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NASB | Romans 9:21 Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use? |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Romans 9:21 Does the potter not have the right over the clay, to make from the same lump [of clay] one object for honorable use [something beautiful or distinctive] and another for common use [something ordinary or menial]? |
Bible Question:
I am wondering if a calvinist could explain to me why God, if all things are ordained by him, would judge people? what I mean is, if God made us all, and God chose everything we would do, why did he give us the 'illusion' of freewill, and why would he judge us for things he made us do? I can understand it if I except God delegates Authority to man so that we may choose to love him, then I can see why all the suffering and death and pain are worth it to God, because some will "choose" to love him, But if in the end we cannot choose, why did he not simply make us perfect in the first place? God is outside of time, so to me words like foreordained, and foreknew, are meaningless in the context of God himself, though they obviously have meaning to man. |
Bible Answer: Whoa! Well with the response I have been given I think I see the futility of this argument. My only conclusion is this. Any argument where by both sides are 'defending' their position for the 'faith', when in reality they are defending their belief frantically (I speak of both sides) because they feel that if they are incorrect, they are somehow 'bad'. An Arminian (which is apparently what I am, though I have never read anything by him) or a Calvanist (Someone I also have no knowledge of) will look at one another and think, if I believed what THEY believed I know how I would act, so how can their beliefs not negatively affect their walk? We defend our beliefs because if, God forbid, the other person is right, where does that leave us? Truth (and I am borrowing heavily from a website I found here) is not the sum total of all true things, it is a person. Jesus says that he is the truth, and the truth will set you free. Not, it should be pointed out, our relative understanding of the truth, yet this is how we behave. If the 'truth' of Arminianism (Am I even spelling that right?) or Calvanism means we usurp another truth, that we are undivided in Christ, then what value is it? And yet, being human, we allow it to divid us, resulting in many denominations and arguments. I am not saying it is wrong to discuss things, or that some beliefs are clearly incorrect, I am just suggesting that our motivation for argument is a little different than we think. |