Posted on 12/19/2017 11:42:35 AM PST by Gamecock
Fifty years ago, when I snapped my neck under the weight of a dive into shallow water, quadriplegia smashed me up against the study of God. Lying in bed paralyzed, I had hard-hitting questions such as, “God, who’s behind all this suffering, You or the devil? Are You permitting this or ordaining it? I’m still a young Christian. If You’re so loving, why treat Your children so meanly?”
A well-meaning friend gave me a copy of The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination by Dr. Loraine Boettner. It was weighty and I had to turn its pages with a mouth stick, but reading it helped. Yet, I wondered, “Isn’t there something or someone out there who explains things more simply?” That’s when this same friend popped into my cassette player a tape by Dr. R.C. Sproul. I was hooked.
All during the summer of 1971, I’d park my wheelchair on the back porch of our Maryland farmhouse and listen to either Dr. John Gerstner or R.C. Up until then, God’s overarching decrees seemed scary. But Dr. S, as I liked to call him, presented God’s sovereignty as a truly comforting doctrine. It enlivened my spirit and elevated my faith to think that God had chosen me for the furnace of affliction (Isa. 48:10). R.C. helped me see that God had chosen me to be a quadriplegic for good reasons—not only good, but noble.
Fast-forward from the back porch to Joni and Friends, a California-based global ministry I began in order to reach for Christ people with disabilities and their families. Through thousands of wheelchairs and Bibles that we deliver, through every U.S. or overseas family retreat we hold for special-needs families, my heart’s desire is to help others find the same comfort and encouragement in the sovereignty of God. I want other disabled people to see that when God chooses them for the furnace, it’s a calling. It’s a privilege. I have R.C. to thank for that vision.
And I’ve told him so. It’s what began a truly sweet friendship between my husband, Ken, and me and R.C. and Vesta. Throughout the years, R.C. often asked me to speak at Ligonier conferences, and I was always a little breathless at the prospect. As a laywoman—and as a woman in a wheelchair—I was keenly aware of the weighty responsibility of presenting from a Ligonier platform, especially with R.C. “sitting over there with his critical ear.” But he had to know I was simply parroting the many lessons I had learned from him over the years.
When I was battling stage 3 cancer in 2010, R.C. and Vesta prayed earnestly for me and my husband. During my chemotherapy treatment, R.C. wanted to encourage Ken in the midst of his nonstop caregiving routines. Knowing Ken was an avid fly fisherman, R.C. sent my weary husband a G-Loomis Stream Dance 5 weight 10-foot rod. It was the best on the market. You should have seen Ken’s eyes get wide with delight and amazement as he opened his gift. I will always treasure R.C.’s thoughtfulness with that precious gift. It was such a “guy thing” to do; he obviously knew what would brighten my husband’s heart.
My most touching memories of R.C. have to do with his granddaughter Shannon. Born with multiple disabilities, Shannon had seizure disorders, could not talk, and required constant care. It would’ve shaken the faith of most grandparents, but R.C. held fast to the goodness of his sovereign God.
Shannon’s disability opened his eyes to a world of other special-needs families, and his rapport with them moved me deeply. His grandfather’s heart broke for Shannon, but he would often echo the words of Jesus in John 11:14: “This sickness . . . is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” And he was right. At Joni and Friends, we have told Shannon’s story to countless thousands, all to the end of helping others hold fast to the goodness of God in His sovereignty.
R.C.’s familiarity with Shannon’s severe disability prepared him to enter his own world of disability. Older age wasn’t easy on Dr. Sproul, and he often felt the bite of “outwardly wasting away” (2 Cor. 4:16). But just as his insights once enlivened my spirit and elevated my faith in the furnace of affliction, those same treasured doctrines bolstered his spirit and faith. And his incredible sense of humor remained—the last time I saw him, we challenged each other to a bit of wheelchair racing.
And now as I muse on the homegoing of my friend, I can’t help but belt out all four stanzas of “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.” Especially that last line: “Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also; the body they may kill, God’s truth abideth still. His kingdom is forever!” I so want to be there when R.C. shakes the hand—no, rather, gives a bear hug and hearty slaps on the back—of Martin Luther.
Yes, Dr. Sproul will be remembered as a remarkable Christian statesman, standard-bearer for the Reformed faith, and advocate for the gospel once delivered to the saints. But I will miss my happy friend and the times we would spontaneously sing a hymn together in the hallway of some convention center or compete to see “who knows the most stanzas” to this hymn or that. I will miss the times when, in his older years, he would back away from me and shout, “Jezebel!” whenever I complimented him on how youthful he looked.
