Subject: How did sin originate |
Bible Note: Hello CDBJ, you wrote to me: “I ask you a question and this is how you answered. Does the Bible teach predestination or not? Can you please tell me? Nice ploy, but you answer my logical question first; mine is easy since all I want is your opinion. There is no verse to back it up either way.” Well, if I was avoiding an answer then yes, it could’ve been a ploy but I wasn’t. I’ll answer your question below but let me firstly address my intention by not giving you a straight answer right away – if you answered ‘yes’, i.e. yes you do believe in predestination then you would simply contradict yourself since your own question presupposes silently that you do not believe in predestination (you wrote “…since the people that one might witness to are predestined already, why waste your time; and why bother to pray for someone if God has already made his decisions!..." implies that praying only makes sense if the doctrine of predestination is false and since presumably you pray for others it follows you do not believe in predestination) and by contradicting yourself you would clearly see your false position. On the other hand, if you answered “no”, i.e. no you do not believe in predestination I would have surely asked you to exegete 20 or 30 passages ;-) (well no, 2 or 3) where predestination is clearly taught. By doing all this one would hope some scripture would be read, examined and hopefully some conclusions made. Another reason why I didn’t answer your question straight away is because I think the question is absolutely irrelevant to this discussion, namely, even if it is shown that praying doesn’t make any sense if predestination is true does not make the doctrine false (your argument is implicitly this – if predestination is true, then praying doesn’t make sense, now praying does make sense therefore predestination is false. The argument is fallacious on a few counts and I don’t think I have time to go into it now). Now to your question: “If it isn't going to make any difference anyway, since the people that one might witness to are predestined already, why waste your time; and why bother to pray for someone if God has already made his decisions!” The obvious answer is of course we are commanded to pray: “..And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel..” (Eph 6:17-19) Here Paul commands us to pray with supplications for all saints and for Paul himself so that he might be able to preach the gospel, therefore we ought to pray for saved as well as for unsaved people. It is rather simple, regardless of wether or not God predestines everything there is to pass He commands us in His word to pray for saved and unsaved alike, although the contents of such prayers are different. Now let’s just compare the two views as far as the supplicational prayer goes. Both a Calvinist and an Arminian pray to God for their unsaved neighbour that he might come to the saving knowledge of Christ. A Calvinist believes that his neighbour’s future is predetermined by God and since he doesn’t know what this future is he, following the Devine command and also knowing that prayers are pleasing to God, turns to God with his supplications about his neighbour. Whether or not his neighbour will be saved is irrelevant as far as the content of the supplication goes, a Calvinist exercises his duty and leaves the matter in God’s hands. Arminian, on the other hand, apparently believes that his prayers are going to influence God’s decision since he believes that the future is not predetermined by God already. But one wants to ask what kind of God is this whose decisions are influenced by prayers of sinners? Did not Isaiah say: “I am God, and there is none like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things that are not yet done, Saying, “My counsel shall stand, And I will do all My pleasure””? The end from the beginning, according to Isaiah 46:10 has been declared by God and His council shall stand, it shall not be changed by prayers or by anything else. Likewise, if a neighbour and not God is a decisive force in the matter of saving faith, in other words if it is a neighbour who decides to believe or not to believe the gospel and it is not God who foreordains such an act, then shouldn’t an Arminian pray to his neighbour and not God, why pray to God if it is a neighbour who desides his future and not God, if God does not foreordain neighbour’s choice to believe or not to believe the gospel? Would that be a satisfactory answer? |