I was looking at my past posts and realized how many of them deal with depravity or man's sinfulness. The reason i blog about that subject the most is because it is at the heart of theology and Biblical truth. A persons overall theological outlook is shaped by their understanding of man's depravity. And understanding man's depravity is really an understanding of the effects of the Fall in the Garden of Eden. The reason why i think about (and in effect blog about) the depravity of man is because the majority of Christians in the world have a (to put it bluntly) unbiblical view of the effects of the Fall. The prevailing understanding of the Fall's effects are a decidedly Pelagian understanding. Here is what Pelagius believed:
"God, desiring to endow the rational creature with the function of voluntary goodness and the power of free will, and by implanting in man the possibility of both, makes it man's special character that he wills, so that he is naturally capable of both good and evil, and he may be inclined to the willing of either." [Pelagius, Epistula ad Demetriandem 3].
If one reads commentaries or listens to messages by many of the "big" pastors of our day one will hear explanations of the "free-will" of man that sound very similar to Pelagius. They will say things along the lines of, "Since Adam had a free-will we have one too, and just like Adam exercised his free-will in deciding to sin or not we do too." This, unfortunately, is extremely Pelagian and extremely unbiblical.
Not only are there many passages that speak of man's inability to choose (Deut 30:6; Ez 36:26-27; Jer 18:11-12; Lk 18:18-23) but there is the small matter of: "where does the Fall fit into this?" Let's not forget about the Fall. When we say that we have a free-will just like Adam did, where does that leave the Fall? Did it just bring physical death into the world but no spiritual death? If it did bring spiritual death, then did it also affect our wills? Does being dead in sin and being children of wrath fulfilling the lust of the flesh (Eph 2:1-5) just mean that we are in need of a Savior but our wills are free to choose God or not? Or does spiritual death mean that we cannot exercise our will in spiritual matters (like choosing to follow Jesus)? Or do we affirm 1 Cor 2:14 which says:
But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
If we believe that unregenerate man is dead in sin as a result of the Fall which renders his ability to comprehend and believe in the Gospel inactive then we must reject the Pelagian free-will doctrine of mainstream Christianity. We must return to a Biblical view of life, salvation and God and to see man as utterly dependent upon God for life and godliness. For too long Christians have declared independence from God through the doctrine of free-will and it must stop. We must re-declare our dependence upon God through the acceptance of the fullness of our depravity.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Sunday, June 21, 2009
From Sin to Glory in Exodus 33 & 34
I know it has been a while since my last post, I have been sidetracked to say the least by other things that have been happening (graduated from School of Ministry, looking for a new church home, etc.).
In my daily reading in the Word I recently read through Exodus 33 & 34 (Link to chapter 33: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ex%2033%20&%2034&version=50; link to chapter 34: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ex%2034;&version=50; these will open in separate window) and I was struck by the thematic development in these two chapters. It is interesting how chapter 33 starts out on the heels of the "Golden Calf Incident" in ch 32. And how ch 33 starts out with God telling Moses in verse 5 that the people are stiff-necked which is another way for saying they are sinners but nonetheless God is still going to have them go up to the Promised Land (PL). So God after establishing the sinfulness of the people displays grace toward them by expressing His desire for them to continue to the PL. Which leads Moses to verbally declare their reception of God's grace in verses 12-13 & 16 and then God declares His giving of grace in verse 17 and this all leads up to verse 19 where God's sovereign directive of being gracious to whom He will is declared.
Chapter 34 continues this theme by declaring that He is merciful and gracious in verse 6 and in verse 7 that He keeps mercy on thousands (it's interesting that He does not say "keeps mercy on all" but "keeps mercy on thousands"). Then in verse 9 Moses sums up the last several verses by contrasting sinners and grace or in other words if God wills He can show grace on a group of sinners.
God answers Moses in verse 10 by making a covenant with the people that He is going to do awesome things with the people. Now that we see a people who have been chosen by God to be His people by grace despite their sinfulness God informs the people that He is jealous for His chosen people in verse 14. Next, God tells them that they are to observe feasts and have rest in the land (v21) and that they will have divine protection (v24). These are the blessings of being chosen by God to be His people.
Finally, at the close of chapter 34 we are given a picture of the glory to come as Moses face shines with the visible glory of God after he is done talking with God (v29-35).