Our ministry at Joni and Friends is all about conveying the kindness of God in a horribly broken world of deep suffering. Dr. R.C. Sproul helped lay a foundation for our work, not only in my personal life, but in our outreach. For when crib deaths occur, when spina bifida or autism or Alzheimer’s encroaches, when people groan under the weight of significant disabilities and wonder if they’ve been forsaken, we can tell them that God has not taken His hands off the wheel for a nanosecond. R.C. Sproul, even to his last days, would hold forth that powerful line from Psalm 103:19: “His kingdom rules over all.” Yes, God considers these awful things tragedies and He takes no delight in misery, but He is determined to steer each affliction and to use suffering for His own good and glorious ends.
And those ends are happy. God is heaven-bent on sharing His joy, peace, and power with us. But there’s a catch. A caveat I learned early on from listening to R.C.’s tapes on my little cassette player: God shares His joy on His terms, and those terms call us, in some measure, to suffer as His beloved Son did while on earth. “For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps” (1 Peter 2:21).
So, I say a heartfelt thanks to R.C. Never would he have imagined how God would use His teaching ministry to touch the life of this quadriplegic and countless others like me. R.C. showed me, way back in the beginning, that of all the things I might waste here on earth, I must not waste my disability. Earth provides my one and only chance to give Jesus a “sacrifice of praise,” demonstrating to the heavenly hosts that He is supremely worthy of my loyalty and love (Heb.13:15).
And once I get to heaven, R.C. and I will have all of eternity to sing praise to the God who permits what He hates in order to accomplish what He loves. Thank you for championing that blessed message, Dr. Sproul. I’ll catch up with you at the foot of the throne, where we will know—and sing—all the stanzas.
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Hillary?
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Hello metmom, I can tell you what works best for me.
I focus on myself when it comes to activities pertaining to this life. Such as keeping as fit physically as I have strength. Exercise is good for so many ailments and especially good for those who have PD. I need mental stimulation including challenges. I find working on genealogy fills that bill. When I engage in social activities, I choose carefully who I spend my time with, some friends give to me, some I give myself to.
I focus on God when it comes to spiritual activities. I am more aware now of how much closer I am to heaven. I want to know as much as I can about the God I will spend eternity with. I only listen to teachers that I trust will broaden that knowledge. I read authors that are biblically sound. RC, of course, MacArthur, and currently I am reading Rejoicing in Christ by Michael Reeves. The focus is God, not me.
Some days, I fail to endure quietly. I cry out to God for sleep! Tomorrow is a new day.
bttt
It's a fair paraphrase of some of Institutes I.18.
Works for me.
I do the best I can for the stuff that’s my responsibility (eating well and exercising and getting enough sleep) and the rest is God’s (the healing part)
Please explain. Are you saying God permits what He hates...or that he decrees what He hates? Nothing is done but by God’s decree per Calvin’s teaching and Reformed theology.
What is the meaning of hate if it is decreed towards God’s creatures UNILATERALLY (Esau have I hated) in a way similar to love (Jacob have I loved)? The God of Calvinism hates some and loves others because He chose to do so within Himself, and not because of any action of His creatures.
Again, please clarify.
Lovely words from a truly lovely woman of God. I met her many years ago when she was speaking at a Billy Graham crusade in Tampa. She is such a testimony for the goodness of God and as an example of how all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Even Joni had to learn this lesson about God. It’s not something that happens overnight but it is a realization that grows stronger as we open up to His will and purpose and understand His unfailing love.
I had a bad dream last night where I was being pursued by demonic “dogs” and I was running as fast as I could. Some of them I could turn around and swat away but even more came at me as I continued running up a mountain. Finally, exhausted, I swung around and but my hands out to push them away...and then I woke up. The very first thing that came to my mind was from Psalm 24, “though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me...” God comforted me with His word and His faithfulness. He promises He will never leave us or forsake us.
I continue to pray for you, dear friend.
Please don’t turn this thread into a flame war. Respect that not everyone thinks like you do and each of us is on a path ordained by God.
That would be more like channeling her.
You can get help for that you know.
It means *esteem less*.
Here, in the Greek
http://biblehub.com/romans/9-13.htm
http://biblehub.com/greek/3404.htm
miseó: to hate
Original Word: μισέω
Part of Speech: Verb
Transliteration: miseó
Phonetic Spelling: (mis-eh'-o)
Short Definition: I hate, detest
Definition: I hate, detest, love less, esteem less.
HELPS Word-studies
3404 miséō – properly, to detest (on a comparative basis); hence, denounce; to love someone or something less than someone (something) else, i.e. to renounce one choice in favor of another.
Lk 14:26: "If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate (3404 /miséō, 'love less' than the Lord) his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple" (NASU).
[Note the comparative meaning of 3404 (miséō) which centers in moral choice, elevating one value over another.]
Thank you.
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>> “ and each of us is on a path ordained by God.” <<
Not too likely!
Those on a path “ordained by God” do not denounce any part of his eternal word.
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I was going to offer you help on that!
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So are you saying that the God who is infinite in His perfections is actually finite in His love toward some of His creatures, i.e., that He loves them less than others?
