I was a bit hesitant to start up a blog that scrutinized the veracity of the Bible. I mean, I don't believe in God, but I've been wrong before. If I am wrong, I would hate to have led someone astray. There are even words from the mouth of Jesus suggesting that it might not be profitable to do so:
Luke 17:1-2 Jesus said to his disciples: "Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come. It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin." NIV
Matthew 18:6-7 "But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to sin! Such things must come, but woe to the man through whom they come!" NIV
Lucky for me, or maybe unlucky for me, God has His Elect. The Elect are the people guaranteed a good spot in the immortal afterlife. God predestined the Elect before they were even born. There will be much more on the Elect on a later posting, but for now we'll touch on just one more characteristic: If you are Elect, you can't be lost. This is touched on briefly in Mark 13:22 and Matthew 24:24 "...to deceive even the elect—if that were possible." But the best explanation is in John.
John 10:25-30 “...The miracles I do in my Father's name speak for me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. I and the Father are one.” NIV
You see, His Elect cannot be deceived, cannot be removed from His Hand, because they are predestined by God. There is nothing I can do to thwart the will of God. So if I somehow manage to convince you that Christianity is flawed; just relax. You were destined for Hell anyway. :-)
TWF:
ReplyDeleteWould I be right in guessing what time you had experienced in the Methodist church did not result in much exposure in "free will" exegesis of these passages.
Thanks for responding on the other page.
Hello Felix.
ReplyDeleteDon't take what was written here with too much stock. This was from 2008 shortly after I had started blogging. In fact, this was the second post! I didn't know the Bible nearly as well then as I know it now, and at that time I was much more solid in the OT, but hadn't even read through all of it. :-)
Most of my in-depth Bible schooling (prior to me actually reading and researching for myself) came from radio. If you look over to the right under Reference Links, you'll find some of my favorite Biblical radio shows. That's really what I had been "raised on" as far as mature consideration of the Gospel until my own search. The Methodist foundation I had was not very strong.
As for "free will", well, I know enough to say that you can build a pretty good case both for and against it in the Bible, and even firm believers of free will must be forced to acknowledge that God can, will, and does at least "influence" free will according to His word.