Nine months ago I was sort of Roman Catholic. After joining TOL, thanks to some of the folks here, I quickly became a Protestant, then a Calvinist Protestant. Although, those labels are worldly and not scriptural. I don’t like ‘em.
Over the past few months I have been able so read Scripture as never before…and with much fewer preconceptions than the average person.
There is remarkable consistency across Scripture. Where there are tensions, they tend to be the same tensions. Some of these consistencies: again and again, the reader is exhorted to believe. Again and again, the reader is told that a believer must pass the test. Again and again, the reader is assured that those who have believed are saved. Unless I have been excluded from being able to see the truth, this has to equal the proven saved doctrine when you put it together.
Determinism is also very apparent in Scripture. Again and again, true believers are referred to as chosen. Romans says it does not depend on a man’s will or desire, but on God’s mercy. It took me a while to except determinism…I tried to see Romans as referring to groups instead of individuals. But it didn’t work. Reading it with a heart open to God’s will and to the concept that God can be love and also a wrathful being, I could not force my will upon this Scripture passage. Romans 9 to 11 is about groups and individuals. We probably don’t have to be dogmatic about the particulars…in fact Paul warns us that we can’t understand the mind of God at the end of this discourse.
But I came to see that I could give up all my ideas about the existence of free will when it comes to essential acts, and even anything good that anyone does. That doesn’t mean we have to view ourselves as puppets. We don’t feel grace effortlessly moving our limbs, and we don’t make tough decisions without heartache. Even though any eternally meaningful act or decision is God acting, normally we still feel the pain or joy of the whole process as if we had done it ourselves. This still serves as an explanation of how God cleanses for himself a people for himself. It not might make perfect sense to me, but might not my ability to understand true justice and reality be impaired in this world?
Determinism gives us a great weapon in debate against secular humanists. Humanists tend to argue, often somewhat convincingly, that people are mostly good, and that we it is wrong or unkind to view other people as not saved as long as they are an overall nice person. But determinism can show us how big the gap is…and that it is ultimately kinder to preach the truth that many such nice people are far from saved, that if the conditions were just changed a little bit they might act very differently and kill to stay alive. That whole “nice” image might be much more of an illusion than we realize…just because people seem to get along doesn’t they mean they aren’t thinking about their material wants 75 percent of the time, and even when they are being kind it might just be largely because it makes them feel good or that the power to better themselves lies with themselves.
I don’t have all the answers…but aren’t these essential and basic truths that anyone who has ears to hear can accept? Anyone who doesn’t cherry pick certain verses from here and there?
Over the past few months I have been able so read Scripture as never before…and with much fewer preconceptions than the average person.
There is remarkable consistency across Scripture. Where there are tensions, they tend to be the same tensions. Some of these consistencies: again and again, the reader is exhorted to believe. Again and again, the reader is told that a believer must pass the test. Again and again, the reader is assured that those who have believed are saved. Unless I have been excluded from being able to see the truth, this has to equal the proven saved doctrine when you put it together.
Determinism is also very apparent in Scripture. Again and again, true believers are referred to as chosen. Romans says it does not depend on a man’s will or desire, but on God’s mercy. It took me a while to except determinism…I tried to see Romans as referring to groups instead of individuals. But it didn’t work. Reading it with a heart open to God’s will and to the concept that God can be love and also a wrathful being, I could not force my will upon this Scripture passage. Romans 9 to 11 is about groups and individuals. We probably don’t have to be dogmatic about the particulars…in fact Paul warns us that we can’t understand the mind of God at the end of this discourse.
But I came to see that I could give up all my ideas about the existence of free will when it comes to essential acts, and even anything good that anyone does. That doesn’t mean we have to view ourselves as puppets. We don’t feel grace effortlessly moving our limbs, and we don’t make tough decisions without heartache. Even though any eternally meaningful act or decision is God acting, normally we still feel the pain or joy of the whole process as if we had done it ourselves. This still serves as an explanation of how God cleanses for himself a people for himself. It not might make perfect sense to me, but might not my ability to understand true justice and reality be impaired in this world?
Determinism gives us a great weapon in debate against secular humanists. Humanists tend to argue, often somewhat convincingly, that people are mostly good, and that we it is wrong or unkind to view other people as not saved as long as they are an overall nice person. But determinism can show us how big the gap is…and that it is ultimately kinder to preach the truth that many such nice people are far from saved, that if the conditions were just changed a little bit they might act very differently and kill to stay alive. That whole “nice” image might be much more of an illusion than we realize…just because people seem to get along doesn’t they mean they aren’t thinking about their material wants 75 percent of the time, and even when they are being kind it might just be largely because it makes them feel good or that the power to better themselves lies with themselves.
I don’t have all the answers…but aren’t these essential and basic truths that anyone who has ears to hear can accept? Anyone who doesn’t cherry pick certain verses from here and there?
