genuineoriginal
New member
Does knowing everything in advance infringe on God's ability to choose differently?
Omniscience means fatalism.
- Thread starter Stripe
- Start date
Arthur Brain
Well-known member
genuineoriginal
New member
If God absolutely knew everything that would happen, there is no way for Him to do anything except what He knows He will do, therefore omniscience would infringe upon His ability to choose differently.
And, HOW did He do that? Testimony, please?
The Gospel of the grace of God is what the Apostle Paul calls it. Acts 20:24 "But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.
There's another way. The truth is the answer and it's not found in Calvinism. It's found in 'The Gospel of the grace of God' as the Apostle Paul calls it. Acts 20:24 "But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God."
By His grace.
With no effort from myself, God reached down and made me alive in Christ.
My life verse: Galatians 2:20
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Arthur Brain
Well-known member
And a thousand years is like a day.
The gospel of grace is shown in Paul's conversion.
A terrorist on his way to round up and kill Christians is made alive in Christ by no effort of his own on the road to Damascus.
God giving to Paul what he did not deserve.
It's amazing grace that saves a wretch like me.
All of those who place their faith in Christ are saved by God's Grace/unmerited mercy and forgiveness.
You had to place your faith in Christ's death and resurrection in order to receive forgiveness of your sins, baptism into the Body of Christ (by the Holy Spirit) and the sealing, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and the promise of eternal life.
Indeed, if God did not graciously save them, they could not place their faith in God.
Do you see how that works?
Grace is given to the hopeless by the one who has the power to save. The hopeless cannot conjure up hope when they are hopeless. God must give them hope. That act of God in making a person alive in Christ is purely and totally all God's action. You are the recipient of grace, not the participant in grace. Do you comprehend this truth or do you insist that you do the work (which means you nullify grace)?
Did Paul have to do that before God saved him on the road to Damascus? If so, then Paul was saved by his own works.
God does the work of saving you. He brings you to repentance as His child (no rebel ever repents on his own). He gives you faith to believe. He forgives your sins. He baptizes you into Christ. He seals you with the Holy Spirit. He gives eternal life.
All this you receive by His grave and His grace alone. You, like me, are a wretched, rebellious, sinner who has nothing good to offer. You are a filthy rag, worthy of being disposed of. Never forget what God has done for you and never, ever try to take credit by claiming you "willed" yourself into God's salvation while God passively watched.
How pathetic and God dishonor in is free-will philosophy. Yuck. I spent 30 years in that cess pool of man-centered thinking. Thank God, even in the midst of my prideful imagination that I chose to believe God...God still loved me and chose me anyway. The great thing about sanctification is that God removes these obstacles over time.
It sounds like your CHANGE OVER has made you: pleasant, loving, kind, humble, mannerly, incapable of anger and sarcasm, unable to reply with name calling, sentimental, forgiving, gentle, happy, joyful, etc, etc. Nobody would ever think you might not be a True believer.
Sounds a wee bit like John Calvin, himself. Oh, say it ain't so.
MS, have you ever read the entire Bible cover to cover, word for word?
Do you for a moment think that our sinful self is now perfect because God has redeemed us? Do you think God's sanctification will ever stop while we live here on earth?
No, I am still the wretch I have always been (Read Romans 7), but thanks be to Jesus, I am no longer condemned (Read Romans 8).
LOL, it sounds like God's word and much to your dismay, Calvin read and observed God's word.
Lon
Well-known member
Perhaps it goes that way. I'm not sure we can say so definitively. My example was/is an Almanac. If I get one from the future, the only thing that 'fates' your choices is your choices. The Almanac knowing them ahead of time? We cannot be 'fated' to a publication because of what is printed atf. Would you, for instance, feel locked in at that point? I wouldn't and don't with God, but what's my limited perception worth? Yours?
Let me entertain it as a given for a moment: That I'm automatically fated. I'd suggest the illusion or perception isn't really the important point. However God made me is fine with me. If I'm an automaton, I'm His automaton. If with a 'free' will, I still desire to be His free will, etc.