Prior Book | Prior Chapter | Prior Verse | Next Verse | Next Chapter | Next Book | Viewing NASB and Amplified 2015 | |
NASB | Acts 4:24 And when they heard this, they lifted their voices to God with one accord and said, "O Lord, it is You who MADE THE HEAVEN AND THE EARTH AND THE SEA, AND ALL THAT IS IN THEM, |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Acts 4:24 And when they heard it, they raised their voices together to God and said, "O Sovereign Lord [having complete power and authority], it is You who MADE THE HEAVEN AND THE EARTH AND THE SEA, AND EVERYTHING THAT IS IN THEM, [Ex 20:11; Ps 146:6] |
Subject: Is God in absolut contrl over all things |
Bible Note: 1. YOU SAID: “Dear John, “ John did not write this! -JRdoc, unless of course this is my good-bye letter to be kept from the forum… 2. YOU SAID: “that actually deal specifiically with the sovereignity of God WITHIN the Arminian perspective”….” That is not an idea held WITHIN the Arminian perspective.” So I cannot look at Scripture to assert the truth. The Arminian perspective is a philosophy. You can not begin with a false premise (philosophy) and end up with truth! Begin with a Scripture and lets examine that, but this “from the Arminian perspective” business, just because you assert it does not make it truth. State a specific Scripture. Let us look at the Greek or Hebrew. Let us discuss the Word of God and not a slide or the Dollar Store—though your illustrations were found faulty. 3. YOU SAID: “ Please remember that we are only talking about whether it is possible for God to be soverign in the Arminian perspective, thus it is not helpful to try to convince me to believe in the Calvinist perspective.” It is not possible “for God to be sovereign in the Arminian perspective” and since I cannot use Scripture, it is not possible to state the truth. Arminianism sees man as “partly” sovereign and in turn takes away from God’s total control (sovereignty). Again, I stressed in the original reply that C- does not deny a will, but at a different time and to a different degree than A- 4. YOU SAID: “For instance, in our town their is a store where everything costs 1 dollar. Now a parent could go to that store and lay a dollar bill on the counter and then tell their kid to go pick out any on thing in the store and the money on the counter will pay for it. The kid then actually does have freedom to choose whatever they want, but the parent’s “prophecy” will still come true when they bring it up to be paid for and the dollar bill is already there. This is an example of a time when a subject can be given both the FREEDOM and the ABILITY to make a choice while at the same time some future things will not change. Since God is all powerful, couldn’t He do the same thing” A. Yes, he will pick something that costs a dollar, but he would never select that which belongs to God: Rom 3:11 “There is NONE that UNDERSTANDETH, there is NONE that SEEKETH after God.” Or in this case NONE would SELECT God’s merchandise for he would not have a will to this disposition. The God of this world has blinded him so he could not see to make that selection.—SCRIPTURE!—2 Cor 4:4. B. Again, you assume the child is spiritually alive to make this choice when the Scripture affirms he is dead in trespasses and sin (Eph 2:1). He is dead he can not see or even walk to God’s shelf. C. You are assuming God is parent that only offers a “chance” at salvation and are making the offer a smorgasbord (The Dollar Store). The Scripture says: John 6: 40 And THIS IS THE WILL OF HIM that sent me, THAT EVERY ONE WHICH SEETH the Son, and BELIEVETH ON HIM [a gift], MAY [without a doubt, not just a chance] have everlasting life: and I WILL [without a doubt, not just a chance] raise him up at the last day. (chapter 17 of John has several other illustrations, et. al.). Jesus went after the 1 lost sheep (not goat), salvation is more than a “possibility,” it is God’s eternal “promise” to His elect. D. You fail to understand the “foreknowledge “ of God—meaning relational-ship knowledge (Gen 4:1; Rom 8—pro-ginosoko, yada). God has a relational-ship knowledge with His elect from before the foundation of the world (Eph 1) and has elected, predestined His choice (Rom 9). 5. YOU SAID: “Couldn’t He create a universe where humans have the FREEDOM and ABILITY to choose whether to love God or not, yet at the same time be able to determine several critical points along the way (including the end of time)? And if God had the ability to, at any point, take back over and dictate everything, then wouldn’t He still be completely in control? See you changed the sovereignty of God when you said “several critical points”, but not “all points—and all are critical” so you are asserting that God is only partly sovereign? The only way Arminianism may come close to proving its point is not to look at the Scripture. 6. YOU SAID: “Just because God chooses not to excersize His abilitiy to dictate everything, does that make Him cease to be supremely powerful?” Yes it does. Dan 4: 35 And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and HE DOETH ACCORDING TO HIS WILL in the army of heaven, and AMONG THE INHABITANTS OF THE EARTH: and NONE CAN STAY HIS HAND, or say unto him, What doest thou? |