So, we see a telling progression in theological themes through chapters 33 and 34. We go from sinfulness to God's divine grace to His covenant with His people to His jealousy over them to His blessing over them to the glorification of them. We are given a picture of the development of the believer, it is the same picture for the Old Testament saint as it is for the New Testament Saint, it is the covenantal continuity through God's word of bringing people from sin to glory.
In my daily reading in the Word I recently read through Exodus 33 & 34 (Link to chapter 33: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ex%2033%20&%2034&version=50; link to chapter 34: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ex%2034;&version=50; these will open in separate window) and I was struck by the thematic development in these two chapters. It is interesting how chapter 33 starts out on the heels of the "Golden Calf Incident" in ch 32. And how ch 33 starts out with God telling Moses in verse 5 that the people are stiff-necked which is another way for saying they are sinners but nonetheless God is still going to have them go up to the Promised Land (PL). So God after establishing the sinfulness of the people displays grace toward them by expressing His desire for them to continue to the PL. Which leads Moses to verbally declare their reception of God's grace in verses 12-13 & 16 and then God declares His giving of grace in verse 17 and this all leads up to verse 19 where God's sovereign directive of being gracious to whom He will is declared.
Chapter 34 continues this theme by declaring that He is merciful and gracious in verse 6 and in verse 7 that He keeps mercy on thousands (it's interesting that He does not say "keeps mercy on all" but "keeps mercy on thousands"). Then in verse 9 Moses sums up the last several verses by contrasting sinners and grace or in other words if God wills He can show grace on a group of sinners.
God answers Moses in verse 10 by making a covenant with the people that He is going to do awesome things with the people. Now that we see a people who have been chosen by God to be His people by grace despite their sinfulness God informs the people that He is jealous for His chosen people in verse 14. Next, God tells them that they are to observe feasts and have rest in the land (v21) and that they will have divine protection (v24). These are the blessings of being chosen by God to be His people.
Finally, at the close of chapter 34 we are given a picture of the glory to come as Moses face shines with the visible glory of God after he is done talking with God (v29-35).
So, we see a telling progression in theological themes through chapters 33 and 34. We go from sinfulness to God's divine grace to His covenant with His people to His jealousy over them to His blessing over them to the glorification of them. We are given a picture of the development of the believer, it is the same picture for the Old Testament saint as it is for the New Testament Saint, it is the covenantal continuity through God's word of bringing people from sin to glory.
Monday, June 1, 2009
How Deep the Father's Love
How do I know that God loves me? How do I know that God cares about me? How do I know?
There are many in the Christian world who have a hard time remembering that God loves them. There are many who wrestle with doubt and depression more than others and quite often the doubt and depression have much to do with a lack of realization and understanding of God's love for them. I can speak from a first-hand perspective as one who is prone to bouts of depression.
In my experience what frees my soul from the grips of depression (being depressed is not a regular occurrence for me but happens often enough where I have become acquainted with dealing with it) is prayer and God's word (nothing surprising there huh?). In particular what helps me is prayerfully wrapping my mind around some significant passage of scripture that gets my mind off of myself and onto God. It could be a passage about God's sovereignty over creation, life, individual lives, situations. It could be a passage about God's unconditional election of His saints and His church. It could be a passage about the significance of the cross and what Jesus' atonement did, or anything thing else that is weighty in significance, substantial in meaning or infinite in scope. I am talking about the passages that impact us with God's grandeur and the impact of realizing the tenderness of God's dealings with us as people in relation with His divine purposes for eternity.
One such passage is Romans 5:8 - But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
We see here God's concerns and dealings with us (such small creatures as we are) in relation to His eternally significant purposes. We see how God demonstrates His love toward us, how He displays His love toward us, He makes His love known to us, He makes it so that we can see His love for us, in that while we were totally undeserving of anything short of judgment from God, He instead had Christ die for us. That while we were totally undeserving of anything short of judgment God chose us in Him before the foundation of the world (Eph 1:4) and chose us for salvation through the Holy Spirit (2 Thess 2:13) and made us accepted in the beloved (Eph 1:6) and granted us belief (Philp 1:29) before loving Him ever entered our minds.
God loves those who He has redeemed and called out in a way that we cannot begin to comprehend.
