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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | WHY DO WE NEED TO EVANGALIZE? | Matt 28:19 | Hank | 2382 | ||
Pyle, your question begins with that big 'if' and perhaps in revisiting your ideas on the doctrine of election, or predestination, or whatever else we may conceive it to be, some light will fall. My view is that election is not the same thing as fatalism. Election says that God in His infinite love has elected (chosen) us to be heirs with his own Son of the riches of His glory. He calls us by His Spirit, the Holy Spirit, and we have the option to respond or not to respond. The Scriptures clearly teach that whosoever will may come, that God is no respector of persons. In eternity God willed that no one should perish but that all should come to salvation. That is why He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16). But the Bible clearly supports the notion that not everyone will receive Him, and it makes it crystal clear that no one can come to the Father except through the Son. The view of fatalism says that, since God has already decided in advance (even before I was conceived) whether I would be saved or whether I would be condemned, why does it matter what I do or don't do, what I believe or don't believe, whether I accept Jesus as my Lord or not? -- the whole thing is out of my hands anyway. That view puts God in the role of puppeteer and us as mere puppets on His string. The Scriptures don't even remotely support such a doctrine. When God breathed into the nostrils of Adam and he became a living soul, God endowed him with the power to choose. In the Garden it was Adam and Eve's choice, not God's, heed the serpent's call and fall away in sin and disobedience. God did not will it, did not preordain it, did not elect them to disobey His will. What they did was neither God's choice nor His good pleasure. Adam and Eve sinned and thus fell short of the glory of God. Thus by their actions they created the absolute need for a Redeemer, a Savior, for someone who was empowered to retore them to a right relationship with their Creator. It was Christ then (He was in the beginning with God) and it is Christ now whom God entrusted with this awesome power, the power to restore us to a right relationship with Him. If God had already determined from all eternity that Joe would be saved and Bill would be condemned, why would it have been necessary for Him to put His Son through the agony of the cross? The way I interpret the Word is that God elected (predeterined) to offer salvation to all of his created sons and daughters through Jesus.I do believe that the Scriptures clearly teach that no one comes to God unless His Spirit calls them. But I believe the Holy Spirit calls everyone, without exception. But the response is left up to us. This subject is High Theology indeed and I surely don't pretend to be a theologian by any measure unless, as I heard one time, a theologian is a guy who says things he doesn't understand to people who don't understand them either. Now to the second part of your question, Why evangelize? Having attempted to estabish the Bible's doctrine of "choosing this day whom we shall serve" it therefore follows that Christians are entrusted with the awesome responsibity of heralds, to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ to a fallen world. "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God."Whosoever will may come, true enough. But how shall they unsaved hear without someone to tell them? That "someone" is not just the paid preachers and missionaries. It's every child of the King. Does it make sense that Jesus would have commissioned his disciples to go into all the world and preach the gospel to everyone if the whole business of specifically who would be saved and who condemned had already been settled in advance? That is precisely what the Devil would love us to believe, because it would stop evangelism in its tracks! Jesus was fond of comparing His mission with a vineyard. We sow good seeds and reap a good harvest. If we don't sow seeds for Him in His vineyard, who will? Should we take the view, "It doesn't matter what I sow, or even whether I sow or not. God's already determined what the harvest will be." I truly and prayerfully trust, Pyle, that these random thoughts will help in some small way to answer your question. | ||||||
2 | WHY DO WE NEED TO EVANGALIZE? | Matt 28:19 | Ken John | 109745 | ||
Hi Pyle, I fully support what Hank has written. What an excellent answer to this question. Thank you Hank. Blessings KJ | ||||||