[sola gracia]

We all are sinners. We deserve to perish. Every breath is an undeserved gift. We have one great hope: Jesus Christ died to obtain pardon and righteousness for us (Ephesians 1:7; 2 Corinthians 5:21), and God will employ His all-conquering, sovereign grace to preserve us for our inheritance (Jeremiah 32:40). We surrender this hope if we sacrifice this sovereignty.

Amen!! What more can you say?

[gcruse]

It's all my fault?

[sola gracia]

BUMP

[sola gracia]

BUMP

[sola gracia]

BUMP

[sola gracia]

BUMP

[quimby]

God doesn't do everything, but He can do anything.

[sola gracia]

BUMP

[eddie willers]

We all are sinners. We deserve to perish.

Amen!! What more can you say?

I can say that this type of logic is the reason I am not a Christian.

[RnMomof7]

It is very hard for people to grasp the concept of Sovereign Justice Sola

They dont think it would be "fair" of God to "allow" 6,000 to die,so the devil did it behind God's back

Over and over I see people struggling with this..

When an article like this is posted or you or I say that God knew this was going to happen and He will use it for His purposes people get very nervous..It doesn't fit the concept of God that most Americans are comfortable with.

God is a mystery....we only know Him through His word...and scripture is replete with God controlling events and HIStory....

I can not pretend to understand exactly how this all works,I just know we have nothing to fear he is in control!

Thank you for the flag!

[Jerry_M]

John Piper BUMP.

I am almost done with his The Pleasures of God. It is even better than Desiring God!

[Jomers]

About an hour after the attacks, I went to Mass and the reading was taken from Paul to the Corinthians (if I recall correctly) which read: "God has dominion over all principalities and powers."

Gives perspective to those who question who is in control of this situation, or who is going to win.

[greggy]

There are two reasons I don't say this. One is that it goes beyond, and is contrary to, what the Bible teaches. The other is that it undermines the very hope it wants to offer.

I get so angry when people spout off like this and don't have a clue about what they are saying.

The principle that the author states is against the teachings of the bible is found with Joseph and his brothers. So much for being against the bible.

And just because he thinks that this explanation should be offering hope does not mean that it is offering hope. all it means is that he thinks it should be offering hope. I have never thought that this biblical principle offers any hope. It merely offers an explanation of what happens.

I have yet to see God kill anyone. Jesus said that it is the devil that comes to kill, steal, and destroy. Jesus came that we might have life and have it more abundantly. I mean, that is pretty clear to me.

There is a prophecy just recently given, but clearly years ago, that America will return to her roots of dependency upon the Lord Jesus Christ before he returns, and he is returning soon, sooner than you think. Much sooner. If you understand what Jesus was saying in Matt 21:20-32, you will see that he will return before 2008.

So I can tell you that what we are seeing is but one example of evil that the devil meant for bad to America that has already done some good. People are turning off sitcoms, and not looking to sports as much. They are waking up and saying, "What is really important?" And they are flocking more to church on Sunday than in any recent time looking for the answer, and in the right place- they are looking to God for the answer.

[George W. Bush]

I guess I still have a problem with preachers saying this is only a call to national repentance. Certainly, we should examine our faith when others die, even from old age. So the difference here is that it was murder. But we don't get this excited as a nation about murder unless it's serial killings, especially involving sex.

It seems to me that the significance here is three-fold. It was a murderous act and involved 6000 victims, a new record. So the act itself is mostly impressive numerically. And it was an attack on the States, probably the first since the War of 1812. I think it also underlines the basic insecurity we have about aircraft.

I think any revival will be short-lived. They generally are.

I consider that God may be doing this for other purposes in order to fulfill His larger plan, not necessarily as a punishment for national sin. That we deserve to punished, I've no doubt. I just don't necessarily believe that that's the only thing He intends.

[jude24]

bump for a later read.....

[BibChr]

Good column. If you could see my own essay, which I've been cobbling together as odd moments have become available, you'd see why it almost leads me to abandon the effort. We're mining from the same quarry!