There are many in the Christian world who have a hard time remembering that God loves them. There are many who wrestle with doubt and depression more than others and quite often the doubt and depression have much to do with a lack of realization and understanding of God's love for them. I can speak from a first-hand perspective as one who is prone to bouts of depression.
In my experience what frees my soul from the grips of depression (being depressed is not a regular occurrence for me but happens often enough where I have become acquainted with dealing with it) is prayer and God's word (nothing surprising there huh?). In particular what helps me is prayerfully wrapping my mind around some significant passage of scripture that gets my mind off of myself and onto God. It could be a passage about God's sovereignty over creation, life, individual lives, situations. It could be a passage about God's unconditional election of His saints and His church. It could be a passage about the significance of the cross and what Jesus' atonement did, or anything thing else that is weighty in significance, substantial in meaning or infinite in scope. I am talking about the passages that impact us with God's grandeur and the impact of realizing the tenderness of God's dealings with us as people in relation with His divine purposes for eternity.
One such passage is Romans 5:8 - But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
We see here God's concerns and dealings with us (such small creatures as we are) in relation to His eternally significant purposes. We see how God demonstrates His love toward us, how He displays His love toward us, He makes His love known to us, He makes it so that we can see His love for us, in that while we were totally undeserving of anything short of judgment from God, He instead had Christ die for us. That while we were totally undeserving of anything short of judgment God chose us in Him before the foundation of the world (Eph 1:4) and chose us for salvation through the Holy Spirit (2 Thess 2:13) and made us accepted in the beloved (Eph 1:6) and granted us belief (Philp 1:29) before loving Him ever entered our minds.
God loves those who He has redeemed and called out in a way that we cannot begin to comprehend.
How deep the Father's love for us,
How vast beyond all measure.
That He should give His only son,
And make a wretch His treasure.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
God and Evil Part 2
In my last post i brought up the idea of God's sovereignty over evil, sin, and bad things. I showed that the Biblical foundation for my belief in God's absolute sovereignty is in Lam 3:37-38 and Is 45:7. There is another text similar to those in Amos 3:6 where again the Hebrew "ra" is translated into: evil, calamity, disaster.
I now would like to make mention of several passages that illustrate how this doctrine gets played out in the Bible.
We have Ex 4:11 where God in the form of a rhetorical question declares that He has made the mute, the deaf and the blind. The question has come up through history when a child is born with some kind of physical impairment "WHY?" Why would God give us a child who cannot see or hear or walk or any other number of impairments? The answer provided by many is "God did not do that Himself, that is a result of living in a fallen world." The sad reality is that so many Christians fail to see what God says about it - He makes everyone, He didn't just form Jeremiah in the womb (Jer 1:5) but everyone and that means all those who are born with any disability or impairment is created by God. This happens with an ultimate good that we can't always see in mind.
The answer to this question of "WHY?" was given by Jesus when His disciples asked Him why a certain man was born blind, Jesus answered: “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.
So, that is concerning the bad things that happen to people beyond their control, how about the things that people do to each other? Is evil taking place in the world totally unrestrained?
In 2 Samuel 12:11 where God judges David's sin with Bathsheba and God tells David that his neighbor is going to fornicate with and/or rape David's wives along with the fact that the sword will not depart from David's house (v10). Now, David deserves punishment for his sin but God is actually ordaining certain sins to take place among people who were not involved in David's sin in order to punish David. God is using the sinful acts of others to punish David.
Along those same lines in 1 Kings chapters 12-16 we see a similar thing happen where people are doing wicked things in order that God's word is fulfilled (12:15). In chapter 15 and 16 we see how God pronounces judgement upon the descendants of Jeroboam (14:10), so that Baasha comes along and kills Nadab (Jeroboam's son) and rules in his place and he did it according to the word of the Lord (15:29). However, Baasha, because of his evil (16:7), gets killed by Zimri and Zimri does it according to the word of the Lord (16:12). So we have this succession of evil deeds that God uses for His purposes, these do not happen outside of God's control or decree, but happen within as a part of God's plan.
People are still responsible for what they do but God is still in control of what happens. We see this with Peter. Jesus tells Peter that he is going to deny Jesus three times - it is going to happen for sure. After Peter actually does deny Jesus does Peter say "Well I had no choice in the matter so I won't feel guilty."? No, he feels guilt and responsibility for what he did because he did it, even though it was planned to happen. It is the same thing with all the sin that happens. God knows it is going to happen because it has been decreed but He is not responsible because He does not commit the sin we do.
