choice then the contingency lies in MAKING THE CHOICE! If there is a real choice to be made the future will be shaped by the choice made. The outcome will be determined more or less by the choice made.
Hi Philetus, welcome back! Sorry to delay answer, but I waited for a block of time, to go through your post and give decent reply.
Perhaps we have different concepts of "contingencies." I happen to believe that possibilities are quite limited (finite) in God's creation, and that all choices are moral in essence; thus one can only ultimately choose between what is right and what is wrong. I believe this is the scope of human cause and effect; which will either be blessed by God or overcome by God. Thus human contingency does not really exist. Our willfull influences are completely controlled by God, and our choices will always be worked to accomplish His ultimate purposes.
"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28
Has God given mankind a choice between life and death beyond the individual Adam?
No He has not.
You say that there is a good choice and a bad choice and that God already knew which choice Adam would make.
I do not believe God gave Adam any choice at all. God limited Adam and commanded Adam remain within his limits. However, God knew Adam would not do so.
Adam was never given the freedom to disobey God in rebellion against his limitations.
So in your view there is nothing that can be described as freedom. We say that's no choice at all.
I do not believe "free" will exists. I believe God created men with wills, but the will of man is limited (finite) and subject to the sovereign (infinite) will of God. Man is not free to willfully sin against God.
Let's talk about the not yet saved if there is even such a category in your view (not meaning the never to be saved or already elect). What about the not yet saved? Is there a God given choice between life and death for all who have sinned and if so, how do they make that choice? Or has Adam or God already made it for them?
Even the elect are saved by grace; not by choice. Until God regenerates His elect, they are dead in their sins and are by nature, just like the non-elect, children of wrath:
"Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others, but God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved
us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved; and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." Ephesians 2:3-6
Please note: These verses describe how the elect are born again in Christ, and there is no mention at all of "choosing." Rather the revelation is of supernatural and
spiritual resurrection from death to life.
Open Theists believe that God has given all mankind a degree of freedom and ability to actually MAKE choices. Some simple and mundane choices like what we shall eat and what we shall wear (which hold obvious contingencies that cannot be known until the choice is made and action taken) and some choices that hold eternal consequences.
Where do you find in Scripture that mankind can make choices unto everlasting life? Where exactly in the Bible does it say man can successfully "choose" live? (If you do a word study of the words "choose" and "choice," you will find the concept is only taught in regard to God choosing . . .not man.
I do not see divine approval in Adam's sin
Neither do I.
nor do I see God determining or knowing ahead of time what Adam would do.
I do. God knew, for God said,
". . for in the day that thou eatest thereof
thou shalt surely die." Genesis 2:17
No "ifs," or "choices" to do otherwise.
God had a sure foreknowledge of Adam's disobedience, but it came without approval, but only warning of sure judgment.
It honestly sounds like you are saying that Adam made the only real choice in human history.
Agam was commanded to follow God's word (Law). Adam was not given a choice to disobey God's word (Law). However, Adam was created upright and still lived in a state of innocence with the moral ability to obey God's word (Law) and not eat of tree. God did not force Adam to disobey. God's foreknowledge of what Adam would do, was not the cause of what Adam did.
Adam did not so much "choose freely" to go against God's word, as he failed to remain in innocent subjection to his Maker. Adam had the ability to continue in submissive fellowship with God, but threw it away due to his unbelief of God's word, and refusal to subject himself to creaturely limitations. He rebelliously attempted to breach his limitations, to become "like God." He believed the lie from the serpent, that the finite could be infinite "like God."
Adam attempted to usurp the will and word (Law) of God via his moral agency (will).
Actually, I'm saying that it is NOT necessary for God to dictate, predetermine or foreknow the thoughts, choices or actions of mankind in order to exercise His sovereignty over creation. I believe God has actually given us the right, power, and ability to make choices that help determine the future ... hence OPEN Theism.
And as a Calvinist, I say it is necessary that God's ultimate purposes be fulfilled; and they will be despite the corrupted cause and effects sinful men reap in their worldly lives through serving sin, death, and the devil.
Only Adam was able to exercise his will to serve God. But after the fall, he was no longer able, for God cursed him, separated from him, banned him from the garden and the tree of life, and left him enslaved to serving the devil, while inescapable consigned to death. And ALL of Adam's descendents are born into this same condition. All men are conceived in sin, and born sinners, unable to exercise their moral agency to serve Godly good. The wills of all men are in bondage to Satan, until and unless they are released from that bondage by the grace of God.
Only those born again (regenerated) and indwelt by the Holy Spirit of Christ can exercise human moral agency to serve righteousness:
"For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free
from righteousness . . .But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life." Romans 6:20,22
The simple question is: Do we have a choice as to who we will serve?
No. That is what redemption is . . .being freed from slavery to Satan, to being a slave of Christ. There is no human choice in this, but the choice of who will serve God, is God's alone and the rescue from Satan comes solely by the grace of God.
Jesus Christ, by necessity, had to pay a ransom of flesh and blood, and fulfill all Godly justice under the Law, to work this release and accomplish this great salvation.
Now, who are "His people"? Those whosoever by grace believe or those individuals who are elected to believe.
Only God knows, and those who have been brought from death to life by the indwelling presence of His Spirit can know they are His elect. Christians can only evaluate whether others are "elect" or not, by looking for the spiritual fruits of the Holy Spirit in others.
Is there ever really a choice? I can't find one in the Calvinist's view.
There is no choice to transfer oneself from death to life. None. Dead men cannot choose to climb out of their graves.
That does not mean that the Calvinist denies the human will. Born again (regenerated) Christians are given new hearts, which creates new minds, which produces new wills, that evidence faith, repentance, and the good works of God. The will of the Christian is the product of the "mind of Christ" that dwells within through the indwelling of His Holy Spirit.
Christians are given a new love of God's word (Law), and they are enabled, according to their new nature, to volitionally obey God. They willingly serve God and His righteousness. They exercise their moral agency in new submission to God; as their Lord gave them example while in His earthly visitation, by totally submitting His human moral agency to God above.
"I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me." John 5:30
" . . .O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt." Matt. 26:39
Jesus Christ exemplified how the human will is to function . . .in complete submission to the sovereign will of God.
There is no greater freedom than having renewed fellowship with the God the Savior, and the desire to serve His righteousness!
Nang
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