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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: Many will actually argue that they do not personally have a free will to choose anything. In this line of thinking ... Man becomes a puppet/or a robot and that "God forced them into becoming a Christian Without free will, many of Bible statements make no sense: 1. "Why do you call me Lord and don't do what I say" Luke 6:46 Why? God willed it that way! 2. "Whosoever believes shall be saved" John 3:16 (Not whosoever God makes a believer) 3. "Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. Rev. 22:17 4. John 5:40 And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life. 5. Rom 10:13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Rom. 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. "God will not violate human freedom. He has created a race of people to make choices. God did not create fleshly robots or mechanical beings over which He has complete control. Why doesn’t God just make me good? The answer is: that wouldn’t be goodness, it would be slavery. And God isn’t interested in slaves but in sons and daughters. God will not overpower us into goodness; He can and does work through every possible means to get our attention to call us, to woo us and win us. But He will never ravish us or violate us as persons."(source unknown) "How can man be held accountable to God for his actions in judgment without freewill? Do those who die unbelivers get judged for something that they could not be responsible for? What kind of God would judge someone for his or her inability?"(unknown source) "What then, you ask, does free will do? I reply with brevity, it saves. Take away FREE WILL, and nothing will be left to be saved. Take away GRACE, and nothing will be left as the source of salvation. This work [of salvation] cannot be effected without two parties -- one, from whom it may come: the other, to whom or in whom it may be wrought. God is the author of salvation. Free will is only capable of being saved. No one, except God, is able to bestow salvation; and nothing, except free will, is capable of receiving it." Bernardus, De Libero Arbit. et Gratia. |