Subject: Thoughts on Romans 9 |
Bible Note: The problem with your view, in my humble opinion, is that it makes light of Scripture. I give you 2 Timothy 3:16 "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness" If we take Scripture in its entirety, there is considerable discussion of "the elect" and God's sovereign right to choose. In fact, the word "elect" appears 9 times in the NT and the word "chosen" appears 116 times in Scripture. However the words "free will" do not appear once. God didn't just give us Scripture to make us feel good. God gave us Scripture to teach us. Unfortunately, millions more people have been chained by their ignorance of Scripture than by their study of it. By the way, since you brought it up, the Bible belt is in the south. And apostacy emanates from all places, Yale Divinity included. As I recall, it was northerners who brought slaves from Africa... but that doesn't count I guess. The good news is that God is merciful. But we can only understand that mercy, and the value of faith, love, hope and grace if we understand our hopelessness without them. Thus, the whole message of the Bible is first the bad news (the ten commandments which we cannot keep), and then the good news (that Christ died to pay the price for our sin). My point is that we can't just ignore some verses because we don't like them. BTW, "hell" is used 13 times in the NT, so you're ok there. Blessings Curt |