Results 1 - 5 of 5
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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | Theological Term: Divine Providence | Job 23:13 | DocTrinsograce | 151282 | ||
Divine providence is the working of God's will in human events, which includes His preservation and sovereign government of the world. (The Epicurean view holds that the world is ruled by chance, the Stoic position that it is ruled by fate, and the modern position that it is ruled by empirical laws of physics.) It includes the Lord's foreknowledge, foreordination, and decrees. It operates through the miraculous (primary causes) and natural phenomenon (secondary causes). Divine Providence is generally considered to include the following elements (from A. A. Hodge's commentary on the Westminster Confession of Faith): 1. Divine Preservation -- This is that continuous work of God by which He upholds all things. While the world has a distinct existence and is not a part of God, it nevertheless has the ground of its continued existence in God and not in itself. It endures through a continued exercise of divine power by which all things are maintained in being and action. This doctrine is taught in the following passages: Psalm 136:25; 145:15; Neh 9:6; Acts 17:28; Col 1:17; Heb 1:3. 2. Divine Concursus -- This may be defined as that work of God by which He co-operates with all His creatures and causes them to act precisely as they do. It implies that there are real secondary causes in the world, such as the powers of nature and the will of man, and asserts that these do not work independently of God. God works in every act of His creatures, not only in their good but also in their evil acts. He stimulates them to action, accompanies their action at every moment, and makes this action effective. However, we should never think of God and man as equal causes; the former is the primary, and the latter only a secondary cause. Neither should we conceive of them as each doing a part of the work like a team of horses. The same deed is in its entirety both a deed of God and a deed of man. Moreover, we should guard against the idea that this co-operation makes God responsible for man's sinful deeds. This doctrine is based on Scripture, Deut 8:18; Psalm 104:20, 21, 30; Amos 3:6; Matt 6:45; 10:29; Acts 14:17; Phil 2:13. 3. Divine Governance -- This is the continued activity of God whereby He rules all things so that they answer to the purpose of their existence. God is represented as King of the universe both in the Old and in the New Testament. He adapts His rule to the nature of the creatures which He governs; His government of the physical world differs from that of the spiritual world. It is universal, Psalm 103:19; Dan 4:34, 35, includes the most insignificant things, Matt 10:29-31, and that which is seemingly accidental, Proverbs 16:33, and bears on both the good and the evil deeds of man, Phil 2:18; Genesis 50:20; Acts 14:16. "A firm faith in the universal providence of God is the solution of all earthly problems. It is almost equally true that a clear and full apprehension of the universal providence of God is the solution of most theological problems." --B. B. Warfield "We turn to God when our foundations are shaking, only to learn that it is God who is shaking them." --Charles West "Because God sustains the universe's moment-by-moment existence, nothing comes about independently of his will. He governs all creatures and events so that they accomplish what he intends, either by their acting freely (as through human choice) or contingently (as when something happens that did not have to happen) or necessarily (as with the law of gravity). Thus God, in ways beyond our understanding, works in and through everything to bring about his good purposes." --Eric Landry |
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2 | Theological Term: Divine Providence | Job 23:13 | Hank | 151287 | ||
If William Ernest Henley had read, understood, and believed what God's word teaches about divine providence, he would never have written "Invictus," the poem that ends with the oft-quoted line, "I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul." ..... It's hard to believe that this poem was quoted in a commencement address delivered to a graduating class of a "Christian" college that is affiliated with a major "mainline" denomination. --Hank | ||||||
3 | Theological Term: Divine Providence | Job 23:13 | DocTrinsograce | 151381 | ||
How about this one, Hank? "I know of one denominational official who, when asked how to preach on texts that seem strong on predestination or election or the sovereignty of grace, said something like, 'O, I think you can preach on those texts without letting people know what you think. It's possible to be sufficiently imprecise so that you don't upset people.' That attitude toward doctrine and preaching is the source of widespread weakness and shallowness in our churches. It is a tragedy when we believe that we are serving the cause of God by surrounding the peaks of his glory with a fog of ambiguity. If our people are ever going to have a global faith and a global vision we are going to have to stop hiding from them the Biblical proportions of the majesty of God." --John Piper In Him, Doc |
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4 | Theological Term: Divine Providence | Job 23:13 | Hank | 151388 | ||
Doc, I'm convinced that there are churches today where, should the pastor preach a strong, biblically-based sermon on the wrath of God: sin, judgment and hell, half of the congregation would walk out during the sermon and the other half would call an emergency meeting and fire the pastor. A good percentage of "televangelists" don't preach the gospel of Christ. They preach, if we dare call it preaching, a namby-pamby, watered-down feel-good assortment of fluffy nonsense. They know well what people want to hear and are willing to pay for. As a consequence, the people get the powder-puff nothingness they want to hear and the preacher gets his pockets lined with lots of green-backed pieces of paper, the kind Wal-Mart and the Mercedes dealer will accept in exchange for merchandize. I've seen so much erosion in sound doctrine in my 70 years, it makes my skin crawl to think about it. --Hank | ||||||
5 | Theological Term: Divine Providence | Job 23:13 | BradK | 151405 | ||
Hi Hank, Your observation is, sadly, on the mark. In a similar vain is the topic of homosexuality. Not to gloat, but our pastor last week in preaching through Romans, hit the topic of Homosexuality head-on with his sermon "Is gay ok?" from Chap. 1. (No, it's not biblically). He truly spoke the truth in love- and did not gay-bash but held to what scripture teaches. Interestingly, we had two "plants" in the audience- right up front, who were going along with the worship service right up to the reading of scripture. Both men then got up and walked out. In our second service, he (pastor) had a lady afterwords tell him she had some issues with his sermon, etc. But, to my knowledge, none of our congregation walked out:-) I'm proud that he had the courage to "preach the Word"! I would submit that most politically incorrect subjects like Homosexuality, and yes, even a Wrathful God aren't very popular. So, as liberal and unchurched as the Northwest is, there is still a small pocket that holds fast to the Word! BradK |
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