But under your theology, man thwarts God's will every day. It's not a matter of fear, for you it actually HAPPENS. :) That describes a very weak man-made God. The Reformed God is strong and always accomplishes His will. As Dr. E. so often posts:
Isa 46:9-10 : 9 Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, 10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: ... KJV
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Only such a God would demand sacrifice and complete obedience and allow no freedom. His people would be the puppets on the string, and He would be their puppeteer. Such is the Reformed God.
The Reformed God made the WHOLE sacrifice, and He did it ONCE for all time. And, the Reformed God certainly does allow us freedom. The TRUTH sets us free. With that freedom we are free to do works that are pleasing to God. We did not have that freedom before belief. Man certainly does not like the idea of being anyone's puppet. Man wants to be in control.
So, the solution God found was to retain actual control Himself, while letting us experience making our own decisions. If intellectually you think that still makes us puppets, then I am just fine to be God's puppet, knowing that His love is in control of my life. (My experience is the same either way.) I don't want God to leave me on my own to go through this life. I need Him to be in charge. I am not my own, I was bought at a price.
God Bless you.
I feel the same way. I thank God every day that He is my master.
If God controlled you 100%,than you would have to be sinless from the point God controlled you, or the controlling God would own your sin as the puppet master.
Your sin is your own,FK, like it or not ,and you need do do penance for it as well.
Pope PAUL VI explains this well
” Every sin in fact causes a perturbation in the universal order established by God in His ineffable wisdom and infinite charity, and the destruction of immense values with respect to the sinner himself and to the human community. Christians throughout history have always regarded sin not only as a transgression of divine law but also—though not always in a direct and evident way—as contempt for or disregard of the friendship between God and man, (6) just as they have regarded it as a real and unfathomable offense against God and indeed an ungrateful rejection of the love of God shown us through Jesus Christ, who called his disciples friends and not servants. (7)
3. It is therefore necessary for the full remission and—as it is called—reparation of sins not only that friendship with God be reestablished by a sincere conversion of the mind and amends made for the offense against his wisdom and goodness, but also that all the personal as well as social values and those of the universal order itself, which have been diminished or destroyed by sin, be fully reintegrated whether through voluntary reparation which will involve punishment or through acceptance of the punishments established by the just and most holy wisdom of God, from which there will shine forth throughout the world the sanctity and the splendor of his glory. The very existence and the gravity of the punishment enable us to understand the foolishness and malice of sin and its harmful consequences.”
6. Cf. Isaiah 1:2-3. Also cf. Deut. 8:11 and 32:15 and ff.; Ps. 105:21 and 118 and other places; Wis. 7:14; Isaiah 17:10 and 44:21; Jer. 33:8; Ez. 20:27. Cf. Vatican II, Dogmatic Constitution Dei Verbum on Divine Revelation, no. 2: “Hac itaque...eamque suscipiat” (A.A.S. 58, 1966, p. 818). Cf. also ibid., n. 21 (loc. cit., p. 827-828).
7. Cf. John 15:14-15. Cf. Vatican II, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes on the Church in the Modern World, n. 22 (A.A.S. 58, 1966, p. 1042) and the Decree Ad Gentes Divinitus on the Missionary Activity of the Church, n. 13 (A.A.S. 58, 1966, p. 962).