That He could have loved all of His (human) creatures equally and saved all of them eternally, but chose not to do so because he receives more pleasure and glory by damning some of them to hell forever?
No, I am not saying that at all.
That’s not the position I hold.
However, God loving all of His creatures that He created equally does not mean by default that He is going to save them. He has given man the option to accept His offer of salvation or reject it.
It's not an either/or. In his own words, Calvin says God wills sin to come to pass for his own purposes. And he also favourably quotes Augustine (Enchiridion 26.100) saying God permits sin (Institutes I.18.3). It's clear enough that Calvin regards God's will as both decretive and permissive.
I’m not saying that is the position you hold, or even what you think – which I don’t know.
But you state: “He has given man the option to accept His offer of salvation or reject it.”
However, the position of Calvinism and Reformed theology is that God, in His eternal counsels and by His sovereign decrees, chose, elected, appointed, ordained, etc., some to eternal life and others to eternal damnation.
This was not based on His foreknowledge of His creatures’ responses to the gospel, or on any action that the “elect” would or would not take in the future, during his or her life, but merely because God picked some for salvation and condemned others to damnation.
While I agree that these concepts are “fuzzy” in the minds of many who claim Calvinism/Reformed theology, Calvin’s writings and Reformed theologians/teachers, e.g. John Piper, leave NO DOUBT that people are either unconditionally elected (absent any action/inaction/faith/unbelief on THEIR part) or unconditionally rejected (absent any action/inaction/faith/unbelief on THEIR part) because all are totally depraved and totally unable to respond to God’s “gracious,” but, obviously, not bona fide offer of salvation. Only those God has picked (chosen, elected, ordained, etc.) CAN respond. Others do not REALLY have that choice, because they will do what their nature (ACCORDING TO GOD’S ETERNAL DECREE) dictates. Jesus did not die for all, or to save all (limited atonement) but only for some – the scriptures notwithstanding.
What I am trying to understand is how my fellow believers, who are Calvinist, think that God loves (defined as wanting the best for them) all men. Or believe that he actually legitimately offers salvation to all men, women, and children (if they do think that, which I find hard to believe). It really has to do with the character of God, whom Calvinists teach ordained people to eternal death (or life), by His eternal decrees, apart from those people freely choosing to accept or reject Him, i.e, freely choosing faith or unbelief, absent any internal or external (God’s decree) restraint.
Could you explain that, or any Calvinists reading this post?
So when you say permit, do you believe that people could have ACTUALLY made a different choice in matters regarding their salvation?
Regarding Calvin’s teaching: So if God wills sin to come to pass, then people really have no choice but to sin, for who can resist God’s decree?
Then people are punished for doing what God made (created, decreed, forced) them to do, and in which they have no libertarian choice (free will or ACTUAL choice).
So God is pleased and glorified by the sins of His creatures if Calvin is to be believed, and to challenge (cavil at) his view is to be impious.
Calvin says ALL ARE NOT CREATED ON EQUAL TERMS. From below: This prescience extends to the whole circuit of the world, and to all creatures. By predestination we mean the eternal decree of God, by which he determined with himself whatever he wished to happen with regard to every man.
What kind of God needs evil to be glorified, or kind of people need eternal suffering in others to cause them to rejoice in that they are not likewise afflicted by God’s decree?
Institutes III:21:5. OF THE ETERNAL ELECTION, BY WHICH GOD HAS PREDESTINATED SOME TO SALVATION, AND OTHERS TO DESTRUCTION. The predestination by which God adopts some to the hope of life, and adjudges others to eternal death, no man who would be thought pious ventures simply to deny; but it is greatly caviled at, especially by those who make prescience its cause. We, indeed, ascribe both prescience and predestination to God; but we say, that it is absurd to make the latter subordinate to the former (see chap. 22 sec. 1). When we attribute prescience to God, we mean that all things always were, and ever continue, under his eye; that to his knowledge there is no past or future, but all things are present, and indeed so present, that it is not merely the idea of them that is before him (as those objects are which we retain in our memory), but that he truly sees and contemplates them as actually under his immediate inspection. This prescience extends to the whole circuit of the world, and to all creatures. By predestination we mean the eternal decree of God, by which he determined with himself whatever he wished to happen with regard to every man. All are not created on equal terms, but some are preordained to eternal life, others to eternal damnation; and, accordingly, as each has been created for one or other of these ends, we say that he has been predestinated to life or to death.
https://www.biblestudytools.com/history/calvin-institutes-christianity/book3/chapter-21.html
When I said permit, I said nothing about salvation. I was correcting the false assumption that "God decrees that sin will come to pass" and "God permits sin" were mutually exclusive.
Regarding Calvin’s teaching: So if God wills sin to come to pass, then people really have no choice but to sin, for who can resist God’s decree?
Really has nothing to do with what I explained. Pardon me for not chasing your red herring.
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