The ultimate illustration of the truths behind sinful acts is the crucifixion of Jesus. From the human perspective this was a tremendous act of sin - it was the murder of the only truly perfect person to have ever lived. From God's perspective it was the ultimate act of love towards people. How can both realities exist in the same act? They can exist together because they both come from God. Because God is in control of sin and He is all loving, wise and knowing he can use sin to accomplish His good purposes. Acts 2:23 and 4:27-28 both show the human actions working within the divine decree to bring about a good and loving end. The ultimate act of sin was the ultimate act of love.
All things work together for good for those who love God and are the called according to His purpose (Rom 8:28). All things includes sin and this means that all sin and righteousness that happens in the world is ultimately working towards a good purpose for God's people. The sin that happens might not work a good in the lives of unbelievers but we know that all things are working for the good of God's people. Although, that good might not be a good we will see on this earth, it is usually a good we will realize in Heaven, as we are given a truly eternal perspective we will see clearly how all things were created of Him and through Him and to Him (Rom 11:36) and all things visible and invisible whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers (Col 1:16) and how it was all for a glorious, good, loving God glorifying, God exalting end.
Again, these are not easy things to swallow but they are things that the Bible brings up. How all things can be predestined and yet we are held responsible for actions is a true mystery, but it is still what we see in the Bible. It is not easy to see how God brings good out of evil but we need to trust that He does.
Ultimately, this is my paradigm for sin - people and angels commit sin but it is in accordance with God's good decree or plan for creation. I think Eph 1:11 sums it up:
In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will.
I now would like to make mention of several passages that illustrate how this doctrine gets played out in the Bible.
We have Ex 4:11 where God in the form of a rhetorical question declares that He has made the mute, the deaf and the blind. The question has come up through history when a child is born with some kind of physical impairment "WHY?" Why would God give us a child who cannot see or hear or walk or any other number of impairments? The answer provided by many is "God did not do that Himself, that is a result of living in a fallen world." The sad reality is that so many Christians fail to see what God says about it - He makes everyone, He didn't just form Jeremiah in the womb (Jer 1:5) but everyone and that means all those who are born with any disability or impairment is created by God. This happens with an ultimate good that we can't always see in mind.
The answer to this question of "WHY?" was given by Jesus when His disciples asked Him why a certain man was born blind, Jesus answered: “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.
So, that is concerning the bad things that happen to people beyond their control, how about the things that people do to each other? Is evil taking place in the world totally unrestrained?
In 2 Samuel 12:11 where God judges David's sin with Bathsheba and God tells David that his neighbor is going to fornicate with and/or rape David's wives along with the fact that the sword will not depart from David's house (v10). Now, David deserves punishment for his sin but God is actually ordaining certain sins to take place among people who were not involved in David's sin in order to punish David. God is using the sinful acts of others to punish David.
Along those same lines in 1 Kings chapters 12-16 we see a similar thing happen where people are doing wicked things in order that God's word is fulfilled (12:15). In chapter 15 and 16 we see how God pronounces judgement upon the descendants of Jeroboam (14:10), so that Baasha comes along and kills Nadab (Jeroboam's son) and rules in his place and he did it according to the word of the Lord (15:29). However, Baasha, because of his evil (16:7), gets killed by Zimri and Zimri does it according to the word of the Lord (16:12). So we have this succession of evil deeds that God uses for His purposes, these do not happen outside of God's control or decree, but happen within as a part of God's plan.
People are still responsible for what they do but God is still in control of what happens. We see this with Peter. Jesus tells Peter that he is going to deny Jesus three times - it is going to happen for sure. After Peter actually does deny Jesus does Peter say "Well I had no choice in the matter so I won't feel guilty."? No, he feels guilt and responsibility for what he did because he did it, even though it was planned to happen. It is the same thing with all the sin that happens. God knows it is going to happen because it has been decreed but He is not responsible because He does not commit the sin we do.
The ultimate illustration of the truths behind sinful acts is the crucifixion of Jesus. From the human perspective this was a tremendous act of sin - it was the murder of the only truly perfect person to have ever lived. From God's perspective it was the ultimate act of love towards people. How can both realities exist in the same act? They can exist together because they both come from God. Because God is in control of sin and He is all loving, wise and knowing he can use sin to accomplish His good purposes. Acts 2:23 and 4:27-28 both show the human actions working within the divine decree to bring about a good and loving end. The ultimate act of sin was the ultimate act of love.
