Posted on 03/11/2010 7:21:53 AM PST by An.American.Expatriate
So, are you fully qualified to make these spiritual discernments?
If I say that it takes a certain amount of radioactive material to make a nuclear weapon and that you can shoot two halves of a sphere together at a rapid rate to make critical mass.... that doesn't mean that I can make a nuclear bomb myself... doncha know...
But, I do know that someone can... LOL ...
The bottom line on that one is very simply... God is the one who give spiritual discernment... and it's not something that people go out to the store and buy... :-)
James Chapter 1 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
...or...sometimes God is random.
I would clarify that further, from that standpoint of what God does. Judgment has been dealt out to this world that we live in, and as a direct result of sinful mankind. That's clearly stated in the Bible. The currest condition of our world, in its natural processes is not the condition that God originally created or intended for mankind to live in -- but it's the result of the judgment of God upon all of creation, because of mankind.
And continuing, it's also obvious that the judgment of God upon the world, resulting in only 8 people being saved, while the rest of mankind was destroyed in the worldwide flood, had great implications for our geophysical environment that we live in today. If not for that, we wouldn't see the types of earthquakes and mountain ranges and deep trenches and subduction zones and so on, upon the earth.
These are judgments, resulting from other judgments. And one could understand that the plate boundaries pushing up against one another, being originally caused as a result of the judgement of God -- could "break" in random fashion.
So, that part may be randon, but the original judgment of God causing it to be that way in the first place... is not random.
Just click on the webicorder’s first date listing and that will show just how the earth moved under your feet...lol!
It rains on the just and the unjust.
Yes, the just and the unjust concurrently live in the present world, which is also currently under the judgment of God. In fact all of creation is under the judgment of God, as a result of sinful mankind.
But remember, the "just" (as they are considered today) were once part of the unjust. In fact all come into the world as part of fallen and sinful mankind. So God is judging us all, in this current world that we are living in.
I’ll take that as a no.
Doesn’t He also know what He is going to judge us on and the result of His judgement, before we even do it!!
WOW! Thanks for ping- have been in office all morning.
I guess He must have.
I’ll take that as a no.
I'm just saying it's by God's actions and not man's actions, that discernment is given. God is the one who determines the who, when and where of it.
It's just like the spiritual discernment that Peter exhibited, in which Jesus said it wasn't from him but from God. That's where spiritual discernment comes from.
Doesn’t He also know what He is going to judge us on and the result of His judgement, before we even do it!!
God does live outside the framework of time and this material universe and all that exists and outside of anything which was created and/or has existed.
So, definitely, being totally outside of the very fabric of the time parameter (as it is in physics), God does know all things, the beginning from the end, as He says in the Bible.
Yes, that’s why I took your answer as a no.
Yet O's was a earthquake free day...so did God approve of him and Clinton.
Even sinful and unrighteous man (any of mankind) is the recipient of common grace from God, otherwise everyone would be in the lake of fire right now (Revelation 20).
OK, so if God knows what is going to happen, and God cannot be wrong, would it be possible for a human to do something that God does not know will happen?
Besides that, God knew they were going to be elected, didn’t He?
Yes, that’s why I took your answer as a no.
Let me put it another way, so that it's more clear then... no one is "qualified" -- and yet -- people have spiritual discernment (we see such an example of it in regards to Jesus and Peter). And thus, even though no one is qualified -- God grants many people spiritual discernment, according to His Word.
And thus one can petition God for spiritual discernment, according to James 1 (as stated up above). But, you'll notice that there is one condition stated under which no one will ever receive it from God, in those verses quoted.
It has nothing to do with being qualified... you see...
OK, so if God knows what is going to happen, and God cannot be wrong, would it be possible for a human to do something that God does not know will happen?
As I said, the Bible makes it clear that God is not constrained by time and is outside of it. It clearly says that God knows the beginning from the end...
I mean, I can keep repeating it, but I do think the Bible is pretty clear on that.
There was a SEVENTH earthquake that just struck in the same region (Libertador O’Higgins, Chile)....a 5.0.
The quakes got down to 4.9, but the last two have been 5.0. I don’t think the plates are finished yet...
Maybe that 8.8 they had wasn’t “the big one.”
I live in southwest Missouri (opposite side of the state from the New Madrid Fault) and I wonder if that fault will go one day.
Thank God my dad purchased earthquake insurance this year.
OK, so if God knows what is going to happen, and God cannot be wrong, would it be possible for a human to do something that God does not know will happen?
In terms of judgment (mentioned in the last post) ... it's clear that God knew that there would be judgment even before Creation itself, because the plan of salvation was agreed upon, before Creation, as Jesus was to be the Salvation of the world, even before the world was created.
It was God being outside of time and outside of creation itself, in which He had the plan of salvation in mind and already provided for... before the first man ever existed.
Besides that, God knew they were going to be elected, didn’t He?
Again, this is repeating the same thing that was said right at the beginning. If God is outside of time and knows the end from the beginning -- it goes without saying that God knew who was going to choose the Messiah of Israel for salvation and who was going to reject the Messiah of Israel for salvation.
It kinda goes together, doncha think? ... :-)
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