Subject: An interesting discussion/question |
Bible Note: Dear ChildofGod, When man sinned he destined himself to hell, not God. That is what I meant by that God only chooses some to save. That statement does not leave out that the offer is being made to all men, but the fact is even though the offer was made all men still run away from it unless God uses the Holy Spirit to draw them back. Men do not chose soley on their own, they do choose, but no until the Holy Spirit convincts them of sin in their hearts. Salvation is a work of the Holy Spirit, you don't come to Christ without Him drawing you and woeing you to Him. I do not believe in full Calvinism school (there are many Calvinistic models) that states that God predestined the evil choices of all men and that men do not have a free will at all. I believe that men do have free will, but that without the working of the Holy Spirit will always choose to remain sinners because they are reprobate. That means that God does not foreordain men to be sinners and go to hell. It means that God foreknows who will go to hell and predistines some to be saved by His sovereign Holy will. That every one deserves to go to hell is the point, not whether God predestines any to go to hell, He does not, man made his decision a long time ago. There are schools of thought that believe Adam's sin was never transferred down to other men, as if other men would not have made the same bad choice. These folks think that no one is a sinner until they first commit one sin. The Bible does not teach this though. Neither does it teach that God predestines that some should sin, only that some would be saved. God's justice and mercy are not the same things although God's love is just and merciful. My goal was not to block out justice and mercy as different from God's love, but to see how those three things are working through predestination, foreknowledge and election. Love, justice and mercy all work in concert within the process described in Romans 8 through the three different but related concepts of predestination, foreknowledge and election. However, God's justice does not work the same way as His mercy, one condemns sin, the other forgives sin; He demands payment for sin and then offers every one forgiveness. His love is unconditional in that He loves the sinner, but it is conditional in that He hates the sin. This is one of the mysteries of God. Just as are the processes of predestination, foreknowledge and election. God's day to you, Tamara |