All things work together for good for those who love God and are the called according to His purpose (Rom 8:28). All things includes sin and this means that all sin and righteousness that happens in the world is ultimately working towards a good purpose for God's people. The sin that happens might not work a good in the lives of unbelievers but we know that all things are working for the good of God's people. Although, that good might not be a good we will see on this earth, it is usually a good we will realize in Heaven, as we are given a truly eternal perspective we will see clearly how all things were created of Him and through Him and to Him (Rom 11:36) and all things visible and invisible whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers (Col 1:16) and how it was all for a glorious, good, loving God glorifying, God exalting end.
Again, these are not easy things to swallow but they are things that the Bible brings up. How all things can be predestined and yet we are held responsible for actions is a true mystery, but it is still what we see in the Bible. It is not easy to see how God brings good out of evil but we need to trust that He does.
Ultimately, this is my paradigm for sin - people and angels commit sin but it is in accordance with God's good decree or plan for creation. I think Eph 1:11 sums it up:
In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will.
Friday, May 8, 2009
God and Evil
There are many objections raised by Arminians (or for those in denial "non-calvinists") against Calvinism. Most of which can be answered in a simple Biblical fashion. Of course i am not saying that any one system of theology has all the answers nailed down, but i do believe that the system of theology known as Calvinism offers the most satisfactory answers for the big questions of life - namely the nature of God and the nature of man.
One of the biggest objections against Calvinism is stated something like:
"If God is in control of everything then that means God makes people do bad things and God is the author of evil and that is repulsive and I don't want to know a God who is like that."
This is a typical objection i have heard since becoming a Calvinist several months ago. This is the objection I have heard theology teachers bring up and pastors and students and grandparents and...well anyway...lots of people. Maybe not those exact words but always along those lines and actually i have heard people use the word "repulsive" in describing Calvinism and that the God Calvinism describes is Himself "repulsive" if He in fact has planned all the rapes and murders and muggings and wars and has planned that some people will go to hell that it is a "repulsive" idea and He is a "repulsive" God.
Now, i do not argue that it is a difficult doctrine to swallow if it is true that God has ordained all the evil things that have happened and will happen. However, ultimately, it is what the Bible says that dictates what i believe and don't believe and not my human understanding. If that was not the case then i would have thrown out the doctrine of the trinity long ago along with the doctrine of hell and substitutionary atonement and salvation as a free gift of grace and an omniscient/omnipotent/omnipresent yet personal God and many other doctrines of the true faith would be out the window if i depended upon my reason and understanding to dictate to me my understanding of spiritual things. So, again what does the Bible say about God and His relationship to evil and sin and bad things that happen to people?
Let's start with Lamentations 3:37-38 (ESV):
37Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it?38Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and bad come?
What is interesting here is that the Hebrew word for bad there is "ra" which appears approx 663 times in the Bible and 442 times it is translated evil. The basically stands for evil and depending on context it can take different translations such as "bad" "calamity" "woe" and so forth but in general it speaks of evil. And what does this verse tell us? That it is from God's mouth that bad/calamity/woe and even evil (in the old King James) that's right evil proceed. It is not from the self-determining, libertarian, free-will choices of angels and people that evil comes from but from the mouth of God.
Let's look at one more verse, Isaiah 45:7:
7I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the LORD, who does all these things.
What word is "calamity" translated from? Well, it turns out it is "ra" again. Also, in the King James it is translated "evil" just like in the last verse. And the message here only supports that of the previous verse - in Lam evil comes from God's mouth and here Isaiah says that God creates calamity or dare i say "evil".
Now, these are difficult concepts i know and there is much more to say about this but I think this is enough for one post. I will post more on this subject in the next few days but this is the foundation of the concept of God's total sovereignty over all things good and bad. This is not a philosophical idea that has crept into Christendom but it is a verified Biblical teaching that as difficult as it may be to understand it is the truth, God has ordained all that has and will happen even evil.
