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: Clarification ....................................... Dear John, I guess I missed your discussion with EdB about my analogy (although I saw your discussion of his analogy). I’d like to read what you wrote there; could you give me a post number to go to. Anyway, on to what you wrote here. It seems that you feel like my analogy is an inaccurate representation of the Calvinist perspective. Feel free to give more reasons why (my feelings won’t be hurt in the slightest), but I disagree with the reasons you gave. ....................................... You said that “Tom and Jerry (unregenerate man) are wicked rebels and not innocent children.” However, I never said in the analogy that Tom and Jerry were innocent children. All I said was that they were born with a condition (missing legs) that they could not change themselves. This goes right along with the definition you and I already agreed to, of the Calvinist viewpoint. That definition began, “God unchangeably ordains everything that comes to pass.” ....................................... Your second reason was that “God is not their father in the sense of having a familial relationship with Him. The father that Tom and Jerry serve is Satan.” However, the analogy does not go into whether the interpersonal relationships between the parent and Tom and Jerry are familial or not. All I said was that the parent created Tom and Jerry a certain way (without any legs). This is true according to Calvinist perspective. As you said in an earlier post, God created everything. ....................................... Your also said that “It was not their legs but their hearts that have been corrupted.” Obviously the problem is with not with the legs, the heart, or any other specific part of the body, but rather with the attitude which one has towards God. Let’s not quibble over body parts :) ....................................... Your third reason was that “It was the sin of Adam that brought the curse of moral deformity upon our 2 rebels. Nevertheless, The Father is blameless.” However, once again going to our definition of Calvinism that we both agreed to: “God unchangeably ordains everything that comes to pass.” And in a previous post we also agreed that God is omniscient. Therefore, according to the Calvinist viewpoint, God knew before He created Adam that if He created him the way He intended, then Adam WOULD sin. Thus, when God chose to create Adam that way anyway, He was in effect creating a universe that WOULD be full of people who were unable to choose to love God (unless God changed their hearts). This is accurately represented in the analogy by the parent who knows ahead of time that the genetic engineering they do WILL cause children in the future to be born without legs or the ability to walk (unless the parent gives them artificial ones). ....................................... I have tried to clarify why I still believe this analogy is an accurate one. Please let me know if you have any other reasons why you believe it is not. Otherwise, I’d like to know what your answers to the questions at the end of the analogy are. I also look forward to hearing your responses to my other posts (Different View 2 and 3). |