As you may know, in response to a comment we received about whether "good Christians" would go to heaven or not if God hadn't chosen them, we have been studying the doctrine of predestination and have attempted to explain the many aspects of this complicated and often controversial topic. Of course, we don't pretend to be complete theological experts, and there are others who have done a much better, clearer job of this--and so if you are interested in learning more about predestination, or still have questions or problems with it, may we suggest the following few excellent resources:
- Desiring God - resources on predestination
- 'Predestination' message by Mark Driscoll
- 'Sovereign Grace' message by C.J. Mahaney
For many of you, I'm sure, there are still some objections when it comes to predestination. "I still just think this is totally unfair, and shows God to be unjust," may be one criticism. "How can a God of love act like this?" another might demand.The apostle Paul in fact deals with objections towards predestination like these in the book of Romans, chapter 9. He asks rhetorically in verse 14, 'What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part?' Sound familiar? What is his response? Verse 15: 'By no means! For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”' But the ultimate silencer comes later in verse 20, where Paul demands, 'who are you, O man, to answer back to God?'
You see, we as sinful human beings are prone to thinking that somehow God owes us one--because He's a God of love right? Like a huge fairy in the sky that exists to meet and serve our every whim? But actually, the truth is that the God of the Bible is loving but is also holy. He is our Creator who made us and can do with us as He pleases. Who are we, mere finite created human beings, to answer back to God and tell Him what to do? This is why the Bible teaches that we should fear Him--not in the same way we have irrational fears about spiders or heights or small spaces, but fearing in the sense of awe, respect and reverence towards Him.
This then leads us onto to our new topic of discussion here at APLF--the fear of the Lord. We believe this ties in well with our previous study of humility, and hope that you will join us as we look at what the fear of the Lord means and why we should do it.
6 comments:
We've just had a mini-series on Romans 8 at church. One of the sermons was on predestination. A book that was recommended by our minister was "Putting the Amazing Back into Grace" by Michael Horton. I've purchased a copy but haven't yet read it, looks good though.
Hello ladies,
good to see you back!
I'm afraid I find this all so hard to understand as I am new to Christianity...could you explain it perhaps more simply? It seems to me that here you are saying God chooses some to be saved and others not and that we should respect His choices, for He is the Lord, and also deal with the fact that this is how it is and that's that. Fair enough, but I STILL can't understand how free will comes into this, nor why we should 'blame' those who turn away from God, if it was not their choice to do so?
So sorry for being thick! I'll get there in the end!
Suki x
Thanks Phil - will check that out!
Dear Suki, thank you for your comment - we so appreciate your honesty, and we know how hard it can be to grapple with this topic. I guess I would say two things to you - firstly, if what you mean by "new to Christianity" is that you have recently come to faith in Christ, then we are so thrilled for you! Welcome to the family ;) And as a new Christian, because predestination is a subject that doesn't affect your salvation (i.e. you don't need to believe in it to become a Christian), I would advise that you don't focus on trying to understand it now but work on your relationship with Jesus - getting to know Him as He is in all His glory, learning how to pray and read the Bible, getting involved in your local church, share the great news of the gospel with those around you, and so on. These things are far more important (especially now) than comprehending the doctrine of predestination. In time, of course, you may want to tackle more weighty theological issues like this - and we'd encourage to you as you delve deeper into your faith. (Of course, if you are not yet a Christian, again I would say skip all of this and actually discover Jesus - who He is, what the Bible says about salvation, and so on! Pray that God will reveal Himself to you, and He will.)
However, if you are a Christian and this subject is so on your mind that you want to learn more, then do have a listen to that sermon by Mark Driscoll and the one by C.J. Mahaney that I listed in my post. And pray - ask God to reveal these things to you in time. But I wouldn't worry too much right now about predestination - there are so many things that God has for you right now! May Jesus grant you the grace to follow Him with joy and passion :)
P.S. As a note on "free choice" and why we can't blame God for those that go to hell... I read possibly the most helpful quote I've ever read on this the other day in a book called 'The Reason For God' by Tim Keller. It explained it so well, so I will find it and post it as a comment here very soon!
Thanks Emily! Yes, I am newly saved - thank God! I just love finding out about theology - perhaps abit too enthusiastic!! Thanks for your advice, I'm very interested to read more. Sukix
Suki, the way I think of it is this: our genes that we have inherited cause our bodies to be the way they are and provide our individually unique make-up. So in this way we are predestined to think in a certain way according to our genetic code - this is the way God has created us. It would be boring if we all were the same. But it does mean we are limited to the parameters of our capacity. Within this, we have the freedom to choose what we do (free-will). God knows us and our own personal body's wiring so deeply that he knows what we are going to choose, but he doesn't force us to do anything. He wants our love because we WANT to give it, not because we have to. Our brains are very complex and God likes us to question things and try to figure things out. His Spirit also has come to live in us, so we also have God's Spirit's thoughts nudging our own thoughts, helping us along in our understanding.
Hope this helps a bit.
Soulspark - nice explanation, although I'm not sure whether you believe that God chooses us because He foreknows we are going to choose Him, or whether you believe that God chooses us because we cannot choose (we choose sin), which is what we've been describing here. Anyway, you are right in saying that God has created us each individually and that He wants our love because we want to give it, and that He doesn't force us into loving Him at all. God has given us brains as well, indeed, and He does want us to use them and figure out things for ourselves.
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