I will end this post with a little food for thought. If you had a loaded 9mm handgun and you had to give it to one of two people who would you give it to: a 15 year old whose emotional state of mind is as free and unpredictable as the wind or a mature, sound and sober minded 50 year old? We would sleep better at night knowing that the gun was in the possession of someone who would use it in a safe and responsible manner. Is it such a "repulsive" idea that evil would be in the hands of an all loving, all wise and all powerful being? Is not God the best of all possible owners?
One of the biggest objections against Calvinism is stated something like:
"If God is in control of everything then that means God makes people do bad things and God is the author of evil and that is repulsive and I don't want to know a God who is like that."
This is a typical objection i have heard since becoming a Calvinist several months ago. This is the objection I have heard theology teachers bring up and pastors and students and grandparents and...well anyway...lots of people. Maybe not those exact words but always along those lines and actually i have heard people use the word "repulsive" in describing Calvinism and that the God Calvinism describes is Himself "repulsive" if He in fact has planned all the rapes and murders and muggings and wars and has planned that some people will go to hell that it is a "repulsive" idea and He is a "repulsive" God.
Now, i do not argue that it is a difficult doctrine to swallow if it is true that God has ordained all the evil things that have happened and will happen. However, ultimately, it is what the Bible says that dictates what i believe and don't believe and not my human understanding. If that was not the case then i would have thrown out the doctrine of the trinity long ago along with the doctrine of hell and substitutionary atonement and salvation as a free gift of grace and an omniscient/omnipotent/omnipresent yet personal God and many other doctrines of the true faith would be out the window if i depended upon my reason and understanding to dictate to me my understanding of spiritual things. So, again what does the Bible say about God and His relationship to evil and sin and bad things that happen to people?
Let's start with Lamentations 3:37-38 (ESV):
37Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it?38Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and bad come?
What is interesting here is that the Hebrew word for bad there is "ra" which appears approx 663 times in the Bible and 442 times it is translated evil. The basically stands for evil and depending on context it can take different translations such as "bad" "calamity" "woe" and so forth but in general it speaks of evil. And what does this verse tell us? That it is from God's mouth that bad/calamity/woe and even evil (in the old King James) that's right evil proceed. It is not from the self-determining, libertarian, free-will choices of angels and people that evil comes from but from the mouth of God.
Let's look at one more verse, Isaiah 45:7:
7I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the LORD, who does all these things.
What word is "calamity" translated from? Well, it turns out it is "ra" again. Also, in the King James it is translated "evil" just like in the last verse. And the message here only supports that of the previous verse - in Lam evil comes from God's mouth and here Isaiah says that God creates calamity or dare i say "evil".
Now, these are difficult concepts i know and there is much more to say about this but I think this is enough for one post. I will post more on this subject in the next few days but this is the foundation of the concept of God's total sovereignty over all things good and bad. This is not a philosophical idea that has crept into Christendom but it is a verified Biblical teaching that as difficult as it may be to understand it is the truth, God has ordained all that has and will happen even evil.
I will end this post with a little food for thought. If you had a loaded 9mm handgun and you had to give it to one of two people who would you give it to: a 15 year old whose emotional state of mind is as free and unpredictable as the wind or a mature, sound and sober minded 50 year old? We would sleep better at night knowing that the gun was in the possession of someone who would use it in a safe and responsible manner. Is it such a "repulsive" idea that evil would be in the hands of an all loving, all wise and all powerful being? Is not God the best of all possible owners?
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Bible Study in South Orange County CA
Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You.
- Ps 119:11
I would like to start a Bible study in South Orange County CA. If you live in the area and would like to be in a Bible study that teaches the Bible expositionaly verse by verse through whole books of the Bible from a Calvinistic/Dispensational perspective then I would like to hear from you!
For personal and doctrinal info about me click on the "about me" link on the left.
If you have any questions, shoot me an email at jasontucker3@gmail.com.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Happy Good Friday
I thought this passage is appropriate for today (being the day that Jesus was crucified) -
And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, 13 from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. 14 For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. - Heb 10:11-14
My question is this: Was Jesus' death a blanket sacrifice that made salvation possible to everyone who would ever live? Or was it a sacrifice that made salvation definite for a select group of people from every tribe and tongue and nation?
And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, 13 from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. 14 For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. - Heb 10:11-14
My question is this: Was Jesus' death a blanket sacrifice that made salvation possible to everyone who would ever live? Or was it a sacrifice that made salvation definite for a select group of people from every tribe and tongue and nation?
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