Subject: What does Bible teach on election? |
Bible Note: Quite right. This is a topic too broad to be suited for a forum. It is an entire doctrine that can only be covered with extensive study. I'm sure GeneralWas would agree with that, having taught it for a year. In order to answer this question, you'll have to accept ambiguities and mysteries as an answer until hard study is accomplished to understand the broad statements. You have to understand that the whole of God is incomprehensible, so we are left with some apparent "contradictions", that are a result of our limited comprehension. See, I always looked at the generally accepted answer to the question "Can God make a rock so big He can't lift it?" as unsatisfactory. The generally accepted answer is that the question is wrong. I disagree. God is way bigger than that. I believe the answer is "Yes He can make a rock so big He can't lift it; and then He will lift it anyway." Now this question and answer may seem flippant, but it really is not. It illustrates perfectly our limits in understanding the infiniteness of God. The answer to both parts, can He make and can He lift, has to be yes simultaneously. He can make a rock so big He can't lift it. But He will lift it anyway. Well then He didn't make a rock so big He can't lift it. Yes He did, but He will lift it anyway. How can light be both a particle and a wave simultaneously? If you are wondering what in the world this has to do with your question, it is this. God gave us Free will, but He is beyond the limitation of time and knows everything. So free will, election, and predestination are all simultaneously compatible. In other words it is all by His permission and authority, but He knows your heart before you are born - from before the beginning of time. I don't know if this helped or confused... |