Dan

[Precisian]

Thanks for the bump. Boy, this post sure brings out the anti-God crowd.

Why do the heathens rage on Free Republic? a) God is limited by man's action (un-Scriptural blasphemy); b)God gives us "Free-Will" and stands aside as we exercise autonomy (un-Scriptural blasphemy). etc. etc.

[Anitius Severinus Boethius]

This thread has attracted quite a few non-Christians who are confused by the seeming inconsistancy within the theology that is arrived at. I would like to have a shot at clarifying if I may.

First, there are 2 concepts which must be re-conciled. The first concept is the Omnipotence of God. God is the God of the possible, he can do anything. Why? He is the author of all of existance. Physics works because he designed our physical world and the rules that govern physical existance. Because he created physics, he is not bound by it. When he suspends or changes physical rules, that is know as a "substanitive miracle". Since he created time, he is also not bound by time, which means he sees all of existance without the strictures of linear contraint. When he provides for escape, or witness, or prophecy, or any other situation where timing is involved but the activities can be explained through physics, this is a "temporal miracle". (For example, if there can be shown a physical reason for the parting of the Red Sea through details of an earthquake or volcanic eruption, the fact that Moses lead the people of Israel through the sea and then the Egyptian army was destroyed is no less of a miracle, it's just a temporal miracle and not a substanitive miracle.) The second concept is that of free-will. Each person is imbued with a special gift from God that allows them to choose their actions, thoughts and intents at any moment. While God, being not constrained by time, can clearly see the choices we will make, he does not coerce our choices. He allows us to be independant moral agents and our world is impacted by each choice that each of us make.

Now we come to the questions of what happened in a terrible action like what happened on September 11th.

Did God cause the actions?
No, men using their own free will took the planes captive and flew them into buildings.

Why did God allow this to happen?
Because the men are free moral agents and God has given the gift of free-will to mankind.

Could God have prevented this?
Yes, he could have prevented this at any time.

Why didn't he?
Because he knows of the good that will come from these evil actions by these men.

If God is a loving God, he wouldn't have allowed this to happen, would he?
Children will often scream to their parents "You don't love me" when they don't get what they think is fair and just. But fairness and justice to children is different that it is for their parents. We do not have the mind of God and are contrained by time. One day we will see why God allowed this to happen.

I don't want to believe in a God that would allow innocent people to die because of another's free-will.
That is your freedom and choice. Not wanting to believe in something doesn't make it less true, however. And the alternative, believing in a God that never allows bad things to happen, is disproved every second of every day. We have to live in a world where there are 6 billion moral agents that impact life and there has been only one that has never made an immoral decision. Immoral decisions lead to death and destruction, and we all contribute to that. God allows it because he has given us the gift of free-will. God allows evil, but man must choose to perform it.

[Patriotic Teen]

I don't know how you can honestly say that God is the cause of this destruction. God is not at the center of evil.

The fact of the matter is that these people who did this did this in the name of their god. I don't care to comment on whether they practice a rogue form of Islam or not, but they serve a false god, they did not do this destruction in the name of our God.

Now obviously God, in His permissive will, allowed it to happen. And it is being used for good. I look at this as God using it as a wake-up call, but don't pin the cause of this on Him.

[MamaSwami]

There was indeed an act of God on Sep 11. It was not that two planes struck the WTC, but that rescue workers managed to get an estimated 25,000 people out of the stricken area before things started coming down.

That is the true miracle of Sep 11, and those rescue workers, most of whom lost their lives, were the angels delivering God's will.

[Keyes For President]

We all are sinners. We deserve to perish. Every breath is an undeserved gift. We have one great hope: Jesus Christ died to obtain pardon and righteousness for us (Ephesians 1:7; 2 Corinthians 5:21), and God will employ His all-conquering, sovereign grace to preserve us for our inheritance (Jeremiah 32:40). We surrender this hope if we sacrifice this sovereignty.

Another Amen!