Results 1 - 2 of 2
|
|
|||||
Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | Whose will causes a believer to sin? | Rev 13:8 | flinkywood | 88194 | ||
Good stuff, Joe. God ordains that good and ill work to His glory. As I understand free will, the one thing God can't ordain is our loving obedience. He can lead us to Him, but He deliberately can't make us love Him. He can search the heart (here Hezekia's): 2Ch 32:31 Even in the matter of the envoys of the rulers of Babylon, who sent to him to inquire of the wonder that had happened in the land, God left him alone only to test him, that He might know all that was in his heart." (NASB) He can search for the heart: 2Ch 16:9 "For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His." (NASB) He can harden the heart: Deu 2:30 "But Sihon king of Heshbon was not willing for us to pass through his land; for the LORD your God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, in order to deliver him into your hand, as he is today." (NASB) Stir up the heart: Ezr 1:1,2 Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he sent a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying: "Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, 'The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and He has appointed me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah." (NASB) And give the gift of love to the heart: 1 John 4.19 "We love Him, because He first loved us." (KJV). But I can't find any scripture which says that God can make a heart to love Him. Nothing is impossible for God, except, it seems, this one thing. I conclude that He has deliberately limited His omnipotence in this amazing way: that love for Him is up to us. I think you phrase it correctly with, "God doesn't sin, but ordains "that" the wickedness of men and Satan...", the stress being on "that"; God doesn't ordain sin, but "that" sin be used and directed to His glory. Since He loves us, sin is one of His intruments; if He didn't love us, sin would be his handiwork. Love seems to be the answer at heart of the question whether God tempts to sin and ordains the commission of sin. Colin |
||||||
2 | Whose will causes a believer to sin? | Rev 13:8 | John Reformed | 88201 | ||
Dear Colin, You wrote: "As I understand free will, the one thing God can't ordain is our loving obedience. He can lead us to Him, but He deliberately can't make us love Him." Calvinists do not believe that God makes or forces any man to love Him. We take the position that the natural (unregenerate) man has no love for God. The reason we believe this abounds in the pages of Scripture. Look up "heart" in the "search" feature. It's not a pretty picture. So then, if God does not force us to love Him, and we have no natural affection for Him, how is it that anyone ever actually comes to love Him at all? The answer which we "reformed" types offer is that we (christians) love God because He first loved us. Now, one may ask does'nt God love everyone? Yes, He does. But the Lord has a special love for those whom He has chose. The Bible term is those whom He "foreknew". I apologize for not having the time to offer the scriptural foundation for what I have said, but I'm at work (I'm self-employed). If you care to discuss what I have claimed, I'd be delighted. Perhaps Joe could get in on the act. Actually, I taught him everything he knows :-) God Bless, John |
||||||